Puerto Rican Methodists celebrate 100 years

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (UMNS) - With pageantry, music and joy, members of the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico celebrated 100 years of presence and service at their general and annual conference events June 6-11.

More than 1,000 people, mostly youth and young adults, crowded into San José Plaza in Old San Juan for the Millennium Concert, "Encuentro de Generacoines" (Meeting of Generations), June 9. The four-hour concert featured salsa and merengue music with Christian lyrics and an enactment of the history of Puerto Rico performed by a youth dance group.

"The concert ...has an evangelical focus, and it's dedicated to all youth," said Bishop Juan A. Vera Méndez, episcopal leader of the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico. Organizers hoped to attract hundreds of youth who frequent nearby bars and clubs, he added.

During the concert, youth volunteers and pastors mingled with the crowd, talking to visitors and inviting passers-by to join the audience.

The evening ended with a prayer service led by Vera and many of the island's Methodist pastors.

The Sonrise Youth Choir from St. John's United Methodist Church in Albuquerque, N.M., sang at the closing worship for the General Conference June 8. Following the program, musicians and singers from the Puerto Rico church joined the choir on stage for a spontaneous celebration, singing "Celebrate Jesus" in English and Spanish while delegates waved banners, clapped and danced in the aisles.

The annual conference opened later that afternoon with a report from the seven members of the cabinet recounting the most significant accomplishment of each church during the previous year. Items celebrated included the completion of new buildings, purchase of new vans, vacation Bible schools, evangelical worship services in the homes of unchurched people, and the baptism and welcome of new members.

Vera especially noted the success of the Sabana Grande church, which following a crisis last year was left with only seven members and was on the verge of being closed. "Now it has 40 members and is growing," he said.

During another worship time, Vera lent his musical talent, playing drums with the band while delegates sang praise songs.

The six days of celebration culminated with a public worship service called "El Acto Magno del Centario" (The Great Act of the Centennial), held at the Pavilion of Peace in San Juan's Luis Muñoz Marín Park on June 11. More than 2,000 people attended the two-hour worship service and celebration. The event featured music led by the Methodist Church University Choir and sermons by Vera and Archbishop Roberto Gonzalez Nieves, the Roman Catholic leader of San Juan.

The celebration included the baptism of eight-month-old David Fernandez, who became the first Puerto Rican Methodist baptized in the 2000s. As Vera baptized Fernandez, he presented the infant with a Roble tree, noted in Puerto Rico for its strength, and watered the tree with the same water used in the baptism.

The "Acto Magno" also included a renewal of the covenant being developed between the Methodist Church of Puerto Rico and the Northern Illinois Annual (regional) Conference of the United Methodist Church. Bishop C. Joseph Sprague of Northern Illinois participated in the worship service and presented Vera with a handmade stole, which he received when he was consecrated as a bishop in 1996.

Wacht is the assistant editor of the Florida Annual Conference's edition of the United Methodist Review. This story was written especially for United Methodist News Service.

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