GLOBAL MISSION WITHOUT CULTURAL DOMINATION Coming alongside, without taking over is how Jonathan García Rodriquez and Melanie Quiñones Hernandez are sharing the gospel throughout the world. An emphasis on missions is a passion Jonathan García Rodriquez (M.Div.’21) and his wife, Melanie Quiñones Hernandez (MAM ’21) received from their Pentecostal upbringing. Ways to serve globally without being colonizers is what they found at McCormick. “We learned that we can be both mission-minded and honoring of the context of other people,” “A big part of international begins García Rodriquez. “McCormick gave us perspective…new ways to o昀昀er ministry. First, ministry is a respect for the we learned by being with many cultures and people at McCormick…and then by understanding people we serve with and for.” liberation theology concepts and their emphasis on helping people in need.” Melanie Quinones Hernandez Supporting what pastors are already doing in and for their communities is one way García and Jonathan Garcia Rodriquez and Quiñones Hernandez 昀椀nd openings to build relationships and discover what the people in a community have determined are their needs. “We don’t go into a country to do Rodriquez have traveled something new,” says Quiñones Hernandez. “It’s not our plans, projects, or agendas…we don’t to more than 50 countries, impose…we do what they are doing.” sharing their faith and strengthening their own. In Nepal, García Rodriquez recalls that the ministry leaders wanted to provide safe houses for kids who are targeted by human tra昀케ckers, so that’s what they worked on. In Vietnam, the pastors were focused on orphanages, and that became their focus, too. One of the ministries in Hong Kong was for women who had experienced trauma. There was someone on the mission team who could o昀昀er counseling. “It’s always how can we help, and if there is an interest, o昀昀er training, ideas and biblical encouragement that can help them expand on what they are doing,” he says. García Rodriquez and Quiñones Hernandez have been serving in global ministry since they were in their 20s. During that time, they have traveled to more than 50 countries on six continents. It’s not unusual for ministries in various parts of the world to be skeptical of foreign assistance, he notes, “but that changes when they see our intentions. We support their existing initiatives… we just try to be in the community, eating with them…living with them…serving with them.” 6 MCCORMICK THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY