Doctoral candidate
The Rev. Ella Luna-Garza is a pastor in the California-Nevada Annual Conference and a doctoral candidates at Union Theological Seminary. (California-Nevada Conference Photo)
California-Nevada Annual Conference | May 18, 2023
Conference Editor’s note: People are making history every day in California-Nevada. Throughout 2023 we will be spotlighting clergy and laity who work to make life better for people down the street and across the country. Click here to see the video interview with Rev. Ella Luna Garza.
“We share breaths!” exclaims Rev. Ella Luna-Garza, pastor of the United Methodist Church of Merced, during a recent interview. Focusing on relationship building, Luna-Garza guides her church in connecting with the local community “…to give life. I call it a ‘symbiotic relationship’ to where we’re both acknowledging that we breathe together—our breaths belong to each other.”
Luna-Garza is currently enrolled as a doctoral scholar at United Theological Seminary as part of the “Prophetic Activism: From the Cross to Community” cohort. One of her goals is to design an organizational structure, or matrix, for starting that relationship building process and connecting people and, according to Luna-Garza, “…breathing with each other.”
“I truly believe the church that makes no difference in community makes no difference in community,” states Luna-Garza. “…our job as disciples of Christ is to help the world see the church and the church see the world and somehow bring those two things together so that we are indeed making a difference in community.”
One of the many ways UMC Merced built their connection to the local community was to continue a small food pantry that grew during the pandemic and served 3700 families weekly for nine months. “It kind of exploded,” states Luna-Garza. “Over the last three years we have served over 300,000 distributions of food all ranging from 50 pounds to 95 pounds each.”
Other ways the church has reached out to the community over the last few years includes flood relief and fire response, vaccination clinics, handing out COVID test kits (over 200,000 during the pandemic) and test to treatment. The church collaborates with Merced College and UC Merced for various seminars including a recent “Bridging the Gap” event encouraging cultural discussions. The congregation partners with various clubs and grassroot organizing groups such as Journey for Justice. The church recently held a workshop on “A Victim’s Rights” in collaboration with NAACP and the District Attorney’s Office and observed a countywide “Victims of Violence” event.
“We are working on a leadership institute for young women to be heard, to tell their stories,” explains Luna-Garza about partnering with the Soroptimist Club, “learning leadership and a voice, learning culture and to hear about other cultures and broadening their views on diversity.” The church has held workshops on “LGBTQIAP+ and Faith” and currently has workshops on “How to Become an Ally with LGBTQIA Persons and Individuals” scheduled.
“One of the things that we hope to do is feed the minds, bodies and spirits of our community,” states Luna-Garza who is involved in many groups in the community herself. Luna-Garza is a spiritual consultant for Merced City and County and member of the Merced Faith Organization, Alliance for Community Transformations, Merced County Continuum of Care, and Merced County Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She is a consultant for Merced Multicultural Arts Center, City of Merced Friends of the Library, UMC Merced Homeless Ministries, Merced Pride Center, and Merced LGBTQ Youth Allies. She is also a First Responder and Crisis Care certified volunteer for Merced County Health and Human Services.
As a Latina female pastor from Texas, Luna-Garza breaks stereotypes and embraces inclusivity.
For example, since she was a child, Luna-Garza has wanted to learn to speak nine languages. “When I was younger, I heard that the Pope spoke nine languages and I thought, ‘I want to do that!’” explains Luna-Garza. “My hope is to learn nine languages before I die. I’m about halfway there.” Speaking English, Spanish, German, Luna-Garza signs and reads Italian, French, and Portuguese. She is currently learning Hmong to be attentive and responsive to a portion of her congregation who are from Laos and speak Hmong. Her motto, “I am not fully me without you.”
“We really have embraced a sense of ‘All means All,’” states Luna-Garza reflecting on the wideness of the church ministry and focus on inclusivity. “Now, I have to say, ‘All means All’ is not just inclusive of the LGBTQIA+ communities. In fact, we have partnerships with the Muslim community and Jewish communities.” Luna-Garza currently works with Merced County Friends in Faith, a group she brought together “of faith leaders that is interfaith, and even non-faith, so that we can come together, support each other in works and see how we might indeed bring breath to the community and life giving efforts together in collaboration.”
Along with her doctoral thesis, Luna-Garza is writing two other books. The first is a set of two books, one for adults and the other for children suffering from grief. Herself having been a widow, Luna-Garza understands the process personally and the need for more resources for families. The second book is entitled, “The Art of Comadres,” about building intentional community.
“In the Latino community we have a tradition of comadres (co-mothers) and compadres (co-fathers) who come together to sustain the families to create a supportive network,” states Luna-Garza. “It comes back to the value of relationships… so all are cared for, supported and loved.”
Luna-Garza is a third generation United Methodist. She earned a Bachelor of Science Business Management, Organizational Behavior from the University of Phoenix, Dallas, Texas; Master of Divinity at Perkins School of Theology, SMU, Dallas, Texas. Luna-Garza is currently a doctoral scholar at United Theological Seminary at Dayton, Ohio studying Prophetic Activism: From the Cross to Community. Luna-Garza served as pastor in the Rio Grande, Rio, and Rio Texas Conferences before transferring to California-Nevada and serves/has served beyond the local church in various roles at the conference, Jurisdictional, national, and international levels.
JB Brayfindley is a freelance journalist. This article is republished with permission from the California-Nevada Annual Conference. To reproduce this content elsewhere, please contact Selby Ewing, California-Nevada conference editor.