Area Secretary visit to Ecuador, October 28th November 3rd

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1 Area Secretary visit to Ecuador, October 28th November 3rd Purposes To attend the General Assembly of the United Evangelical Methodist Church in Ecuador (IEMUE). To learn about first hand and assess the work of the Nationals in Mission Appointments in the church. Over the last five years the IEMUE has become a stronger, more united and better organised means of extending God s mission in Ecuador. Bishop Salamon Cabezas has wisely used his considerable personal resources and social influence for the benefit of the Church. Under his leadership he has managed to hold together an originally diverse, strongly independent and loosely associated number of congregations into a body that is developing a Methodist identity and purpose. Through his leadership he is laying the foundation for a well-trained and competent group of pastors that will assume the leadership of the Church in the near future. I began the visit in Ecuador with a visit to the work of Pastor Rodolfo Lemos in the rural community of Pacto. Five years ago this was an isolated community a few miles from the equator full of hopelessness. Today, well supported by community leaders, the National in Mission Appointment (NMA) has established a growing church that is the focus for village life and development. Essential to the development of the community has been government investment in building a paved road to the village and installing reliable means of communication and basic utilities. Teachers who unwillingly were placed in the community to endure basic accommodation and resources have been replaced with more professional staff who are able to travel daily into the village and provide a better quality primary education, this has been complemented by the Methodist Church, that has provided well developed premises in which to hold after class activities, homework clubs and a feeding centre for the children that travel from more isolated satellite communities. The Methodist Church, through Rodolfo s wife Maria has become a centre where the women of the community gather to be taught skills that will enable them to provide income for their families such as dress and crafts making. As they have gathered to work together, they have

2 also held workshops on intrafamilial violence, where they have been empowered to speak out, resist and overcome this form of abuse. Whereas five years ago, the economy of the village depended on the export of agricultural products grown in private small holdings and the cutting down of wood from the prime semi tropical forest that surrounds it, today Pastor Lemos and the community are taking advantage of a nearby scenic set of waterfalls to create an eco tourism centre. Spaces are being created for people from Quito to enjoy the natural beauty of the area and for schools to learn about the diversity of flora and fauna and how to protect it. Uncontrolled logging has been stopped and agriculture has been developed alongside education taking place on the therapeutic and healing use of traditional herbal medicine. Because the Methodist Church has a resident pastor with his family involved in every area of community life the church has become the focus for the spiritual life of the community and has overcome the prejudices against evangelicals that had been deeply ingrained as a result of cultural Roman Catholicism. The Church has grown from 25 to 75 members developing their faith and teaching a Sunday school of 40 children and young people. After a meeting for worship, love feast and cultural presentation by the school, I was presented with a number of gifts, sugar, craft jewellery that the women had produced and bookmarks that the children had prepared in Sunday school ahead of my visit. The bookmark read ya se leer muchas gracias. Marcia I now know how to read, many thanks. Marcia Unfortunately improved communication to Pacto has also resulted in escalating the level of migration from rural to urban centres in Quito and increased family wealth has meant that young men purchase noisy trail bikes to get around resulting in country tracks are being churned up and land erosion increasing

