Five reflections regarding the future of the Church from Mexico

 

Holly Adams, the Evangelism and Contemporary Culture Officer for the Connexional Team, shares five reflections about the future of the Church that she brought home with her from a recent visit to Mexico. 

It might feel backwards, in a blog about the future, to begin in the past. However, this is where we begin: in 1825, a group of Cornish tin-miners disembarked from the nearly-3,000 mile boat journey from England to Mexico, coming to work in the silver mines. With them, they brought Methodism, and along with missionaries from the US, they began to spread the Wesleyan tradition in Mexico.

It wasn’t until the reform laws in the 1860s that allowed freedom of religion in Mexico that Methodism was formally established, and in 1873 the Mexican Methodist Church held its first service on Christmas Day. 150 years after that service, I disembark from the nearly-3,000 mile flight from England to Mexico, to celebrate their anniversary alongside our Methodist siblings. Throughout it all, I reflected on the things I felt God might be saying to our church in Great Britain, and have pulled out five lessons I think we might be learning together.

   

Lesson 1: Participate in the ‘bigness’ of Connexionalism

District Superintendent Rev. Ivan Jiménez chaired the committee for the celebrations, which included a conference on ‘Renewal and the Future’. Rev. Iván said: “The highlight of the week for me was to be with people with so many differences of contexts and ideas. It was a symbol of renewal in our relationships.”

I was reminded, as I stood alongside representatives from the UMC, from Latin America, and from the six Conferences in Mexico, about the real beauty to be found in global Connexionalism. On Sunday morning I had the privilege of preaching in a small Methodist church in Mexico City that meets in an old factory building. As I was leaving, one of the members said to me, “a piece of your heart stays here with us”. And he was right. It is a deep privilege to be part of a global Methodist family, who will love and welcome you as a sibling. We are connected by a bigger story than difference or division.

Bishop Juan de Dios Pena, President of CIEMAL, (Council of Evangelical Methodist Churches in Latin America and the Caribbean) spoke at the Conference, saying: “we are all in a time of transition, that to survive we will need stronger Connexionalism.”

When I asked Rev. Iván what he felt God was saying to the Methodist Church in Mexico, at this important epoch in their Church’s life, he said: “that no matter what, we can come together and be united in worship.” For us, too, in Great Britain, often worshipping in small congregations, we need ‘bigness’ – to join with others, across our circuits, districts, and Connexion to witness and praise God’s presence and power.

How might our local mission be encouraged and empowered if we were to participate more frequently and meaningfully in the ‘bigness’ of Connexionalism?

Lesson 2: Operate from a place of faithfulness, not fear.

When I asked about the challenges faced by the Church in Mexico, often the answer was about congregational decline. Rev. Iván said: “It comes back to whether we are relevant to our society – can we be a church for the people of Mexico? This is a difficult thing to ask ourselves. It hurts our ego and pride to think we might not be relevant. Of course I dream that my grandchildren will be Methodists in the second century of this church, but will they?”

I am sure this question feels familiar to many of us. Will our children and grandchildren find a spiritual home in Methodism? Rev. Iván continues: “all we can do is to focus on being faithful. We need to not worry about the next 150 years. It is through faithfulness that we will find relevancy.”

And this is the second message I have heard from God this week in Mexico. A reminder that relevancy comes from faithfulness to God who is good – that we need not operate from a place of fear, but a place of faithfulness. In the words of the prayer written to commemorate the martyrdom of Oscar Romero: “We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.”

How might we release our fears about the future, in faith? What might that mean for the decisions we make?

Lesson 3: Revival has an ‘I’ in it, not a ‘U’

At the ‘Renewal and the Future’ Conference, lectures included the topics of Climate Crisis, diverse spiritualities in Mexican culture, planting new Christian communities, the gospel and AI, women in ministry, the church and politics, decolonizing mission, and much more.

In one fascinating lecture about the study of ‘conversion’, Dr Carlos Garma said: “In the conversion experience ‘divinity shows up’ and changes us.” It reminded me of a saying we use in the Evangelism and Growth team here in Britain: that transformation happens (only) through encounter with the living God.

In Mexico we talked a lot about revival, and I was struck that revival has an ‘I’ in it, but no ‘u’. Revival begins with ourselves, with an understanding of our own need to be transformed by God’s grace. So often in evangelism we find ourselves anxiously attempting to change another person. Well, if we want things to be different, we have to do things differently – and that process begins in us, with humility asking God to revive us.

How might divinity be showing up and changing things in your life, or the life of your church, today?

Lesson 4: Our comfort zones need stretching

It was clear from Day 1 of the conference, that the Methodist Church in Mexico had been bold in its planning. The conference was not designed to be a ‘pat on the back’ for the church, but a bold step out of their comfort zones together, in addressing important questions for the future, and in doing so, making a statement about the kind of church they are seeking to be.

I recently read somewhere that as we get older, our comfort zones shrink. I am sure we have all found this to be true. We are less and less likely to do things that make us feel uncomfortable. But we know that God calls us out of our comfort zones (think of Moses, saying to God ‘send somebody else!’) and so, it’s important we practice stretching our comfort zones – flexing their outer muscles. Engaging in God’s mission requires playfulness, experimentation, appropriate risk. If we’re to be faithful to God’s call, we need to stretch our comfort zones.

When I asked about the boldness of the conference, Rev. Iván said: “The way we planned this event was about symbols. For example, having the two female pastors of the church at the front with the six male Bishops during the final service. We can create visible symbols that things are different, or we are seeking difference.” This may seem a minor thing to us in British Methodism, but in Mexico, this is a courageous way of flexing the outer muscles of their comfort zone together. 

In what ways do we stretch our comfort zones? How might it help us to be the kind of church we are seeking to be?

Lesson 5: Participate in the ‘smallness’ of relationship

I began this blog with ‘bigness’, and I’m ending with ‘smallness’, because you cannot have the first without the second. The ‘bigness’ of Connexionalism is formed by many interconnected individual relationships. These relationships are the ‘smallness’ we’re called to in ministry.

In Mexico, there is a fear that Methodist Young Adults are deserting the Methodist Church for bigger, more contemporary, charismatic churches. Often this is where they choose to worship. Rev. Iván tells me: “We are always complaining that we are a small church. But I think our size is a blessing in disguise. We don’t need to be worried if our young people go elsewhere to worship. Because, when they have a problem they come to us. When they need advice or support at 1am, they come to us. Because they know us, and they know they can contact us. During the pandemic. We were there. Our smallness is a benefit, because we are there for the people in the way that we can be. It’s a different kind of ministry. We will not have 1000s of followers on social media, but we have personal relationships. And I think Jesus would prefer that.”

This is the blessing of smallness, which as a value is counter-cultural, anti-capitalist, and anti-colonialist. Which sounds quite a lot like the gospel to me.

So, how might we seek nothing bigger than building personal, individual, meaningful and mutual relationships with people inside and outside the church? What would happen if we made this our sole aim?


     

Conclusion

These are the five reflections I’ve brought back with me from Mexico, and are things I personally felt God was reminding me about, while amongst the people called Methodist there, that I felt were lessons for us in Great Britain. They are not new ideas, not to me and I’m sure not to you, but it felt to me that they are relevant to both our church here in Britain, and the church in Mexico – connected not only by some emigrating miners many years ago, but by relationships here and now.

Some final words, from Rev. Iván, in response to my question “What message would you want to share with the people called Methodist in Britain?” who said: “I really hope that we can be close enough to carry together the challenges and burdens but also our blessings. Our churches have so many things to share. Even with enormous distance between our countries, we can walk together.”

Amen.