History of the Spanish Church

It is said that a Spanish king once boasted that the Lutheran (Protestant) heresy would not be found in the Castellian (Spanish) language. The Reformed historian, Thomas M’Crie, in his book The History of the Reformation in Spain, writes: “Long after the era of the Reformation, it was taken for granted by all true Spaniards, that their language had never been made the unhallowed instrument of exposing the Bible to vulgar eyes” (p. 123, Hartland Publications, 1998).

I am certain everyone has heard of the Spanish Inquisition. It was so thorough that, as M’Crie states, the Protestant Church was completely exterminated in the kingdom of Spain. After 1570 there was no settled congregation within the Spanish Kingdom on the Peninsula (p. 213, 218). Only in exile did it persist, but barely.

Thus were the Spanish-speaking people denied the truth of the gospel in the Kingdom of Spain, whose realm stretched from west to east. In 1868 the Protestant Church sprouted again, only to be persecuted anew under the dictator Franco. It was not until 1978 that anything other than the Roman Catholic Church could exist in the open instead of underground.

In Latin America the scene was the same until the Spanish colonies won independence in the 19th Century. Protestantism began to spread in Latin America much more freely. The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church was among the first to send missionaries into Mexico. Presbyterianism obtained a stronghold in southern Mexico, particularly in the poorest and most indigenous Mexican state, Chiapas.

It is said that the first Protestant Lord’s supper held in the Western Hemisphere was in Brazil by Huguenots sent by John Calvin. A memorial to that event still stands in front of a Brazilian Presbyter-ian Church in Rio de Janeiro.

Present State of the Spanish Church

Today in Mexico, Central America, and parts of South America, native religions have mixed with the Church of Rome and a strange syncretism of religious practices has emerged as accepted orthodoxy. The saints of Rome are the Spanish equivalent of the gods of the native religions and their powers are similar.

This is especially true in the rural towns and among the indigenous. To them Protestantism is a threat against their last bastion of native religion post-Columbus/Cortez. Protestantism seeks to pull all away from Rome and, therefore, the gods of the indigenous peoples. As a result, many Protestants have been persecuted, run out of town, or even murdered. The majority of those termed Protestant are Pentecostals or Baptists. But rather than being called Protestants, they are called Evangelicals. The mainline denominations, like the Presbyterians, Methodists, and Episcopalians, are generally viewed as liberal, out of touch, or in decline.

Reformed Outreach

In the late 1990s, I began to translate documents of the Westminster Assembly into Spanish. The Confession and Catechisms had already been translated in the late 1800s. Around 2003 Joel Chairez (deacon at Los Angeles, Calif., RPC) and I began to collaborate in producing more Reformed and Puritan translations and published them freely on our web site, www.PresbiterianoReformado.org.

At the same time, while surfing Spanish Presbyterian churches’ web sites, I began to notice declarations of adherence to John Knox, among other Reformers. At the time no works by John Knox were available in Spanish. I also noticed that knowledge of a well-rounded Reformed theology was all but nonexistent. Joel and I began to translate works by Knox, Watson, Gillespie, and others. We focused on Reformed topics that we noticed to be absent in Spanish, such as the Reformed position of the regulative principle of worship (a cappella singing, exclusive psalmody, no holy days, etc.), keeping the Lord’s Day (which is novel to the Reformed churches in Latin America), and the historic position regarding the civil magistrate.

As the months passed we received many emails from Latin America and the U.S. expressing great interest. I started a blog where I introduced certain Reformed distinctives that are little known and translated excerpts of works of other Reformers, such as Watson, Witsius, Dickson, and Peter Martyr. It has been well received.

An incomplete Spanish psalter was translated in the 16th Century but the author, Juan le Quesne (a.k.a. Juan Enzinas or Dryander), was unable to complete it before his death. In 2008 I was pleasantly surprised by an email I received from Dr. Jorge Ruiz Ortiz of Miranda de Ebro, Spain (Iglesia Cristiana de Miranda de Ebro). He had written to me that he had translated and metered, to the Genevan Tunes, the first complete Spanish psalter! This is a watershed moment in the Spanish Church, that we now have a Spanish psalter in which we can worship God as He has commanded.

