Missionary of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Missionary Support Code: 15172Z
As a missionary with the Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church, Marilia Alves Schuller serves in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as the Secretary for Racial and Gender Equity for Koinonia, Ecumenical Presence and Service.
Koinonia is a Brazilian ecumenical organization that has had a long relationship with the Board of Global Ministries. Marilia is involved in activities aimed at helping churches and local communities engage in the struggles to overcome racism and discrimination against women.
Serving 14 years with the World Council of Churches as Program Executive, Ms. Schuller also worked with the Brazilian Evangelical Center of Pastoral Studies as biblical and theological consultant as well as university ministry agent at the Methodist University of Piracicaba in Brazil.
Marilia’s knowledge and experience on the struggles for people’s rights encompasses inter-cultural, inter-ethnic and inter-generational groups. She is committed to ecumenism and the experience of the international ecumenical movement.
“I understand my call for mission in direct relation with my faith journey. That journey has helped me to understand that all services we do in the name of Jesus Christ and for the life of the world are mission. Mission is a holistic endeavor. Thus, the experiences of life, of work, of living faith in the present and in diverse contexts, are part of the preparation for mission. It is in that way that I understand the call for Mission service: as God’s given opportunity for service.”
Ms. Schuller was born in Brazil and studied at the Methodist School of Theology in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where she received her Bachelor of Theology. She continued her education at Ecumenical Institute at Bossey of the World Council of Churches in Switzerland, focusing on Ecumenical Studies. Marilia earned a Master’s degree in Social Sciences and Religion from the Ecumenical Institute of Post-Graduate Studies on Sciences of Religion of U. M. Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Marilia is a member of the Methodist Church of Brazil.