Meet Laura Rodriguez-Reyes, MCEC's delegate to the 2025 Global Youth Summit

“It is a great opportunity to use a platform for advocacy … to represent Latino women in the church,” says Laura Rodriguez-Reyes about her role as a delegate at the Mennonite World Conference (MWC) Global Youth Summit (GYS) this spring.

She, along with four other Canadian delegates (one from each regional church), was selected from over 20 who applied to represent Mennonite Church Canada at this gathering. Each regional church reviewed the applications submitted to MC Canada from their region. MCEC’s executive staff team thoughtfully considered each MCEC applicant and recommended Laura as the MCEC representative. Not only is she representing MCEC, but she was also selected as Mennonite Church Canada’s official MWC Young Anabaptists delegate.

From May 30 - June 1 of next year, delegates from across the Mennonite world will gather in Württemberg, Germany to worship together, learn about each other’s cultures and discuss approaches to their Mennonite faith.

Laura has attended First Mennonite Church in Kitchener since 2010. “It was my mom who found this church” Laura shares “My mom really loves the values - the Anabaptist values of peace and justice.” 

These core values resonate with her as well and in 2017 she became a more active participant at First Mennonite. As she puts it, “[Peace and non-violence] are what drew me in because I didn’t really see that in other spaces … that is truly what it means to be a Christian, to stand by those values.”

Those values also inspire Laura in her education and career. She recently completed her Master’s degree studying food security and economic development in remote indigenous communities in the Northwest Territories. Since graduating, Laura has worked for MCC as the Program Coordinator for the Service Opportunities with Our Partners (SOOP) Program, connecting those looking to volunteer with global MCC partners.

Laura cares deeply about youth engagement in the church, a large focus of the MWC gathering. To prepare for the conference, she has been leading the MC Canada delegates in a project to research what drives young adult engagement or disengagement from the church. For this report, they surveyed 33 young adults from across Canada.

What have they learned so far? Youth participation falls off around age 18, when youth are moving away from their home churches, for work or school. Many do not pursue finding a new congregation to join, but many still want to participate in the church. 

What do they value in the church? From the survey answers, Laura has found that “it has to do with belonging, they have a community, and they participate at church. It helps if they have a role."

At the GYS Laura hopes to hear from Mennonites in other countries about how they are engaging youth and young adults. In connecting with Mennonites in other countries, she has heard about strong young Mennonite communities in Latin America. She wonders “What are Latin American countries doing differently than us and what is the attraction that is encouraging young adults to find that community at church?” She will have the chance to explore these questions and bring her answers back to MCEC and MC Canada from the summit.

Ann L. Shultz, MCEC executive team leader, shares, “We are thrilled that Laura is representing MCEC at the Global Youth Summit. Her passion for the church makes her an excellent choice for this role and we eagerly anticipate hearing her insights when she returns next summer.”