In the course of communicating with brethren from just about every Spanish-speaking country, a panoramic picture of the spiritual condition of the Spanish-speaking nations is emerging. It demonstrates how vitally important it is to have the Reformed faith firmly planted in these nations. Reformed literature tends to be hard to acquire, but as the internet spreads in Latin America (particularly, social media), more Reformed brethren with some knowledge of English have begun to use computer translation tools to translate English sites into Spanish. This is not ideal, but they have adapted to the shortfalls of such tools.

Many more books are needed, especially for church officers—in particular, those that focus on Reformed distinctives beyond the five points of Calvinism. The Reformed brethren are few and are up against a heterodox Pentecostalism that comes with its slew of apostles, prophets, healers, and miracle workers who demonstrate “sure signs” that God is with them. This tugs at the heartstrings of a population long steeped in magic, mysticism, calling down the divine into bread, and the idea that the gods move among the people via these methods. Many of those churches planted as Reformed a few generations ago have succumbed to these pressures, incorporating a more charismatic worship in order to maintain and even draw new members.

There are pioneers of the historic Presbyterian position at this moment in Latin America. Decades ago, Rev. Ben Hur of Santiago, Chile, began to teach on the historic regulative principle of worship position. He was rejected. Yet the Lord blessed his faithfulness and raised another laborer to come alongside him in the person of Juan Lobos Iturra, a ruling elder, licentiate, and seminary professor. Juan has become a good friend of mine over the years. He also began to proclaim the regulative principle of worship and other Puritan and historic Presbyterian positions. Other Christians in Chile mocked him as the “Puritan of Chile.” He is working on becoming an ordained minister in his denomination. He also is one of three ministers that have a M.Div. in his denomination, and he teaches church history and doctrine in his denomination’s seminary.

Rev. Sebastian Santa Maria is minister of his congregation, La Iglesia Puritana Reformada de Argentina (the Puritan Reformed Church of Argentina). He has introduced psalm singing to his congregation and is an ardent teacher, locally and on the internet, of historic Puritan and Presbyterian doctrines. He has become well known in Latin America via his internet presence. He utilizes Skype extensively to establish a strong network of Reformed brethren throughout Latin America, Spain, and the United States. He has turned to translating more solid Reformed works into Spanish as well, providing them free online. We communicate frequently and have become good friends.

Presently in the United States there are two Spanish-speaking ministers exploring the RPCNA, hoping to begin Spanish worship services. In Mexico City a member under care of the Pacific Coast Presbytery, Alejandro Morrison (a Mexican native) is going to start a Reformed Presbyterian work there.

In August Dr. Jerry O’Neill, Rev. David Reese, and I will go to Argentina and Chile to speak to brethren seeking formal relations with the RPCNA. We also plan to have talks, lectures, and studies on RP distinctives. Two of our main contacts are Rev. Sebastian Santa Maria and Juan Lobos Iturra.

Grand Opportunity for the Church

There are 24 Spanish-speaking countries in the world, if you include the United States. According to the Pew Hispanic Research Center there are, as of 2011, nearly 52 million Hispanics in the United States, or 16.7% of the U.S. population. Compare this to a white population of 63.3% and a black population of 12.3%. According to the Census Bureau, “Spanish remained the most often spoken language other than English, with Spanish speakers increasing from 17.3 million in 1990 to 28.1 million in 2000, a 62 percent rise. Just over half the Spanish speakers reported speaking English ‘very well.’” It is projected that the Hispanic population will be in the majority in a few decades.

We have a great opportunity to bring the true gospel to a large segment of the population, a population that tends to be religiously minded and open to discussing spiritual matters. The Latino population is spreading to unlikely places and locations that do not suffer a “burnt-out syndrome” like Los Angeles and New York. May the Lord lay it upon our hearts in the RPCNA to seize this opportunity for the kingdom of Christ to bring the Reformed faith among the Spanish-speaking peoples in the United States and beyond!

—Edgar A. Ibarra Jr. is a member of Trinity RPC in Beltsville, Md. He has a B.A. (cum laude) in Spanish with emphasis in Latin American studies from San Francisco State University. He is a student under care of the Presbytery of the Alleghenies.