Que placer es encontrarnos otra vez … Tú y yo en comunión adorando al mismo Dios …
“What a joy it is for us to meet again … You and I in communion, worshiping the same God.” These phrases from a song of greeting used by Colombian Mennonites express the spirit of the March 2013 reunion of the Ecuador Partnership. Representatives from Central Plains Mennonite Conference (CPMC), Mennonite Mission Network, and IMCOL (the Colombia Mennonite Church) visited with congregations in Quito and Riobamba for four days before flying to Bogotá, Colombia, along with representatives of the Ecuador churches, for a week of continued fellowship, learning, and partnership meetings.
Learn more about a partnership visit to Arajuno, Ecuador
Near Quito, in the town of Calderón, partners visited the new location of a shelter house for the Quito congregation’s growing ministry with Colombian refugees. A Bible study and prayer group including both Ecuadorians and Colombians has been meeting in the neighborhood, and this Calderón group celebrated its first Sunday worship service during the partnership’s visit, on March 17.
In the mountainside Quito neighborhood of Jardines del Inca, partners visited Vida Juvenil, a youth project the Quito congregation has launched to address that neighborhood’s incidence of pregnancy among girls ages 10-14. Continuing with its other ministries with youth, the congregation holds monthly peace education workshops for community children, and offers daily after-school help with homework at the church.
The partnership group divided to attend Sunday worship services in both Quito and Riobamba, three hours away. The Riobamba church reported on a thriving couples’ ministry and the formation during the past year of a youth group. Riobamba youth said they were inspired to meet regularly and to organize dramas for worship after visiting with Colombian Mennonite youth last year.
Spending a week in Colombia gave North American and Ecuadorian visitors the chance to learn more about the Colombian church, including its seminary, peace work, congregations, and annual assembly. Because decades of violence have caused many to flee their homes, Bogota Mennonite churches sponsor children’s lunch programs and other ministries in settlements of displaced persons. Near the city, partners visited three ministries that have also become church plants, in Los Pinos, Rincón del Lago, and San Nicolás.
Download full-resolution image.Although the entire visit in Ecuador and Colombia was integral to the partnership process, two days were set aside for the business of partnership agenda. Meetings were held March 20-21 at Teusaquillo Mennonite Church with 24 people attending. Partners considered new directions for ministry, including possible personnel placements for theological training and pastoral accompaniment, and for community-based work with indigenous churches (the source of the original invitation to Ecuador). Partners encouraged the Ecuador coordinators in the process of securing legal standing within Ecuador. They have already initiated the process of becoming fraternal members of Mennonite World Conference.
The visit concluded with three days at the Colombian Mennonite Church conference assembly held at a retreat center and former mission school near Cachipay. It began with a day of Bible teaching conducted by César Moya and Patricia Urueña, Colombian mission workers since 2000 in Ecuador, and ended Sunday night with communion.
In 10 days of travel, fellowship and work together in Ecuador and Colombia, partners learned much about each other and the ministries that each has developed as expressions of a shared Anabaptist faith.
Central Plains Conference and the Colombian Mennonite Church have partnered with Mennonite Mission Network for work in Ecuador since the appointment of Colombian Mennonites César Moya and Patricia Urueña in 2000. Since January of 2012, William and Luz Marina Valencia have served in Riobamba, Ecuador, through the partnership. The Colombian church developed from the work of General Conference Mennonite Church missionaries who arrived in Colombia in 1945. The Ecuador Partnership supports the ministries of congregations developing in Ecuador, including Colombian refugee ministries, peace education, and academic strengthening for neighborhood children.
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Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact news@mennonitemission.net.
