Date: March 27, 2026
Time: 9AM-5PM CT
Location: Main 205 and Online

Registration closes on March 23. Lunch will be provided to in person participants. Participation is free for the Garrett community. Talking about race and racial discrimination can be hard, but it’s important to understand how to fix these ongoing social issues. When we talk about belonging and diversity as strengths for communities and organizations, we must also recognize the challenges preventing these goals. Understanding antiracism and what it requires from leaders is key to creating diverse, fair, and welcoming places. This workshop aims to give participants a foundation of these concepts and practices to facilitate deeper, future learning.

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Students, faculty, staff, and families are invited to a night of Loteria, a beloved game from Latin America.

Join us in the Loder dining room or online for games, prizes, refreshments, and fun!

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1. ¿Qué es trauma?
2. ¿Para qué nos sirve saber sobre trauma en comunidades de fe?
3. Posibilidades para aplicar el conocimiento de trauma en comunidades de fe.
4. Sesión de preguntas.

Día, Fecha y Hora: Jueves, 12 de febrero, de 4:30 pm a 6 pm (Hora Centro)
Lugar: en Zoom. El enlace para esta sesión se enviará a las personas que se inscriban para el 11 de febrero. Costo: $40
Fecha limite de inscripción: 11 de febrero, 2026

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by Wendy Cordero Rugama

The post The Centro Raíces Latinas creates space for communal thriving appeared first on Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary.

“This Escuela de Ministerio was more than a conference; it was a prophetic response.” From March 28 – 30, Garrett welcomed more than 60 Latine pastors and lay leaders drawn from six conferences across the North Central Jurisdiction, whose Mission Council grant made this weekend event possible. Celebrating the gathering she helped convene, Rev. Fabiola Grandon-Mayer is emphatic. “In the face of challenges and uncertainty, there is still hope in the Hispanic/Latinx community, which is alive, faithful, resilient, and rising,”

The Escuela de Ministerio is part of a broader institutional commitment to strengthen Latiné pastoral leadership and congregational life, using our resources to create opportunities and connections. “The Escuela emerged from the urgent need for our Latiné pueblo to see the United Methodist Church as a faith community where they can respond to God’s calling and engage in justice work,” says Dr. Emma Escobar, Director of Garrett’s Hispanic-Latinx Center and Assistant Professor of Faith-Based Organizing. “The idea for this program came from the vision of Rev. Fabiola Grandon-Mayer, a Garrett board member and Director of Connectional Ministries for the Northern Illinois Conference, and Garrett President Javier Viera, in response to the current realities facing the church due to disaffiliation.”

Immersed in Wesleyan theology and history, participants discerned new ways to breathe life into their ministries. “We learned how to renew our calling, to dream without limits or fear, and to explore our full potential,” . “Wesley’s perspective allowed for diverse theological views, pastoral models, and various forms of worship.” From a joyful service that featured new hymns written by Latiné liturgists to a training that illuminated how Methodist polity and theology enables culturally-specific leadership, the retreat served as an incubator for fresh thinking. “This is a crucial moment for the United Methodist Church and U.S. Christianity more broadly,” President Javier Viera notes. “Churches that are growing thrive because they are responsive to people’s needs and aspirations. Latiné congregations can kindle hope in a moment of widespread fear, and it was beautiful to watch these dynamic leaders inspiring one another.”

Beyond strengthening Latiné Methodist leadership within the United States, the Escuela also seeks to nurture relationships across Latin America. The gospel transcends national boundaries, and the justice work to which it calls will need international coalitions to flourish. “I am deeply grateful for our partnership with the Methodist Church of Chile, who led a powerful workshop facilitated by Rev. Miguel Ulloa, the director of the Methodist Seminary of Chile” Dr. Escobar adds. While this event is the first collaboration between Garrett and Chilean Methodists, it will not be the last. “I’m delighted by Garrett’s expansive thinking about Latiné identity and the ways we can strengthen pastoral leadership,” says President Viera. “Since her appointment as Director of our Hispanic/Latinx Center, Dr. Escobar has been intentional and persistent in cultivating transnational partnerships. It was such a joy to see those efforts bearing fruit.”

