Case Study
I attended Iglesia Episcopal San Mateo in Houston from 1986 to 2016, roughly. When my family first started attending, the church had a dwindling English-speaking congregation but a growing Spanish-speaking one. This caused some tension within the church community for a time.
Back then, our mission—from the Latino side—was to help anyone coming to the U.S. seeking a better life. During the ’80s and ’90s, many people from El Salvador and other Central American countries came to Houston and settled in the Gulfton area, where San Mateo is. Most were undocumented and had gut-wrenching stories. Many people were escaping war, violence, death threats, and gangs, and they were hoping to achieve el sueño americano—the American dream—for their families.
Our church provided lots of help, including English classes, and assistance with amnesty and immigration. As a high school student, I worked as an English tutor and later as the office administrator at San Mateo. Several priests came and went over time, but our Spanish-speaking congregation kept growing. Around that time, Bishop Pina from Cuba encouraged my dad, a lay pastor with a master’s degree and formal seminary education from Guatemala and Peru, to become an Episcopal priest and serve the church.
From the start, the community had a love for authentic worship in Spanish. Since the Episcopal tradition did not have a lot of music in Spanish, our musicians borrowed from other Christian traditions, including the Roman Catholic and Evangelical churches. People loved to come to San Mateo because the music was awesome and the preaching was awesome and the content was awesome and everything was in Spanish.
My dad learned from his youth that to be a pastor means to be part of the community. He walked the streets of Houston praying, preaching, sharing the good news, helping, taking people communion and ashes, for many years. Although we lived in a suburb, my dad frequented all the neighboring stores, restaurants, and businesses. He got to know people in the area around the church, and so when he needed a favor, everyone came to his aid. As a matter of fact, there is a mural with my dad’s depiction in the Gulfton area. To me, that says so much about him as a leader in the community and as a pastor.
People would come to ask for help with their immigrant status, and my parents would not only help them but also pray for them and offer them friendship and advice. My dad always talked about the importance of education, giving back, and saving, and I think that helped San Mateo produce pastors, priests, leaders in the church and in the community, musicians, college graduates, and more. It has been amazing to see the children of this church grow up to be teachers, its young people grow up to be priests.
Respectful Relationships. My parents were committed to respectful relationships. They knew it was most important to get to know people and their needs, likes, hopes, and dreams in all aspects of their lives. Even as people’s lives changed over time, my parents were always available in various ways and anticipated their needs because they knew their congregation.
The Big Three of Ministry. Another key idea that my parents used to build cross-cultural community was the big three: evangelism, discipleship and stewardship. My dad always said that these three things, in that order, are most important in ministry. You must first engage in evangelism—tell people the stories, go where they are, feed them, encourage them—so that people see and get to know God’s unconditional love. And then that love, that sense of family, will encourage people to start attending church. Once they are coming to services, don’t miss an opportunity to teach them—to offer them discipleship through the songs we choose, the sermon, and the classes for all ages that are provided on Sundays and other days throughout the week. After people are learning about God and about their new faith, then it’s time to talk about giving back, in this case tithing and offerings. My dad talked about stewardship all the time, completely without fear—and not just about giving time and talent, but also about giving money to God.
Authenticity. We never tried to be who we weren’t. My dad became a pastor in the evangelical tradition, and he had an altar call every single time he preached. I was always amazed at how many people would come up to the altar for a prayer and a blessing. So many people crying with incredible problems and impossible petitions. But God! My whole family believes in prayer and in the power of prayer, so it wasn’t an act. We authentically believe that God is always present and wants to heal, to solve problems, to provide for all our needs. And we believe in taking our church with us out into the world. Every Good Friday, we had a tradition of doing a drama-filled, traveling Stations of the Cross. We went all around San Mateo’s neighborhood, even though it was impoverished and dangerous. Bishop Pina started that tradition, and it continued for many years. It was compelling because it was so authentically part of who we were as a church community.
I wish we had more resources - diocesan and church-wide - to help with the enormous task of being the first all-gente latina/Spanish speaking parish. Going from mission to parish is daunting. It takes a lot of money to be able to keep a community together and thriving no matter how many people are in the congregation. I wonder what would have happened if there were ways to help congregations navigating mission and parish status to understand what the implications are.
I wish we would have written a book about the experience of going from a mission to a parish. I wish we would have openly shared how tough it was to keep up with all the bills and with all the needs a large community has. I think if we would have been able to put all our wins and challenges in a book people may be able to replicate what we did right and improve on what we could have done better. I feel there are many congregations and clergy who have similar experiences who could use an encouraging word about not giving up, asking for help, finding grants, raising funds, how to keep an active children’s and youth ministry with very little budget, how to raise professional musicians from your congregation, how to have community building events using recycled materials, how to feed hundreds by taking food donations and cooking as a community, how to church in a budget, how to bless others, how to pray for others, how to welcome and celebrate everyone who enters the church, how to build community with those around you, and so on. I have always been amazed by how my parents’ leadership reached so many people, raised so many leaders, and continues to multiply. These verses come to mind when I think about it - The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
San Mateo is now going back to being a mission. I took a lot - maybe too much - pride in knowing it was a parish that was reaching its financial goals and needs solely by a Comunidad Latina. I wonder what would have happened if there were resources that would have helped San Mateo remain a parish. Maybe a sort of financial scaffolding and coaches.
Sandra Teresa Soledad Montes Vela
Bio: Sandra is the Multicultural Resources Consultant at ECF. She was born in Perú, grew up in Guatemala and Texas and now divides her time between Sugar Land and Manhattan with her longhair Chihuahua, Chank'i. Her passions are God, family (especially her son), music, education, liturgy, social and racial justice and writing. She earned her doctorate in education in 2016, her book Becoming REAL and Thriving in ministry came out in 2020, is Dean of Chapel at Union Theological Seminary and serves on the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church.