Key points:
- Leaders of the Council of Evangelical Methodist Churches in Latin America and the Caribbean say Methodist churches in the region have remained united despite divisions within The United Methodist Church.
- Members of the regional body’s executive committee say the historic autonomy of national churches helped contain conflict and polarization.
- CIEMAL has reaffirmed its commitment to regional cooperation, peacebuilding and strengthening Methodist connectionalism.
The changes experienced by The United Methodist Church in recent years also have had repercussions in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, leaders serving on the executive committee of the Council of Evangelical Methodist Churches in Latin America and the Caribbean, or CIEMAL, say member churches have managed to preserve regional unity while strengthening their shared identity.
In an interview with United Methodist News, Bishops Juan de Dios Peña, president of CIEMAL, and Frank de Nully Brown, vice president, along with Executive Secretary Horacio Mesones, agreed that the historic autonomy of Latin American Methodist churches acted as a “containment wall” against tensions affecting other parts of the Methodist world.”
After decades of internal division about the role of LGBTQ people in church life, more than 7,600 U.S. churches left The United Methodist Church under a disaffiliation policy adopted by the 2019 special General Conference. That policy expired at the end of 2023. Departures accelerated with the 2022 launch of the Global Methodist Church, a theologically conservative denomination.
“The impact has been real,” Peña said. “In some contexts, it has certainly been painful, but it has not been decisive at the regional level. There is a desire to remain together, to walk together and to continue sitting at the same table of communion.”
CIEMAL brings together autonomous Methodist churches across Latin America and the Caribbean. Each church maintains its own structures, regulations and disciplines, while remaining historically connected through Wesleyan tradition and regional cooperation.
The United Methodist Church has concordat relationships with the Methodist Church of Mexico, Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas and the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico, which means each can send two voting delegates to the United Methodist General Conference.
Diverse Methodist expressions in Latin America
The Methodist reality in Latin America and the Caribbean is diverse and shaped by different traditions and cultural identities, CIEMAL’s leaders emphasized.
Bishop de Nully Brown explained that at least “four Methodist traditions” coexist within the region: a more classical and institutional stream; an evangelical or charismatic expression; a progressive current linked to Latin American Theology; and a Methodist expression connected to Indigenous peoples. He added that the region also includes “the entire Afro-Caribbean reality in the Caribbean.”
Despite that diversity, the Methodist leaders said a strong regional identity has developed through decades of shared work.
“The Latin American Methodist identity is very well established after more than 60 years of regional work through CIEMAL and more than a century of Methodist presence in several countries,” de Nully Brown said.
Peña stressed that organizational differences do not erase a shared sense of belonging.
“Although we are autonomous churches, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, and we remain part of the same Methodist DNA that unites us,” he said.
Impact of divisions
Changes within The United Methodist Church and the emergence of the Global Methodist Church have produced concrete effects in some Latin American countries. During the conversation, the leaders specifically mentioned Peru, Panama and Mexico, where groups linked directly to the new denomination have emerged.
Venezuela is another area where several expressions of organized Methodism are present through national churches. Two of those bodies — the Council of Evangelical Methodist Churches in Venezuela and the Methodist Christian Community of Venezuela — have maintained historic relationships with The United Methodist Church through the United Methodist Board of Global Ministries. Another existing church body in the country remains part of the denomination’s episcopal structure in the Latin America region.
Even so, they said those movements do not represent massive fractures within the region’s historic churches and, in some cases, reflect internal leadership dynamics more than doctrinal or church-policy debates alone.
“In some places, there has been a national impact because new groups or initiatives have emerged, but due to very specific internal situations. These realities have not redefined the essential foundation of the Latin American and Caribbean church,” Peña said.
The first General Conference of the Global Methodist Church, held in Costa Rica in 2024, also prompted reflection among regional leaders. According to the interviewees, CIEMAL was not officially invited and had no institutional participation in the gathering, though leaders said they remain open to dialogue.
“We have nothing against the Global Methodist Church ... and although we have not yet had the opportunity, we would have no problem engaging in dialogue,” de Nully Brown said.
