The board of directors of Iglesia Menonita Hispana (IMH, translated Hispanic Mennonite Church), a constituency group of Mennonite Church USA, appointed Rev. Dr. Juan Montes as executive director during the IMH annual meeting on April 6, 2024, in Chicago, Illinois. Montes is the pastor of Primera Iglesia Menonita in Reedley, California, a position he has held for 31 years.
“Pastor Juan Montes is the ideal candidate to serve as ‘director ejecutivo’ of IMH and to lead the growth of the Hispanic church in the United States,” said IMH Moderator Josué González, citing Montes’ pastoral and leadership experience, as well as his previous service to IMH.
Montes, who is celebrating his 50th year in ministry, served as the first moderator of IMH, when the group was formed through the merger of the Hispanic Mennonite Convention of Churches and the Mennonite Association of Hispanic Churches at the 2001 Mennonite convention in Nashville, Tennessee. The group currently represents approximately 60 MC USA churches.
In 2001, Montes called the organization “a blessing to all Hispanic churches,” and expressed hope for a future of unity. His hope continues to burn brightly.
Montes said that it is important to continue to work on theological reconciliation. “We need to work together to listen in love. No matter if we agree or disagree, we need to live in the love of Jesus Christ.”
Montes outlined several missional goals for IMH, including:
- Establishing new churches.
- Working at forming new leaders.
- Organizing an annual assembly in 2025, possibly in conjunction with MC USA’s Follow Jesus ’25 convention, that would provide Hispanic pastors with an opportunity to build relationships, enjoy spiritual refreshment and have a space to relax and laugh together.
- Seeking scholarships to make the assembly accessible to Hispanic MC USA pastors, nearly 90% of whom are bivocational.
- Cultivating resources and opportunities with partners such as Instituto Bíblico Anabautista (IBA) and the Academia Liderazgo Misional (ALM), an initiative for missional leadership in partnership with Eastern Mennonite University and Mennonite Mission Network.
Montes is well equipped for the challenges ahead of him. During his ministry, he has planted and pastored several Mennonite churches in Latin America and the United States.
Montes heard God’s call to ministry as an eight-year-old boy in Barranquilla, Colombia. Adriana Celis, a reporter for MenoTicias, interviewed Montes and wrote about his experience in a 2021 article:
“He remembers that his mother asked him to go to the store to buy some groceries for lunch. Juan ran without fear. Everything happened very quickly ‘I only felt at that moment a deep blow that impacted my small body,’ says Juan. A city bus that was coming in the same direction in which Juan was running and, in a matter of seconds, left him lying on the street. ‘I lost consciousness. I spent many days in the hospital as I suffered many traumas and internal bleeding.’ Many days after being admitted to the hospital, he heard a soft, serene voice that told him: ‘You will live and serve me.’”
Montes studied at Semilla, the Latin American Anabaptist Seminary in Guatemala City in Guatemala. He received his master’s degree in Theology and a doctorate in Pastoral Ministries at California University, Long Beach, California.
Montes and his wife have five children, nine grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
The other members of the IMH board are: Rosa Solis, secretary; Sergio Nava, treasurer; Margie Mejia Caraballo, representative on the MC USA Executive Board, and Misael Araujo, vocal.
Mennonite Church USA is an Anabaptist Christian denomination, founded in 2002 by the merger of the Mennonite Church and the General Conference Mennonite Church. Members of this historic peace church seek to follow Jesus by rejecting violence and resisting injustice. MC USA’s Renewed Commitments state the following shared commitments among its diverse body of believers: to follow Jesus, witness to God’s peace and experience the transformation of the Holy Spirit. Mennoniteusa.org
Written by Camille Dager, with excerpt from Adriana Celis.