3 near the most popular tourism areas. On the second day, with NMA David Murgueytio, I visited Llano Grande in the city of Calderon some fourty minutes from Quito. This is a community of migrant Ecuadorian homes that either stand empty or exist behind imposing walls, homes of indigenous families that resist dividing up their plots for more intense housing and a community of Afro-Ecuadorian citizens that are marginalized and discriminated against. In this community David and his wife Marjorie work with a church of 40 members and a ministry to 70 children. Marjorie is training to become a pastor and working with 15 to 20 women at providing empowerment and education to prevent them and their children from becoming victims of intrafamilial violence. During a visit in Llano Grande we stop and accompany Maria Muzo, a member of the church. Maria is an indigenous Quiche woman who for 58 years has been an evangelical she was the first to be converted to Christ in her community by Brethren missionaries from the United States. When she was converted she faced the isolation of her parents and neighbours since in indigenous culture it is a crime to depart from the faith of the community. She was called a gringo whore, a she-wolf and they laughed at her by saying that the gringo s had come to make her into a perra caliente or hot dog. As she persisted in her faith and anger at her grew, one night her neighbours gathered around her home with torches to burn it down, she stood firm, said that no matter what they did she would not change her faith and offered them matches to light their torches with. Slowly though, through her constant life of faith and help to others she won the respect of many and when persecuted missionaries left the country, she continued the church and became a respected member of her people who gathered others to be disciples of Jesus Christ. The respect and warmth of reception and smiles she received when we reached her destination was evidence of her ministry. Economic growth and political stability in Ecuador has not yet stemmed the number of young emigrants that leave for the United States and Europe in search of education and better job opportunities. The impact of this on Llano Grande is evident, part of the community appear to be deserted streets with little more than walled plots of land on which are homes in varying stages of construction. Emigrants leave Ecuador and for a while work hard to buy land and build homes in the community they come from. However, many do not return as they also establish themselves with families and communities in their new land. When and if they return, they face resentment and hostility by those they left behind, in some cases gangs of people wait at the airport looking out for Ecuadorians returning home, they follow them to their homes and when the opportunity presents itself the homes are robbed and ransacked. With Pastor David we visit

4 one family where a woman and her daughter live in apparent nervous isolation, protecting their home while the men work in nearby Quito. An outstanding piece of mission has been started by David and Marjorie amongst Afro-Ecuadorian children. This began when church neighbours began to complain about the number of black children that played around the church. The church was asked why they did not do something about the perceived threat of its children. The Pastor explained that they were not the church s children and they would do little to drive them away. David and Marjorie nevertheless took the demands as a sign from God that the church should be ministering to the children. This they did and children come to receive teaching, food and clothes and attend homework clubs and Sunday school. Many black children are prevented from going beyond primary education because of economic circumstances, the church hopes to use its substantial plot of land to build a college to meet this need. In the mean time with help from a young black children s social worker, the church has bought the children a set of drums and when we returned to the church the children were practicing for a presentation they would later make during a celebration event at the General Assembly. There was joy and enthusiasm evident as they beat a complicated set of rhythms which distracted the feeling of rejection they had met earlier when they had been told to go away from school because the teachers had not turned up. At the final celebration of the IEMUE s General Assembly. The children performed what they had been preparing for. Their joy in and enthusiasm to participate was evident, but the sense of joy for church and pastor was that for the first time the children s parents and grandparents were attending worship and hearing not only the beat of the drums, but that of the Gospel proclaimed. The day concluded with a visit to Ascabuzi where Pastor Sylvio Sevallos, with his wife and children had built up a congregation of 92 members around work with children. Ascabuzi, is at the heart of the flower growing industry in Ecuador, because both parents in the community work long hours to produce and package boxes of roses and orchids for export to Europe and the United States, after school, children are left to fend for themselves or in the care of older siblings. The church has developed a successful ministry of feeding the children, holiday and homework clubs and teaching them the gospel in Sunday school.

5 On Thursday 1 st of November the General Assembly of the IEMUE gathered at the Church s head quarters in Quito, this was a normal working day which meant that the assembly made a very random and uncertain start as it waited to be quorate. When eventually a sufficient number of people were present, the Assembly began with reading of the minutes of the previous meeting and devotions by Bishop Cabezas in which he called for greater unity. Two other formerly independent congregations have petitioned the IEMUE to be part of it and after reports had been received from them, they were received as part of the Methodist Church in Ecuador. Over this and the next day the numbers present slowly increased to over forty and the gathering began to do some substantial reporting and engage in full discussion. Throughout the reports the common themes were reiterated of congregations being built up by more or less trained pastors, engaging in mission based on social action in response to community needs. Each congregation has to be self sustaining creating a situation where pastors are dependent on what a congregation can offer and they work for, the various stories were an impressive telling and retelling of commitment to mission in the faces of great difficulty. The NMA s are the only ones paid a secure and just stipend, this has created a large disparity in pastor s salaries. While in the financial reporting I am assured that the resources being sent from the Methodist Church in Britain for NMA s are being used in accordance with the terms and conditions of the programme, I am led to wonder whether this is the best way to support the IEMUE. Blanca Lucia Virracocha known by the Assembly as Blankita five years ago was a nervous young quiche Christian woman living with her parents and struggling to support herself from the selling of vegetables and corn produced on her family s small holding. Despite paying unjust prices for produce to middlemen, she worked hard and made sacrifices to deepen her study, she taught her mother to read and write and is teaching her people to value and appreciate their

