Introduction to:
Ministry Spanish: Using Spanish to Spread the Gospel and Meet Needs
Introduction
Who this book is for
I wrote this book with several different groups of people in mind:
- People
who have never learned ANY Spanish but find themselves needing to use
the language in their Christian ministry
- Students
of Spanish who, despite taking years of courses, find themselves
without the required vocabulary for expressing their faith in Spanish
and using their Spanish in Christian ministry
- People
who will be participating in a mission trip to a Spanish-speaking
country and would like to be able to establish relationships with and
converse with Spanish speakers without having to rely exclusively on an
interpreter
- People
who live in communities with a large number of Spanish speakers and who
wish to build relationships and minister to those individuals
If
you fit into any of the above categories, this book is for
you!
While reading this book will certainly not give
you native-level fluency, it will give you the language skills
you need to make new Spanish speaking friends and minister to them.
How to use
this book
If you are already familiar with some
Spanish, you
may go directly to the chapters of most interest to you.
However,
if you have no knowledge of Spanish, I highly recommend beginning with
chapter one as it will give you the most essential words and
expressions
that everyone visiting a Spanish-speaking country should know.
I suggest that you begin using your new Spanish-speaking
skills as
soon as possible as I have found that the vast majority of Spanish
speakers are very patient and quite willing to tolerate the errors of
beginners. Most importantly, please read
the
book prayerfully and ask God to lead you toward those who need to know
Him and to give you the confidence to communicate clearly in Spanish.
How this book is
organized
This book is more like a phrasebook than
a traditional
textbook. The idea is to provide you with the words and
phrases you
need to be immediately effective in your ministry. (Those
students
who wish to understand the details of the Spanish language should
consider
purchasing a textbook on Spanish grammar or taking a university
course).
Each word and expression is presented with an English
translation
and a pronunciation guide. Please understand that the
pronunciation guide alone will not allow you to acheive a perfect
accent. Such mastery of Spanish phonetics can only come by
listening to and imitating native speakers over many years.
However, following the pronunciation guide provided in this
book
will help you to make yourself understood by native speakers.
The book is organized into five chapters
followed by
several appendices. Chapter one provides you with the basic
words
and phrases needed to greet others and survive in a Spanish-speaking
country. Chapter two takes you beyond basic greetings and
helps
you
to truly begin to converse with and build relationships with Spanish
speakers. Chapter three gives you the tools you need to
inquire
about
basic needs so that you can help provide for those needs.
Chapter
four teaches you how to make a clear presentation of the
Gospel
message. It will also show you how to share your testimony in
Spanish! Chapter five teaches you how to explain the
Christian
lifestyle in Spanish so that you can disciple new believers.
Finally, several appendices provide you with additional
ministry-related vocabulary that is
not included in the five chapters.