{"id":112256,"date":"2025-04-08T15:01:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T15:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/?p=112256"},"modified":"2025-04-10T14:03:25","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T14:03:25","slug":"a-pastoral-letter-from-anabaptists-in-ecuador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mwc-cmm.org\/en\/stories\/a-pastoral-letter-from-anabaptists-in-ecuador\/","title":{"rendered":"A pastoral letter from Anabaptists in Ecuador"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Beloved sisters and brothers: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A state of \u201cinternal armed conflict\u201d has been declared in Ecuador since January 2024. The government continues to struggle against violence from organized crime groups. The three Mennonite national churches in Ecuador \u2013 Iglesia Evang\u00e9lica Menonita Ecuatoriana (IEME \u2013 MWC member church), Iglesia Cristiana Anabautista Menonita de Ecuador (ICAME), Iglesia Cristiana Menonita (ICME) \u2013 call for prayer from our global Anabaptist family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, receive warm greetings from the mountains and the coast of Ecuador.

We ask for your prayers because we know that God desires shalom<\/em> and well-being for the people of Ecuador and our Mennonite churches. 

Darkness afflicts us daily; our country has transitioned from being an \u201cisland of peace\u201d to a pit of gloom. Every day we are told stories of massacres and horror. Today our churches must face unthinkable dilemmas such as weighing whether we should assign a portion of the offering to the drug lords who hold our neighbourhoods to ransom. Doing so would placate them and ensure our congregations could continue to worship together on Sundays. 

We know that God wants a different destiny for us. <\/em><\/strong>

As a community of leaders committed to nonviolence, the three Anabaptist conferences in Ecuador have united to work for peace in our country. However, we know that we cannot do this work alone.  

As such, we ask our dear brothers and sisters to join us in intercession so that the body of Christ becomes one with Ecuador.  

We also ask that you pray for the criminal groups so that violent and violated people may experience the shalom<\/em> that leads to peace. 

May our combined work to unite various churches, and ways of being church, be a beacon of peace in these troubled and divisive times.\u202f <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Please join our Anabaptist brothers and sisters in lifting up Ecuador in prayer. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Jesus Christ, our peace, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Henk Stenvers,<\/em>
president <\/em>
Mennonite World Conference<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Andr\u00e9s Pacheco Lozano,
Peace Commission, chair <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Read about the Mennonite churches in Ecuador<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Urgent prayer & pastoral letters<\/h3>\n\n\n\n