On a sultry weeknight in Upper Fells Point, melodic waves of prayer uttered in Spanish -- insistent, urgent -- spill out of a storefront church on Eastern Avenue.
It is the sound of worship at Iglesia Pentecostal Dios es Amor -- God Is Love Pentecostal Church.
The tiny sanctuary, which opened last month, is the latest in a rising number of Hispanic Pentecostal churches in East Baltimore. A sign of the growing Hispanic community, at least eight Pentecostal churches serve Baltimore's Hispanics, with congregations ranging in size from a few dozen to a few hundred.
"At one time, there were just a few of us," said the Rev. Angel Nunez, senior pastor of the Spanish Christian Center in Highlandtown, which was founded in 1981 and is perhaps Baltimore's oldest Hispanic Pentecostal congregation. "What is happening is [the Latino population] in Baltimore is growing. And because it's growing, there is a spiritual need also."
According to the 1996 U.S. Census estimate, Baltimore had 8,220 Hispanic residents, but community leaders consider that a vast undercount.
"Before, it was just St. Michael's Church, which is Catholic [and the designated Hispanic parish], so people went there," said the Rev. Sebastian Tirado, pastor of the Iglesia de Dios de Baltimore (Baltimore Church of God). "Because there were not many churches around, there really was no alternative. Now with more churches, people are beginning to come to Pentecostal services."
Two of the largest churches, the Spanish Christian Center and the Iglesia Pentecostal de Evangelizacion Misionera (Evangelical Missionary Pentecostal Church), are long-standing institutions whose pastors have emerged as civic leaders.
The Spanish Christian Center, which was founded in 1981, has about 400 members, including former Orioles baseball player Leo Gomez (when he's not playing ball in Japan). After bouncing around Highlandtown, the church in 1994 bought and converted a bowling alley into a sanctuary, Sunday school classrooms, and a kitchen and meeting hall.
On South Broadway, in the heart of the Latino commercial district of markets and restaurants, the Rev. Daniel Santos bought a former adult movie theater from the city for $1 in 1994. Members used their talents to renovate the interior of the Iglesia Pentecostal de Evangelizacion Misionera, where about 200 people worship on a typical Sunday.
At the front of the sanctuary is a mural of a river flowing through a tropical paradise. In front of the mural is a working fountain and pool for immersion baptisms.
"We've fixed this place penny by penny," Santos said.
But most of the churches are much smaller. The Iglesia Pentecostal Dios es Amor, which is part of a worldwide Pentecostal church based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has about 40 regular members. Before moving to Eastern Avenue, its members met in a home in Glen Burnie. "It seemed that the situation there was very tranquil," said its pastor, the Rev. Hamilton da Silva. "So we moved to this area, where there is delinquency, alcoholics and prostitution. Then, by means of the Gospel, we are able to transform them."
The Rev. Inocencio Claudio, pastor of Iglesia Cristiana Canaan (Canaan Christian Church), started his congregation on Oct. 4, 1991, in the living room of his O'Donnell Heights home. Seven people attended that first service: Claudio, his wife, three of their daughters, their son, "and one brother in the faith." For two weeks, it was the same seven people.
"After that, they started coming," he said. They outgrew the living room, rented space in a church on E. Lombard St., and four years ago moved to the basement of Wesley United Methodist Church at Pratt Street and S. Highland Avenue. The membership has waxed and waned, from a high of 40 to about 25 at present. "You know how the Latino people are," Claudio said. "Many move back and forth" between the United States and their countries of origin.
Big or small, the one thing that unites the churches is their style of worship. Pentecostal Christians believe the power of the Holy Spirit is manifested in individual believers through spiritual "gifts" such as speaking in tongues, revelations from God and healing powers.
Pentecostalism is an American-born movement that started January 1, 1901, at the Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kan., and spread throughout the United States through revivals at places like the 1906 Azusa Street Mission in Los Angeles.
In recent years, Pentecostalism has seen tremendous growth among Hispanics, in this country and in Latin America, thanks to years of missionary efforts. Studies show that approximately 18 percent of Hispanics in the United States are Protestant, and the majority of those are Pentecostals.
In the Assemblies of God, the nation's largest Pentecostal denomination, "Hispanics have grown over 100 percent in the last 10 years," said the Rev. James Plata, president of the San Antonio-based Latin American Bible Institute.
"The Assemblies of God is known primarily as a white denomination," said Plata. "Our denomination has grown, and it is entirely because of the eight districts [nationwide] that are Hispanic. If you were to take out the eight Hispanic districts from our denomination, it would show a decline."
The appeal is twofold, said Hector I. Avalos, a religion professor at Iowa State University. First, "it democratizes power," he said. "All of the training you need [to be a leader] is imbued immediately by the Holy Spirit in their belief system. A convert theoretically from the first day has the power to be a leader, whereas in the Catholic church, which is very hierarchical, to go from convert to priest can take years because of the schooling you need.
"The other attraction to Pentecostalism is it is an alternative health care system," Avalos said. "Faith healing is quite prevalent among Pentecostals," and the churches are attractive to people who have had unsatisfactory experiences with conventional health care or can't afford to see a doctor.
Indeed, the front windows of Iglesia Pentecostal Dios es Amor have poster boards with photographs of healing services, with a message in handwritten letters: "Attention: Miracles of God. Anemia. Cancer. Don't suffer more."
Inez Laso said that after the church's pastor prayed over her, she was cured of heart trouble.
"There is power in this church," she said with fervor. "Tremendous power."
Heavenly competition
Much of the growth in the Hispanic Pentecostal churches has come from the ranks of Catholics, which has raised the concern of church leaders, from Pope John Paul II to parish priests who see their parishioners leave to attend the livelier services.
"We are concerned," said Sister Mary Neil Corcoran, director of the Hispanic Apostolate for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. "We've been very aware of this phenomenon for quite a few years."
Beginning next month, the Hispanic Apostolate will offer courses in basic Catholic doctrine. The courses are designed to provide basic information to Hispanic Catholics who might otherwise drift to Pentecostalism.
Doing more
"I've always felt that many of the recently arrived immigrants have very little education or any kind of [foundation] in Catholic doctrine," Corcoran said. "If we expect them to be Catholic, we have to do more."
In addition, at the Catholic Community of St. Michael and St. Patrick, the city's Hispanic parish on South Wolfe Street, about a dozen smaller Christian communities have formed to provide the intimacy some might find in a Pentecostal congregation. "We found out that it's the personalismo and feeling part of a community that is so basic to the Hispanic perspective in worship that is missing in some of our large congregations," Sister Mary Neil said.
Some of the congregations proselytize more aggressively than others. Members of Dios es Amor, for example, go door to door passing out tracts and inviting people to their services. Others are more sanguine.
"We don't see it as a competition," said Gema Tirado, wife of the pastor of Iglesia de Dios de Baltimore. "People go wherever they feel comfortable to go. But we all have the same purpose, to
work for the glory of God."
"We're trying to have a good relationship with the churches surrounding us," said Sebastian Tirado. "Personally, I don't feel there should be competition to have big numbers and be the best-known church in Baltimore. Our job is to preach the Gospel and help people in any way that we can."
Pub Date: 8/30/98