Our Ministry in Ecuador
by Mauricio Chenlo  

In 1990 I was at a conference with the Southern Cone Mennonites in South America.  There, I met Gerald Mumaw, former Latin American director for Mennonite Board of Missions (MBM).  I also knew Gerald from Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary (AMBS).  Gerald introduced me to Greg Rake, director of MAP International, an organization that provides medical supplies for places in need around the world.  

Greg and Gerald articulated the vision of having someone to walk along side indigenous Kichwa leadership in Ecuador at a national level. We moved to Quito, Ecuador, in January 1992 and stayed there until December 1995.  My wife, Sara, was involved in work with a family therapy program in southern Quito.

I also became the first dean of a leadership training program for pastors and church planters at Centro Indigena de Estudios Teologicos (Center for Indigeneous Theological Studies) among the Kichwa people in the city of Riobamba, capital of the Chimborazo province in Ecuador.  I also visited Colombia a couple of times and a program on Conflict Transformation was started as a result of those visits.  Interestingly, two of the Kichwa leaders I worked with in Chimborazo are currently national congressmen.

MBM couldn't find a replacement for us until relationships developed with the Colombian church. Greg Rake and Linda Shelly later became instrumental in the success of Anabaptist/Mennonite presence in Ecuador. I had close ties to CLAI (Consejo Latinoamericano de Iglesias - Latin American Council of Churches),
and was also a visiting preacher at the Lutheran/Episcopal international church of Quito. This church appreciated my Anabaptist perspective, and I still keep in touch with those dear friends.

--Mauricio Chenlo, September, 2012