Latin American Methodists eager to rebuild
Church representatives light worship candles and renew relationships
among United Methodists and Methodists in Latin America and the
Caribbean.
UMNS photos by Larry Nelson.
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By Linda Bloom*
March 21, 2007 | PANAMA CITY, Panama (UMNS)
Years after their official separation, some Latin American Methodists
are struggling to maintain church buildings and other physical
structures inherited from The United Methodist Church.
Uruguay is a case in point, according to the Rev. Oscar Bolioli, president of the Methodist Church there since 2003.
Speaking during the March 1-4 consultation between The United
Methodist Church and Methodist churches of Latin America and the
Caribbean, Bolioli said many churches in the region "don’t have the
capacity to maintain what they have" or to develop new ministries.
The church in Uruguay, which spends "an immense amount of money"
maintaining its property, recently was forced to sell two buildings to
construct one new building to serve the poor. Methodists there have few
financial resources. "The people who come now to our churches are not
the middle class or the upper class but the poor," he explained.
Bolioli has a wealth of experience with the church in both the
northern and southern hemispheres. He first served as president of the
Methodist Church of Uruguay in the 1970s before moving to New York. As a
staff member for 22 years with the U.S. National Council of Churches,
he focused on the churches and issues of Latin America and the
Caribbean.
When it comes to the relationship with United Methodists, he said,
Methodists in Latin America and the Caribbean find the denomination
willing to help in disaster situations "but when we talk about the
development of the church, they say that is the responsibility of the
local and national church."
Such economic struggle is not unusual in the region, particularly for
newer churches such as the Methodist Church of Colombia. As Bishop Juan
Alberto Cardona pointed out, "Our pastors are in poor, humble
communities. We have a shortage of everything. We don’t even have a
single church structure."
Building relationships
But church representatives at the Panama City consultation were less
concerned about financial support than rebuilding bonds among Methodist
sisters and brothers. As the Council of Evangelical Methodist Churches
of Latin America and the Caribbean (CIEMAL) stated in 1998: "The
autonomy of our churches does not affect the connectionality; on the
contrary, it exalts it and maintains intercommunication and unity as a
Methodist people in the continent and in the world."
In recent years, three consultations have been significant to
relations between United Methodists and Methodists in the region,
according to Bishop Aldo Etchegoyen, CIEMAL’s chief executive.
"The
autonomy of our churches does not affect the connectionality; on the
contrary, it exalts it and maintains intercommunication and unity as a
Methodist people in the continent and in the world."
-CIEMAL statement, 1998
Those consultations occurred in 1983 in Peru between CIEMAL and the
United Methodist Board of Global Ministries; in 1986 in Mexico between
CIEMAL, Global Ministries and the United Methodist Council of
Bishops; and in 1991 in Guatemala with CIEMAL, the United Methodist
Church, Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, the British
Methodist Church and United Church of Canada.
Records from those consultations show a desire to maintain unity and
reject attempts at division, Etchegoyen noted. Participants also
affirmed "a clear concept" of holistic mission, personal salvation and
social redemption; the importance of evangelization, education, service
and social transformation; solidarity with other social movements and
the significance of ecumenical relationships.
The Rev. George Mulrain, president of the Caribbean church group,
said that while those churches have historical ties with the British
Methodists, "the geographic reality" places them closer to the United
States. "We have always had a relationship with The United Methodist
Church as an autonomous church," he added.
Collaborating in missions
The Rev. Oscar Bolioli says the Methodist Church of Uruguay has
struggled to maintain physical structures inherited from U.S.
Methodists.
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More recently, CIEMAL has collaborated with the Board of Global
Ministries on the Encounter with Christ program, which has raised nearly
$1.5 million for the mission of Methodist churches in Latin America and
the Caribbean.
Other relationships have expanded through the support of the United
Methodist Committee on Relief, Volunteers in Mission and Persons in
Mission.
But the mission work is not a one-way street. Through the United
Methodist Hispanic caucus known as MARCHA, the Methodist Church of
Mexico and CIEMAL have supported the rights of Hispanics in the United
States. Methodists from the region also support Spanish and
Portuguese-speaking U.S. congregations.
Brazil has sent missionaries to serve congregations of Methodist
Brazilians in the United States. Methodists in Latin America and the
Caribbean also have provided training and theological-pastoral formation
for some pastors serving in Spanish, Portuguese and English-speaking
United Methodist congregations.
Represented at the consultation were Methodists from Argentina,
Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama,
Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Venezuela and other parts of the
Caribbean. Representatives to Cuba were unable to attend due to travel
obstacles.
*Bloom is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in New York.
News media contact: Linda Bloom, New York, (646) 369-3759 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
Video Interviews
Bishop Minerva Carcano: "There's some woundedness."
Bishop Minerva Carcano: "…what it means to be connectional yet autonomous."
Bishop Juan Vera Mendez : "It was a slow, painful process." Also: En español
Bishop Juan Vera Mendez : "We hope the whole church will be involved." Also: En español
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Resources
CIEMAL
Board of Global Ministries |