Peña also clarified that the Costa Rican Methodist Church’s role as host of the conference did not represent a departure from CIEMAL or a denominational shift.
“The Methodist Church of Costa Rica remains connected to CIEMAL and continues to participate actively through its leadership,” he said.
According to CIEMAL executives, none of the organization’s member churches has officially abandoned its historic Methodist identity to fully join another denomination.
“I am not aware of any national church that has decided to change its name and belong to another denomination,” Peña said.
Regionalization and autonomy
Another topic discussed during the interview was regionalization, a package of amendments to the denomination’s constitution that was approved by the 2024 United Methodist General Conference and ratified by annual conference lay and clergy voters last year. Regionalization gives the denomination’s different geographic regions equal authority to adapt parts of the Book of Discipline, the denomination’s policy book.
Mesones said the regionalization process includes elements familiar to Latin America and the Caribbean. The creation of CIEMAL coincided with the period when many Latin American Methodist churches achieved autonomy, making the regional organization itself a space for coordination and mutual support.
“Regionalization is not only a structural or administrative decision, but also a process of identity-building and strengthening regional connectionalism,” Mesones said.
He added that CIEMAL’s experience could contribute to the denomination’s new global organizational process, particularly in cooperation among autonomous churches, institutional strengthening and developing common agendas across diverse contexts.
The leaders agreed that the Latin American experience demonstrates that Methodist unity can be maintained even within autonomous structures and differing cultural realities.
De Nully Brown noted that the region historically already has functioned “through regions” and that Latin American Methodist identity “is very well established after more than 60 years of regional work through CIEMAL.”
Along the same lines, Peña said Latin American churches have learned to live together despite differences in regulations, traditions and organizational models without breaking communion.
“Each church has a different discipline, different regulations, distinct bylaws and different forms of organization, and yet they still come together as part of the larger CIEMAL family,” he said.
Cooperation and future challenges
Despite uncertainties related to future structural changes within The United Methodist Church, the regional leaders expressed willingness to continue strengthening cooperation with United Methodist agencies and sister churches around the world.
Mesones said CIEMAL is currently promoting regional strategies focused on peacebuilding, social and environmental justice, hospitality, inclusion and leadership development. Participants also highlighted the support received from the United Methodist boards of Global Ministries and Higher Education and Ministry.
“The involvement of Global Ministries in the accompaniment process has been very significant,” Peña said, also noting the engagement of Roland Fernandes, the agency’s top executive, with Latin America and the Caribbean.
All agreed that the region’s priority will continue to be strengthening unity and building bridges amid a global climate marked by political, social and religious polarization.
“In the midst of all the tension, what we seek is to build bridges and not more division,” de Nully Brown said.
For CIEMAL, the current challenge is not only preserving institutional structures, but also offering a regional witness of dialogue, cooperation and communion.
“Latin American and Caribbean Methodist churches want to remain united, walk together and continue sitting at the same table of communion,” Peña said.
Vasquez is coordinator of Hispanic-Latino Relations at United Methodist Communications. For inquiries to UM News, contact (615) 742-5470, IMU_Hispana-Latina@umcom.org or gvasquez@umcom.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.
RELATED STORY
Global Ministries affirms United Methodist presence in region
The United Methodist Board of Global Ministries has maintained historic ties of cooperation and mission partnership with Methodist churches in Latin America and the Caribbean. Many of those churches were part of missionary initiatives launched from the United States.
In July 2025, Global Ministries and the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry organized a regional consultation that brought together churches and ecumenical organizations from across the region to explore mission opportunities and consider new forms of collaboration during a season of change within and beyond The United Methodist Church.
Roland Fernandes, top executive of both agencies, said the consultation demonstrated a strong desire for closer partnership among Methodist leaders in the region.
“At the Panama Consultation, it was clear that leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean want deeper collaboration, not greater distance,” Fernandes said. “CIEMAL and its churches are not waiting for others to define their future; they are shaping a Methodist witness grounded in their own histories, cultures and mission priorities. It is our privilege to walk alongside them as partners in mission, supporting ministries that respond to the unique realities of communities within the region.”
