College Community Church Mennonite Brethren

César and Sandra Garcia are pastors on a mission. In response to the deep needs in their own country, Colombia, the Garcias have come to Fresno for education and training that is unavailable at home. Their plan is to return to Colombia with a precious resource. They will be the only Colombian nationals possessing graduate level degrees in theology from an MB or Anabaptist institution. Their mission is to provide graduate theological education to Colombian pastors and church leaders, nurturing "a theologically mature church–one that develops and contextualizes its own theology with Anabaptist roots" (Ens & García, 2009).

Mission in Colombia: Garcia’s Project

Colombia is a country of contrasts. Marked by its amazing diversity, it is located at the north of South America. In spite of its richness and development, Colombia is ranked 11th in the world for unequal distribution of wealth. Such economic injustice has caused and sustained armed conflict. Different power brokers battle for control over the country’s natural resources, such as oil and gold, and the illegal economy, dominated by cocaine. In this country of 44 million people, 23 million live on less than $2USD a day. There are 4.5 million displaced people and 3000 kidnapped people. Among the most serious problems in Colombia are social injustice, low levels of education, unemployment, insecurity and violence, several illegal armies or militias, an incompetent justice system, corruption, and drug-trafficking.

Since 1946, the Mennonite Brethren Church in Colombia has served the people’s needs and addressed these social problems with the following ministries:
 
-         40 congregations
-         10 missionaries sent out to Latin America and Asia
-         A biblical institute in Bogotá
-         A peace ministry in Cali
-         A school "Americas Unidas" in Cali
-         A foundation for community development entitled MENCOLDES
-         A program for Conscience Objection to Military Service (with MCC)
-         A program to help people heal and deal with trauma (with MCC)
 
According to Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online (GAMEO),

Theological education has been a big challenge in the nationalization of the Mennonite Brethren Church in Colombia. There were a number of attempts to open theological institutions. Some of these attempts were in association with other denominations: for example, United Biblical Seminary, and the Ecclesiology Centre. Other attempts were of an independent nature, such as the Technological Biblical Seminary. All these efforts came to a quick end for economic reasons. Due to these failures, the Mennonite Brethren in Colombia created small local institutions in order to train leaders theologically, at a very basic level. For higher level study, students were sent to Protestant seminaries or Catholic universities. So of the few people who actually studied and received a bachelor’s degree in theology, none of the degrees granted had an Anabaptist focus or came from a Mennonite Brethren institution. As a result, the goal of developing a clear Mennonite Brethren identity as a church has remained elusive. Having a theologically mature church–one that develops and contextualizes its own theology with Anabaptist roots–has remained a challenge. Achieving theological studies at a masters or doctoral level along with specializations in history, Old Testament, New Testament, peace studies, missiology, counseling, and others, have been unreachable dreams for the Colombian leadership. (Ens & García, 2009)

In response to these challenges, César and Sandra Garcia came here to study theology and peacemaking at the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary and Fresno Pacific University. They share a vision for providing advanced theological education to Colombian MB pastors and church leaders through the biblical institute in Bogotá.

César and Sandra were born in Bogota, Colombia. As teenagers, they both began to attend a Mennonite Brethren church. César and Sandra had two conversions of faith. Following César’s military service, they both found Jesus. Afterward, César developed a radio ministry and Sandra started her ministry teaching in schools. At the same time, they became pastors in an MB church in Bogota. After some years they went to a Protestant seminary in Medellín, where César received his bachelor's degree in theology with an emphasis in missiology. Later, Sandra received her bachelor's degree in linguistics and literature.
 
In their second conversion, they found Anabaptism. This happened when César and Sandra were planting a new church, Strong Tower MB Church in Bogota, 10 years ago. Their new ministry raised some questions that helped them arrive at an Anabaptist theology.
 
At that time César also worked on the development of a Colombian intercultural mission structure and subsequently received the responsibility of leading the Colombian MB Conference as its chairman. For seven years he worked in this ministry, participating as the Colombian representative for MWC, ICOMB, MCC, and MBMSI. During his time as chairman of the Colombian MB Conference, Cesar also served as a professor of Bible and Theology in Bogotá, and had the opportunity to participate in ecumenical experiences in the context of Catholic universities.
 
During Sandra's time as pastor, developing the Strong Tower MB Church into a mature church, she also completed a "Specialization in University Pedagogy" at Saint Bonaventure University.  Afterward, the  Strong Tower MB Church and the MB Colombian Conference sent them to Fresno, to allow César to complete his master’s degree in Theology at the Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary, and to allow Sandra to complete her master’s degree in Peacemaking and Conflict Studies at Fresno Pacific University. After completing studies at the master’s level, César expects to work on a doctorate and then return to Colombia, to work in the development of new pastors, missionaries and peace ministries. Currently he serves the Mennonite World Conference as the Missions Commission secretary.
 
César and Sandra have been married since 1991. They have two daughters, Maria (16) and Paula (14).  More information about the MB Churches of Colombia at: www.HermanosMenonitasdeColombia.com
 
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Ens, H. & García, C. (2009). Iglesias Hermanos Menonitas de Colombia. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 13 January 2010 http://www.gameo.org/encyclopedia/contents/A795.html