Christian Latina Leadership Blog

By: Nora O. Lozano

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As an organization that supports and promotes Christian women in leadership and in ministry, recently, the CLLI, as other organizations with similar goals, was questioned about its beliefs. The events that happened at the 2023 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) regarding women in ministry, prompted different people to ask: where is your organization’s position in all this?

I was thankful that the CLLI has a clear response based on the CLLI Faith Statement. In 2018, this document was approved by consensus by the CLLI Board. The goals of this document are to clarify what we believe as an organization, as well as to guide the Board in its decision-making process. Here is the statement:

                                                         CLLI Faith Statement

Guided by the Bible, God’s word, and as personal witnesses of God’s love, grace, and transformation, we believe:

• in a Triune God: God, the creator and preserver of all that was created; Jesus, the Savior and Redeemer of humanity, who is our example of life and ethics; and, the Holy Spirit, the sustainer of both the individual Christian and the Church, who equips both men and women with gifts for the edification of the Church, and the expansion of God’s reign.

• that human beings were created in the image of God, as male and female, have sinned, and are invited by God to experience salvation through Jesus.

• in the church as a community of faith where women and men are called by God to serve according to the gifts that they receive from the Holy Spirit.

• in the transformative work of this Triune God, that starts on this earth through Jesus’ salvation and regeneration, continues through the process of sanctification, and will be brought to completion in God’s eternity.

As I re-read this document, once more I felt good about it. While this statement is not exhaustive, especially for me as a theologian, it is comprehensive enough as it deals with the core Christian beliefs that support the CLLI vision and mission as organization.

Given the recent SBC events, this statement clearly expresses that at the CLLI we believe in an ecclesiology that affirms women in leadership and in ministry as they are called by God, and equipped with the Holy Spirit’s gifts. This affirmation is based on 1 Corinthians 12 where the apostle Paul describes the church as the body of Christ. In this chapter, God and the Holy Spirit give gifts according to their will.

⁷ Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. ⁸ To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.

¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 

According to these passages, there is no grounds to affirm that the gifts are given based on the gender of a person. They are given based on the wisdom and love of God and the Holy Spirit.

What happens at the CLLI if a woman disagrees with this theology? She is still welcome! We accept all Christian women (Latinas and Latinas-at-heart) who are willing to be respectful of others’ theologies. I remember a particular occasion when in one of our trainings, a student said that she did not believe that women pastors existed, and then another student raised her hand and answered: “I am a pastor. I do exist.”

As an educational institution that is open to women from different Christian traditions, the CLLI trainings are a wonderful space of respectful conversation that is good, productive, and challenging. The kind of space that allows for leadership development and growth.

For 18 years, the CLLI has been a space where women have found their voice and their particular divine given place in the body of Christ. I could share countless stories about the ways that CLLI students have been transformed and empowered, but I am aware that I am writing a blog, not a book. Instead, I want to invite you to visit our Facebook page to read many of these stories.

The Holy Trinity is working among us at the CLLI, and among many women and men around the world who have understood that God is sovereign to call whomever God wants to call, that Jesus saved all men and women who believe in him, and that the Holy Spirit gives gifts and equips according to his will.

What are we supposed to do before this? Follow the Holy Trinity’s guide and example, and contribute with all that we can to promote and realize their will, vision, and plan.

When the Bible urges us in John 4:35 to look around, and see that the fields are ripe for harvesting, at the CLLI, we see all these women who are in need of hearing the Good News of the Gospel. The news that affirms that they are created in God’s image, saved by Jesus, and called and equipped to serve in the ministries that the Holy Spirit has envisioned and opened for them according to his will. 

So, let’s continue moving forward. There is much to do!