There are exciting plans to expand this Escuela de Ministerio model, deepening opportunities for culturally specific education and coalition building. “Through the work of the Hispanic-Latinx Center, I look forward to continuing this vital initiative,” Dr. Escobar says. “Together, inspired by Garrett’s broader mission, we will form leaders in ‘the way of Jesus to cultivate communities of justice, compassion, and hope.’�ĝ

Are you interested in receiving news about future Escuela de Ministerio events? Click here to receive more news from our Hispanic-Latinx Center.

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We are thrilled to announce Dr. Emma Arely Escobar as our new Director of the Hispanic-Latinx Center and Assistant Professor of Faith-Based Organizing at Garrett Seminary! Before accepting this position, Dr. Escobar served as Coordinator of Hispanic-Latino Ministries and Community Organizing for the Baltimore/Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church. She brings deep roots in engaging Latiné faith communities and grassroots organizations throughout the United States, skills that will bring flourishing to both the Hispanic-Latinx Center and broader seminary life. “Having the opportunity to feature the diverse voices of our pueblo, it’s very important to me,” she says. “I’m here to collectively envision and build toward transformation.”

            This appointment is another piece of Garrett’s strategic plan, which identified strengthening relationships with Latiné communities as an essential element of the seminary’s mission. “Partnering with and resourcing the largest minoritized community in the United States is service to which God calls us,” says President Javier Viera. “Dr. Escobar brings a proven track record in this mission, but also a deep passion for preparing the next generation of Christian leaders for ministry in the public square. Her community organizing lens will equip students with the skills to galvanize communities for the work of healing and creating a more just world.” This joyous sentiment is shared by Dr. Nancy Bedford, who chaired the search committee. “As a theologian, I was especially taken with how skillful she is at weaving her theological convictions together with her activism,” Dr. Bedford says. “She is somebody who asks questions and who listens carefully to others, sensitive to minoritized communities within the Latiné world and beyond it.”

            When asked about what experiences bring her to this vocation, Dr. Escobar talks about her experience as an immigrant from El Salvador and the values she learned growing up in Latiné Methodist churches. “I bring the concept of familia,” she explains. “I’m coming to build in relationship with people. It’s not me telling people what to do, it’s about lifting up leaders who are already in our communities, bringing them to Garrett so we can all hear and learn from what is already happening—and offering them resources in return.” This reciprocal approach is foundational to any effective community organizing, and an essential part of the Hispanic-Latinx Center’s mission. “Another thing I’m thinking about is �����dz��貹ñ��������Գٴ�, how we accompany each other in the struggle, in the celebrations,” Dr. Escobar says. “We can be in partnership with communities where people are being agents of change, walking with one another.”

            In addition to her work at the center, Dr. Escobar will also teach classes about faith-based organizing. “One of the pieces I’m most excited about is travel seminars where students can go and be present to what they’re reading,” she says. Dr. Escobar has worked with the California-Pacific United Methodist Conference and the Methodist Church of Mexico to facilitate delegations where clergy and lay people learn about the realities of immigration at the Tijuana-San Diego border and collaborate with grassroots organizations that serve migrant communities. This engaged praxis is already delighting her colleagues. “Dr. Escobar’s life of grassroots organizing is a lived theology that grows from community,” says Dr. Jen Harvey, Garrett’s Academic Dean. “She brings our students the opportunity to connect with folks who are enacting God’s work of liberation and I couldn’t be more excited to welcome her to our faculty.” Indeed, it’s an embodiment of Garrett’s broader understanding of what it means to be Christian. “It’s one thing to talk about borders and what that looks like in our faith and how we advocate for migrants,” Dr. Escobar elaborates. “It’s another to be there, to serve people, and then to ask: How do we organize and connect with communities in the Evanston and Chicago area?”

Condensing this calling to be present in faith, solidarity and mutual benefit, Dr. Escobar names how she inherited these values in la lucha. “It’s translated as a fight or struggle, but la lucha is also the resilience that surrounds us,” she explains. “There’s something about being with your family in both celebration and moments of crying out—the Spirit that says, ‘we will overcome this.’ That’s what’s important to me as I engage my work.” Fierce love radiates through her words, what Dr. Bedford describes as “a palpable joy for the Latiné community that will connect the Hispanic-Latinx Center—and Garrett generally—in creative and generative ways to both churches and community organizations.” These combined skills as both an activist and a scholar promise to do just what Dr. Escobar intends: transform communities. “I am elated to welcome Dr. Escobar to Garrett,” President Viera concludes. “The strength she brings our faculty and the gifts she brings our students will usher in a new chapter for this already-vital part of our communal life.”

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