6 culture. With the help of Universidad Biblica Latinamericana (UBL) she is being theologically trained through UBL s extension centre in Quito. She is currently the only woman pastor approved to serve in a congregation, but more are following her example especially amongst the young. After the reporting from local and district levels the emphasis moved to reporting at institutional level. The financial report revealed that though a genuine attempt is being made to account for all resources received internally and externally, there appears to be no substantial audit. Bishop Salomon Cabezas contributes a substantial amount of time and resources but other than reporting a small honorarium paid to him, no accounting appears to be evident on how much he actually receives or contributes. After several times requesting a copy of the accounts of the Church, the best I was ultimately offered was a list of income and expenditure without a list of external resources received but including the income and expenditure accounting for all the resources received from the Methodist Church in Britain. Seeking clarification into whether an external audit is carried out, it was clear that this does not take place due to its perceived expense. There is however an appreciation throughout the leadership of the Church to improve this, suggesting that at least in the short term resources from the MCB may be best directed to establishing greater accountability and transparency within IEMUE. The youth report showed that young people are concerned with theological training and formation to equip them for evangelism and service. They actively participate in the youth activities organised by the Latin America Council of Evangelical Methodist Churches (CIEMAL), the Church has about 300 young people organised at national level, they are better educated than most members of the Church and they are calling to not only be heard, but also allowed to participate more inclusively in the government of the Church. The Women s Work report was also very positive. Women have come together to participate and learn in various workshops and courses to strengthen their impact and ministry to the Church. These have included, conflict resolution, biblical and theological training, practical income generating skills and intrafamilial violence awareness. Bishop Salomon Cabezas in his report spoke of how the IEMUE had begun with 4 churches at the start of his leadership of the Church, today there are sixteen congregations and the Church has doubled its membership. During the last four years since he was consecrated Bishop, significant improvements had been made to buildings using the resources and energy of Volunteers in Mission Teams from the USA. All pastors have received some training and some are receiving substantial theological formation in theological colleges in Latin America and the Caribbean. The sense of connexion and identity has been strengthened and the Church has been well represented overseas. Good order has been established in the conduct of the General Assembly leading to progress in all areas of the Church s life. There is substantial truth in these claims and it was very encouraging to see the General Assembly gather, listen and discuss its business with respect for order and a desire to make progress. The substantial needs of the IEMUE are.

7 Administrative support. Theological training and salary support for Pastors. An annual budget An accounting system able to meet international accountability standards. A four-year strategic plan. Reforming a constitution taken from the UMC to reflect local needs and realities. The final day of the General Assembly was given over to elections including that of the Bishop. Though Bishop Salomon Cabezas was re-elected for a further period of four years, it was clear that a substantial number of votes had been cast for Eduardo Morales (the first NMA the BMC supported in Ecuador). This is perhaps an indicator that though the members of IEMUE have a deep affection for and loyalty to their Bishop, it is also looking ahead to the time when the gentle authority and support of the ageing Bishop will give way to a younger leadership that is accountable in a different way to the General Assembly. This was followed by the election of the two regional Superintendents of which one was Pastor Rodolfo Lemos (recent NMA in Pacto) and the other members of the governing board with which the Bishop will lead the Church over the next four years. It was encouraging to see how the Church included a young people s representative on the Board and began to tackle the gender imbalance in the leadership of the Church by electing young women to office. It was a great privilege to have accompanied the IEMUE in its recent development. It was also very good to see how many of my misapprehensions prior to the visit had been overcome. I thank the IEMUE and its members for the warmth of reception and regard for the Methodist Church in Britain they expressed to me. I thank the MCB for making the visit possible and affirmation to vocation that it provided. Tom Quenet. November 2007.