International (MNN) — Approximately eighty percent of Christians is from the Global South. Yet, over fifty percent of the world’s international missionaries still come from North America and Europe.
Dave Matthews founded Reflejo to mobilize more Latin American Christians in missions.
“As the Gospel has expanded to other nations—in our case, Latin America—we also have that duty to the Great Commission to obey and to go to all nations, bringing the Gospel,” Matthews says. “So what we do at Reflejo is we’re a missionary agency for Latin Americans—Spanish, Portuguese speakers from Central and South America—to go to the unreached, to go to the hard to reach places that don’t yet fully have the gospel as they should.”
Why Latino Christians?
Matthews says there are many advantages to sending Latinos to places such as the Middle East and Central Asia. First, Latinos can often blend in more easily and are less likely to attract unsafe attention. People from Central or South America also have fewer stereotypes and biases that could create barriers for them in Muslim-majority countries.
“As I go overseas and I tell people, ‘Hey, I’m from Peru or from Latin America,’ they don’t have a lot of ideas as to what to attach Peru to. Whereas, if I say I’m American or I’m from the US, there’s a lot of baggage that comes to that in their mind,” says Matthews. “So I get to start at a point of more of a carte blanche with them, relationally, and for them to see who I am.”
Historically, early Arabic influences on the Iberian peninsula contributed to the cultures and languages of Spain and Portugal. With Spanish and Portuguese colonization, those same influences shaped Central and South American worldviews, values, and more. Hundreds of years later, the similarities help Latino Christians to connect with unreached peoples on the other side of the world.
“We find that Latin American culture is a lot closer to Arab culture or Muslim culture in most places it’s in,” says Matthews.
“Latinos are uniquely positioned to bring the gospel to the unreached.”
Reflejo has also successfully placed Latino Christians in areas where others may not have access or be welcomed. They are met with curiosity and openness that allows them to quickly build relationships. For example, someone from the United States may not be able to safely travel to or work in certain countries that are open to South Americans.
“We are seeing access in a few of these places, and we’re well received. People are curious about where we’re from, what we’re doing, who we are, and we get to build relationships over time and share Jesus in a different way,” Matthews says.
“We’ve been able to put people who are going to do their work, and while they are doing their work, they’re going to be that living, breathing testimony of the love of God.”
If you are a Latino Christian interested in more information about Reflejo, visit their website here. There are opportunities to serve internationally as well as volunteer from home. Dave Matthews also invites believers from any background to pray for and support Latin American missionaries.
“One of the things that’s a common theme in the countries we’re going to is the enemy has had control of that region for a long time, and he is not excited to give it up,” says Matthews. “He will do what is in his power in terms of spiritual warfare, challenges, difficulties of any sort of kind that are at his disposal to get in the way of missions advance. And so we need lots and lots of people covering our staff, our team, our projects in prayer.”
Sign up for Reflejo’s prayer newsletter here.
“The whole body of Christ works together. If you are not a Latino and you still want to get involved in helping Latinos go, there’s a number of ways you can do that,” says Matthews. “Get involved. Join us. Partner with somebody. Help us sponsor a missionary that will do excellent work, sometimes in places, even if you wanted to, you couldn’t go into.”
Header representative photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash.
