About us – Mission, vision & values – Mario & Karina – Free Methodist Church
Summary: We envision ourselves as a hybrid, missional church, built around small groups and centered on spiritual formation. Our mission is to live and reflect Jesus, reaching out to those who have walked away from the church or who have never been part of one. We imagine a hybrid faith community that combines physical and digital spaces, adapting to today’s realities. We want to be a church with a clear missional identity, committed to service and to embodying our faith in everyday life. Our structure will be based on small groups that foster trust, allow for sharing experiences, and support spiritual growth. All of this will be guided by a focus on walking together in the process of finding, connecting with, and following Christ. We understand spiritual formation as union with Christ: a living relationship with the Triune God through Jesus, one that not only integrates us into the story of salvation but also calls us to imitate Christ in all areas of life.
Core Characteristics
We seek to be a church marked by four key characteristics:
1. A Hybrid Community: Digital and In-Person (location to be announced—if you want a preview, visit Project).
At the Lausanne 2024 World Evangelization Congress, six of the 25 themes discussed focused on the Church’s digital life. It was emphasized that more and more people are relocating their sense of community to the digital realm. Therefore, we must go beyond merely broadcasting Christian content and instead seek deeper engagement that invites people to follow Jesus in both their physical and virtual contexts.
Read more: Why start online?
2. A Missional Community
Mission is not just something the Church does—it originates in God Himself, who calls us to join His mission by bearing witness to Christ in every place and context, and by communicating the gospel in ways people can understand (John 3:16; 20:21; Acts). We believe that where we live is also a mission field where the Church is invited to discern and join in the work God is already doing around us. This involves:
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Praying to discern how God is calling us to participate in His mission.
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Recognizing the value of the local church and collaborating with other churches.
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Centering on Scripture—as the witness to Christ and guide for the Church’s mission.
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Translating the gospel into a language our culture can understand, both in worship and daily life.
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Fostering authentic relationships and a multicultural, multigenerational community.
3. Built on Small Groups
In some contexts, new churches must be planted by individuals who are alone and serving where congregations are still needed. Community Church Planting Manual
Community Church Planting Manual
The Free Methodist Church in Latin America promotes Community Church Planting, defined as:
“An integrated process in which disciples make disciples while engaging in the ministry of establishing new churches in communities that need more churches.”
This aligns with the small group church model, which we seek to embody within the Methodist tradition, fostering mutual participation in knowing Christ and growing spiritually—equipping others to work as a team in line with the priesthood of all believers.
Within this model, a fitting strategy is Disciple-Based Church Planting, where churches are planted by bi-vocational workers placed strategically. Therefore, we plan to use our other professional time for biblical and spiritual training through seminars, formation centers, and the projects cristoforma.org and proyecto1128.com.
Matthew 16:18 clearly states that Jesus is ultimately responsible for building His Church. At the same time, Luke 5:4–6 shows that, although He could do it alone, Jesus delights in using His disciples and their resources to expand His kingdom. Community Church Planting Manual
4. Focus on Christian Spiritual Formation
We want to help people understand and live out Scripture, forming Christ in their lives so they can express their faith in the home, school, and workplace. We’ll draw on Christian formation tools from church history, such as Lectio Divina, within an evangelical perspective aligned with the Free Methodist Church’s synthesis and mission: “To love God, love people, and make disciples.”
We understand spiritual formation not as a department, but as the very essence of the Christian life: real union with Christ—a living relationship with the Triune God through Jesus that incorporates us into His salvation story and calls us to imitate Him in every area of life—personally, communally, and socially—with a missional mindset.
Cristoforma Spiritual Formation Model
Believers who gather are united in a loving covenantal communion around the Trinitarian presence of the one true God: the Father, the Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit (see Matthew 28:19; John 14:26).
– Free Methodist Church Book of Discipline 2023, ¶6070
Alignment with the Free Methodist Church (Book of Discipline 2023)
- ¶6080: The guidance for Church Planting Projects found in ¶6810 items A–H is instructive for the formation of new churches. However, this guidance should not be understood as prescriptive or restrictive. In accordance with the spirit of paragraph 6040, as long as new churches live within the framework of the non-negotiable foundations (¶6040), they are free to be creative in their expression of church. Some gatherings may not meet the formal definition of Societies (as defined in the Discipline), but they can serve as incubators for new churches. Priestly functions fall under the authority of the supervising body.
- ¶6800: The fulfillment of the Great Commission and the mission of the Free Methodist Church requires larger, growing, and more effective local churches, as well as more and diverse churches. Reaching unreached people is the reason for planting new churches. Every church should be willing and open to winning all people to Christ and incorporating them into its membership. However, within each population group there are people who, due to geographical distance or linguistic or cultural differences, can be more easily reached by new churches than by existing ones. Creative strategies and multiple styles of ministry are needed.
- ¶6860: Since we consider evangelistic effectiveness our highest priority, we affirm that apostolic activity in the harvest fields will create many different forms and trajectories for new groups of disciples. In submission to Jesus’ teaching on the need for new wineskins for new wine, we choose to trust our apostolic leaders, allow for innovation and organizational flexibility on the growing frontier of the Free Methodist Church, and avoid creating rigid institutional boundaries that would hinder the rapid expansion of the Kingdom. We trust that, over time, godly disciple-makers and church planters will help many of the new disciples and groups to embrace the distinctive realities of the Free Methodist Church under God’s guidance. In accordance with ¶6850, all parties involved will seek to establish and strengthen ties of fellowship and connection, while also recognizing evangelistic effectiveness as the highest priority.
