This is an adaptation of an article Goshen College released in December 2014.
GOSHEN, Ind. (Goshen College) — In January, Jane and Jerrell Ross Richer, and their four kids – Sierra, Naomi, Teresa and Jordan — embarked on a new adventure to Ecuador. They live and work in the eastern Pastaza rainforest region with indigenous peoples and relate with the Ecuador Mennonite Church.
Unique to this placement with Mennonite Mission Network, is its dual-location nature. In the winter and spring of each year, the Ross Richers will work closely with indigenous pastors and church leaders in Ecuador to develop educational programs in relationship with the indigenous organization, Consejo de Pueblos y Organizaciones Indígenas Evangelicas de Ecuador (Council of Indigenous Evangelical Peoples and Organizations of Ecuador, FEINE).
In the summer and fall, they will return to Goshen, Indiana, where Jerrell is a professor of economics at Goshen College. Together, Jane and Jerrell will share in churches and other settings what they have learned from indigenous sisters and brothers in the global South.
Supported by six congregations in Indiana, Michigan and California, the Ross Richers’ placement continues the Ecuador Partnership (Central Plains Mennonite Conference, Colombia Mennonite Church, and Mennonite Mission Network) ministries with indigenous churches. The family attends Waterford Mennonite Church in Goshen.
In Ecuador, the Ross Richers’ work with indigenous Ecuadorian people will focus on themes of economic justice, creation care, and women and children’s rights. They will also work with community-led proposals of programs to support women and youth development.
When he returns to campus in the fall, Jerrell’s economics classes will continue to focus on sustainability, faith and international development. Bringing first-hand knowledge and experience, he will teach undergraduate and graduate classes, as well as lead occasional off-campus and online courses while in Ecuador.
The Ross Richers are no strangers to travel: they spent 10 semesters leading Goshen College Study-Service Term (SST) groups in Peru, which borders Ecuador, in 2009 and 2013. While there, they got to know many indigenous people.
“The indigenous people that we had a chance to meet have a different worldview, and it’s really refreshing,” said Jerrell.
Jerrell explained that most indigenous people are less interested in purely individualistic forms of salvation, but rather “evangelio integral,” the closest translation being a “holistic gospel.” They want salvation and healing for their whole communities: justice, dignity and rights, and “preservation of their own unique, native identity,” he added.
“Our hope is not to go and impose a North American version of Christianity,” says Jerrell, “but to literally walk alongside our indigenous sisters and brothers, and together discover what it means to follow Christ in their unique context.”
