PARNELL, Iowa (Mennonite Mission Network) — Mennonite Mission Network and Central Plains Mennonite Conference (CPMC) celebrated the history and ongoing development of the Ecuador Mission Partnership on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014, at West Union Mennonite Church in Parnell, Iowa.
The evening began with introductions, conversation, and fellowship over dessert and hot drinks. A 16-page, full-color booklet containing a timeline and brief history of the mission partnership was presented to each attendee.
Linda Shelly, director for Latin America for Mennonite Mission Network; Dave Boshart, Central Plains Mennonite Conference executive; and Don Kempf, who coordinates the conference’s work with the partnership; described the gifts that each of the partners brings, including the Colombia Mennonite Church (IMCOL), a partner since 2000.
Shelly explained how the work in Ecuador began at the initiative of the Council of Indigenous Evangelical Peoples & Organizations (FEINE), who reached out to Mennonite Board of Missions, a predecessor agency of Mennonite Mission Network, with a need for theological training.
While the partners have continued to relate with FEINE and indigenous churches up to the present time, the partnership also developed several Mennonite churches in Quito and Riobamba, and the churches operate a program ministering to refugees from conflict in neighboring Colombia. Each of the partners has contributed personnel to the work in Ecuador. Among those who have served, César Moya and Patricia Urueña of Colombia served the longest, a total of 14 years.
“The vision has grown through the partners,” said Shelly. She said that the Colombia Mennonite Church provided ecclesial support for the planting and development of the churches in Ecuador. Their holistic model of church development in serving the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs has influenced the churches greatly. A ministry to refugees is one such outcome.
Boshart said that within Central Plains, “the understanding of ministry has become more collaborative,” as a result of the partnership.
“We continue to learn about ministry through the partnership in ways that inform how we do ministry here,” said Boshart.
Reflecting on the role of Colombia in the partnership, Kempf said, “In the beginning, a lot of the initiative for the partnership came from Mission Network and CPMC. It is significant that in recent years the Colombia Mennonite Church has come to us with a vision for mission and interest in partnering in ministry in Venezuela and possibly Peru.”
“Without the Mission Network providing administrative and partnership experience, we would not have been able to do this ministry,” said Boshart. “We are very grateful.”
Two families who plan to begin serving in Ecuador in 2015 were introduced at the celebration. Jane and Jerrell Ross Richer, with their children, Sierra, Naomi, Teresa and Jordan, will leave for Ecuador in January 2015. This is a two-way mission placement with half the year in Ecuador and half in the United States, where Jerrell teaches at Goshen (Indiana) 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.
Jane studied abroad in Ecuador as a college student and the Ross Richers visited indigenous communities in Peru and Ecuador several times while leading Study Service Term groups in Peru for Goshen College. Jerrell said they were inspired by the indigenous leaders’ understanding of “evangelio integral,” a whole gospel. “They want salvation for their village and for their rivers as well,” he said.
Delicia Bravo and Peter Wigginton, with their daughter, Aliyah, will also begin serving in 2015. They will serve as partnership coordinators in Ecuador, and also in the church programs with their gifts in music, education, and children and youth ministries. Both served with Mennonite Central Committee in separate, one-year assignments, she in IVEP and he in SALT. After marriage, they served in Uganda together. Bravo is Bolivian and Wigginton grew up as the child of Mennonite mission workers in the Argentine Chaco.
The two expressed excitement about “getting back in the Latin American context.” While the job title is coordinators for Ecuador Program, they will also pursue other areas of ministry where they have gifts, including music, education, and children and youth ministry with the Ecuador Mennonite churches.
Mission Network Executive Director Stanley W. Green and Global Ministries Senior Executive James R. Krabill also offered remarks at the celebration. The celebration followed a day of Mission Network board meetings and a meeting of the CPMC Partnership Task Force. Board members and workers spoke in 12 area congregations the following Sunday morning.
“Mission Network is committed to finding fresh and creative ways to partner with our constituency and with national churches in the global South in initiating new ministry efforts together,” said Krabill. “The Ecuador Partnership is a classic example of how this can happen in respectful and reciprocal ways that model mutuality and serve as a model for other such initiatives in Latin America and beyond. The Mission Festival reminded us of how much there is to celebrate in this remarkable story of God’s faithfulness through the efforts of God’s people in the global Mennonite family.”
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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.
