¡Si, Si! Another Note on Sharing the Gospel with Hispanics

            Hispanic culture tends to be a culture of appeasement. For this reason, “no” is a particularly difficult word for many Hispanics to say. Take for instance a simple invitation to attend a church’s worship service. Perhaps a Hispanic has absolutely no intentions of attending the service, but he or she may tell the inviter “yes” so as not to hurt the person’s feelings. “Yes” often means “no.”

Several years ago, a friend who is a North American college student decided to canvas an area with the Gospel that boasts a high Hispanic population. After a long afternoon of door to door visits, he excitedly announced that at least ten people had promised to attend the church service the following day. One elderly man had lamented his lack of transportation, so the college student agreed to drive twenty minutes to the neighborhood in order to transport the man to the service if he was certain that he would be home. “Si, si, si!” affirmed the man. The next day, however, after arriving at the man’s home, he was nowhere to be found, and none of the ten were in attendance at the church service.

Naturally, the college student became discouraged by these events, but the truth of the matter is that the Hispanics did not wish to be deliberately deceptive. Rather, they wanted to spare the young man’s feelings by telling him what they thought he wanted to hear. Those who work amongst Hispanics would do well to have patience when people do not do what they say they will do. Jesus taught, But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes' or 'No, no'; anything beyond these is of evil (Matt. 5:37), but Christians cannot expect unbelievers to live by this maxim. Many Hispanics will promise to come to a Bible study or a worship service and never follow through, but some will come and be transformed by the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. The key is to focus on those who do come rather than to become disheartened by those who do not.

            Another area where the “never say no” mentality comes into play is during a Gospel presentation. Because Hispanics often are reluctant to say “no,” they may feel compelled to say “yes” when the presenter invites them to accept God’s salvation. They may go as far as to repeat the prayer of the evangelist even though they do not mean it. Therefore, one must be careful to ascertain whether or not a person truly is sincere about beginning a relationship with Jesus Christ.