Missionaries & Projects

Eunice Arias and Luis Aramayo currently serve as missionaries in Venezuela. Image by: Courtesy Eunice Arias and Luis Aramayo Dios es Amor; God is Love. Image by: Courtesy Eunice Arias and Luis Aramayo

For us to be in God's Mission is a way of "being" and not necessarily a way of "doing." We are sure that many Methodists around the world share this understanding. The General Board of Global Ministries, according to press reports, is signaling a cultural shift in how the denomination does mission.

"We need to become expert in facilitation, passionate for partnership and open to the mission visions of our partners," said Thomas Kemper, the new Global Ministries General Secretary, at the last board meeting. What a challenge!

"Facilitation." This a beloved, inspiring, and holistic word for us; it is an attitude and skill, a way of being and a way of serving. We see ourselves as facilitators of mission for the new and abundant life in Christ. In our comprehension "to facilitate" (from Latin: to make easier, to help bring about, to assist the progress) doesn't mean to take someone else's place; it means to accompany someone else in his/her spiritual/life journey.

It means to listen carefully and to be aware of what's going on in someone else's life and the surrounding context. To facilitate is to empower people to be able to decide upon their lives, their families and homes, their churches and government, their land and natural resources, their countries. To facilitate, in other words, is to love as God loves us.

It seems "nice" to be a facilitator, but how can we be sure that we are doing God's will? When the basic needs for life are fulfilled, how do we live in and for God's mission? And if the job description of a missionary doesn't fit contextual expectations or local conditions, how do you facilitate processes?

It's easy to lose the path or get blinded by immediate circumstances and/or the political, social, economic, and cultural context. It is easy to forget that we are in mission in the midst of a very complex world, and that we live as individuals and as faith communities always in tension between the oppressive world powers that permeate society--including the church and its institutions--and the power arising from Jesus' cross, the power of love.

To be in mission is to pray for the Holy Spirit to help us discern how to live as Christians in God's mission.

Venezuela, like any other country in the world, is very complex in every sense, and a very open mind is needed not to judge from first impressions or only one perspective. Sadly the Venezuelan population is polarized, and people receive their "identity" and create relationships based on the side they belong to and/or support.

The first thing people want to know is: are you chavista (supporter of Hugo Chávez, the nation's president) or are you part of the opposition? It seems there is no place for other options…and this is not good news. At the beginning we were shocked by this polarization, but this is not a "new" situation, since polarization is a social sin lived in almost every time and every place; what is new is its openness: it's "on the table" for everyone to see.

Time, prayer, and discernment showed us that to be in mission in Venezuela today is to announce that there is another option: people can develop a special loving identity by their acceptance of Christ. People can let the Holy Spirit form them an inclusive identity without fear, embracing people from different ideologies, cultures, visions.

This option discerns injustice and opposition to abundant life and commits to the transformation of society and the renewal of all creation.

We thank God because the Spirit is guiding and supporting us while we facilitate encounters with Christ for teenagers, youth, and adults as we support the Christian Methodist Community of Venezuela's ministry in Maracaibo.