Bethany Fosdyck Illinois Mennonite Conference is excited to welcome Martin Navarro as the new Associate Conference Minister for Hispanic Ministries. This is a new part-time staff position within the conference.
Navarro is a Chicago native. He grew up in the Comunidad Cristiana Vida Abundante in Cicero, IL. He has an M.Div. from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. Currently, he holds the position of stewardship consultant and financial service representative with Everence. In that role, he serves exclusively Hispanic Anabaptist churches.
Navarro says, “In this position (with IMC) I expect to bridge cultural gaps and also strengthen relationships with the Hispanic churches within IMC. Also, I’m hoping that this will be a time where reconciliation can occur between the Hispanic congregations and the conference. Historically, Hispanic churches have been neglected or not well represented within IMC…”
Conference Executive Minister, Michael Danner, said, “I’m excited to have Martin on the staff of IMC. I’m hopeful that his work will help us begin to move towards being a multicultural conference in practice, not just on paper.”
Danner also said, “In my excitement, I’m also careful to guard against a quick fix mentality. The relationship between Anglo and Hispanic congregations in IMC has a long history. Moving towards a new way of functioning will take time. Having Martin on staff is a good first step. ”
Illinois Mennonite Conference leaders are excited about the possibility of growing relationships between our Hispanic congregations and the rest of the conference. Martin Navarro began his work with IMC on August 11, 2017. You can reach him via email at mnavarroimc@gmail.com
Bio: Martin and his wife Viri live in Elkhart IN. Where they both attend Prairie Street Mennonite Church. Martin enjoys spending time with family, and also vegetable gardening.
Martin and his wife are Chicago natives. He grew up in the Comunidad Cristiana Vida Abundante. He is also an MDiv alumni from Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary. He has a passion for the study of the intersection of Mennonite identity and Latino theology.
This is so wonderful. How exciting! My prayers are with you all. May the Lord richly bless this development. I cheer you on from Kansas!
Your dream has become a reality, Mike! Praise the Lord! As you may know, I had a good relationship with some of these Hispanic pastors when I worked in administration and as a teacher at CMLC, going back to 1981. We had many Hispanic students from Sonido de Alabanza and Vida Abundante and other churches in the Chicago/Cicero area. This is a truly exciting development!