Photo: Prayer for the new members of the Iglesia Menonita Hispana board. Photo by Katie Hurst. 

Representatives from Iglesia Menonita Hispana (IMH, Hispanic Mennonite Church) congregations met July 3 to 5 to reconfigure organizational structure through the approval of a revised constitution, vote on a new IMH Executive Board and renew commitments to working in collaboration with MC USA. The meeting focused on the theme “Transformados y Renovados” or “Transformed and Renewed” as part of the Mennonite Church USA Convention in Orlando.

Lupe Aguilar, pastor of Iglesia Menonita Rey de Gloria in Brownsville, Texas, opened Tuesday’s sessions with a devotional.

“We are celebrating because God is with us,” he said. “The church of God is going to change, and I see that confidence and faith in the men and women here today.”

IMH has 66 member congregations and lost more than a third of its total membership and several IMH Executive Board members in 2015 when the “Concilio Hispano,” the Spanish Mennonite Council of Churches of Lancaster (Pa.) Mennonite Conference withdrew from IMH and MC USA over a variety of topics including the inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals.

“We are going to pray for our brothers and sisters that left,” said Aguilar. “God bless them…they are still our brothers and sisters and we are celebrating that God is working.”

On Monday IMH passed a revised constitution that included several significant organizational changes. Previously, IMH had only nine representatives from each district that made up a Board of Representatives. Now the board will be made up of a representative from each Mennonite area conference associated with IMH: 19 in total.

“[The representatives] will bring the voice of each conference to IMH,” said Sandra Montes-Martinez, who serves as moderator on the IMH Executive Board. “We would like to work with every single conference, respecting how they do things but working with them and being partners with them.”

Another significant change in the constitution is that IMH membership is no longer limited to Hispanic congregations as a whole or individuals who attend Hispanic Mennonite congregations. Hispanic constituents who worship at any congregation can now become a member of IMH individually.

“We are excited to work at a conference level, at a congregational level and at an individual level,” said Montes-Martinez.

IMH affirmed five new members for the junta general, or IMH Executive Board on Tuesday. New board members include Hildalejandra Pellecer as secretary, Suhelen Caceras as treasurer, Ulises Arenas as moderator-elect and Norma Alfaro-Smucker as an at-large member. Sandra Montes-Martinez served previously as moderator-elect but will begin the new term serving as moderator.

IMH also affirmed Margie Mejia Caraballo as the next IMH representative to serve on the MC USA Executive Board.

“It’s really exciting that everyone is new,” said Yvonne Diaz, who is currently finishing her term as IMH representative on the MC USA Executive Board. “I hope we can continue this theme with new ideas and a new way of doing things.”

Past board members surrounded the newly-approved board members and shared words of blessing and praise as they prepared for the transition.

“This is service work filled with love and passion, not just a position of power,” said Montes-Martinez. “This isn’t where IMH begins, rather this is a new structure of Iglesia Menonita Hispana.”

IMH representatives sang, prayed and cried together in a symbolic passing on of board membership.

Montes-Martinez said IMH wants to focus on developing leadership and continuing a relationship with MC USA as the group looks to the future.

“One thing we really want to push forward is equipping our pastors, to prepare them for leadership and see them attending our Mennonite colleges,” said Montes-Martinez. “We also want to have more theological understanding of the changes that are happening denominationally, and we want to continue partnering with the Mennonite programs that benefit the Hispanic community.”

Montes-Martinez is hopeful and excited about Iglesia Menonita Hispana’s future.

“What excites us the most is that we can work with the whole conference, with everybody. We don’t want to work separately from MC USA, we are part of MC USA and we want to represent that as we work and make decisions.”