Jiménez, Álvaro Rodrigo Godínez

The Rev. Álvaro Rodrigo Godínez Jiménez is a United Methodist missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries, serving as a faith community builder with the Methodist Church of Mexico, Mexico Conference National Office. 

This placement is in the state of Michoacan, which has a largely excluded population, rife with violence, injustice, abuse and poverty. The conference is prioritizing the development of a congregation in Michoacan’s capital city, Morelia. 

A clergy member of the Evangelical Methodist Church of La Fortuna, San Carlos, Alvaro earned master’s degree in Religious Sciences with an emphasis on family orientation, Bachelor of Theology degree from the Methodist Theological Seminary of Costa Rica, as well as a bachelor’s in educational media and a license in psychological education. 

Two years after his conversion at age 14, Alvaro began serving in local church music ministry. “I learned to play various instruments,” he aid. “Since then, I have been actively involved in serving God in different ways.” 

Alvaro’s faith journey has been filled with God’s grace, mercy and love, he said. “I have had the opportunity to serve God as a pastor for many years, which has filled me with great satisfaction,” he noted. Alvaro recognizes that God called him to serve. “That is what I want to do,” she said. 

Called to the ministry at age 21, Alvaro initially resisted. “At first,” he said, “I did not like the idea of ​​being a pastor, but God led me to the point of not being able to reject the call and confirmed the call by means that left no room for doubt.” 

Alvaro officially began pastoral ministry at 23 years of age in a small community called Sonafluca. “We could see the support of God,” he recalled, “with a great growth of the church.” He said his seminary studies enriched his ministerial experience.   

Even in times of doubt and uncertainty, Alvaro said, “God always took care of me. All these difficulties have helped me to forge my character, to be a person more sensitive to the needs of others. I have learned more closely about what it is to live for faith. 

“Feeling the presence of God like never before, my relationship with God has been strengthened, and my desire to serve God is even more intense.” 

Reading and studying the Bible nurture Alvaro. “God has also put people in my path who have been of great inspiration,” he said. In seminary, he explained, “my desire was to prepare myself to serve better.”   

He continued, “Today I enjoy good physical, spiritual and mental health, as well as greater experience and better tools to fulfill the mission that God has entrusted to me and a deep desire to work in the cause of the kingdom of God. 

“For more than 20 years,” Alvaro said, “I have been involved in serving God. In recent years, I have felt the burden of transmitting the accumulated experiences and knowledge acquired to as many people as possible.  

“I applied for missionary service with this in mind. I firmly believe that God has opened this door to be one more hand that works in the extension of the kingdom of God and the edification of God’s church.”