The Shalom Council of Churches, formerly known as the Spanish Mennonite Council of Churches, is a district of LMC with twenty-five churches in the US and thirty-five international churches located in eight Latin American Countries. The Spanish Mennonite Churches are the fruit of the evangelism of LMC and Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM) that began in 1953. Shalom Council started in May 1970 when three Spanish Mennonite congregations in Pennsylvania decided to organize in a Council. The original vision was, and remains, to reach out to the Latin American people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
In the 1980s, the Shalom Council started to grow, sending church planters to Washington, New York, Florida, California, Virginia, Puerto Rico, and the Dominican Republic. When the Mennonite Church reorganized, the Spanish Churches of Shalom Council were transferred to the regional Conferences of the Mennonite Church; only the churches of Pennsylvania and New Jersey remained part of the Concilio Iglesias Menonitas Hispanas. In 2017, Concilio Iglesias Menonitas Hispanas changed the name to Shalom Council or Concilio Iglesias Evangélicas Shalom (CIES).
Four key words have been clear in the mind and hearts of the Shalom leaders in the development of our vision: (1) identity as children of God and Anabaptist theology, (2) unity of the CIES family to work together and support each other, (3) grow and multiply as a body of believers, planting new churches, (4) and accountability to be a healthy body and care for each other. These catalytic words have provided a base on which to build a sound and healthy organization to carry out the mission of God in the US and Latin America.
The Shalom Council has been on a faith adventure since its beginnings. Challenges of language, finances, and facing racism and discrimination could not hold captive the evangelistic flame in the hearts of the CIES members. Missions moved beyond the US into Mexico, and then to Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Uruguay, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Cuba, and Colombia. The family grew into places where no one imagined God would call us to go. In the US, Shalom Council has leadership training programs such as the Christian Church Workers Program and Kyrios Bible Institute. In Mexico, leaders are trained at the Center of Biblical Studies. Additionally, the Council develops and supports leadership and discipleship programs for all age groups.
The Shalom Council has always operated by faith. Examples include sending missionaries by faith (without a guaranteed budget!), starting churches in unknown places, building worship places with limited finances, and so on! After all, we have always believed that God is leading the way, and the Shalom Council needs to move when the Spirit moves. Faith operates by obedience. Shalom Council has gone only to places where God has opened the door and showed us the way! Our next challenge is to overcome ethnocentrism and cross the cultural barrier to go all over the world. Our members have a deep evangelistic spirit summarized in the words of Peter and John in Acts 4:20, “Porque no Podemos dejar de decir lo que hemos visto y hemos oído.” (“As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”)
Finally, the Shalom Council is excited to be part of a global family, working within and alongside other districts of LMC and EMM as an international body of believers, strengthening our Christian Anabaptist faith and helping us to unite, grow, and multiply as God is calling us to do. God has not finished with us! Shalom Council has the faith to cross new challenges and barriers in the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Matthew 28:19 “Go and make disciples of all nations…” The faith adventure continues … Amén!
District Profile Author: Samuel Lopez, member of Jesucristo es el Señor New Holland Spanish church and president of CIES