The Rev. Eliezer Valentín-Castañón

The Rev. Eliezer Valentín-Castañón, D. Min.

The Rev. Dr. Eliezer Valentín-Castañón Associate General Secretary

As a steward of our ministry of inclusiveness and anti-racism, I am responsible for helping to shape an understanding among our clergy and laity of our richly diverse heritage and our God-inspired mandate to pursue ministries of justice, inclusion and reconciliation. Our church must manifest fully a community that reflects the goals of God’s reign: “to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor” (Luke 4:18-21).

Eliezer is Associate General Secretary of the General Commission on Religion and Race with primary responsibility for Advocacy, Hispanic/Latino Constituency Concerns and GCORR’s work and relationships in the South Central Jurisdiction. He joined our staff in 2005.

Prior to coming to the Commission, Eliezer was the Director of Civil and Human Rights at the General Board of Church and Society. Among the issues Dr. Valentín-Castañón worked on Public Education, Immigration Policy, Welfare Reform, Affirmative Action, Restorative Justice, Capital Punishment and Separation of Church and State. He has worked in Washington for the past 10 years bringing the witness of The United Methodist Church to the heart of Capitol Hill.

Eliezer was born in 1960 in the coastal town of Arecibo, on the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. He studied at the University of Puerto Rico and in 1984 received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology, with a minor in Philosophy. At age 18, he became a pastor in the Pentecostal Movement in Puerto Rico and an advocate for Puerto Rico’s rights as a territory of the United States.

In 1983 Eliezer came to the U.S. and worked with the Boston (Mass.) School Committee where he taught middle-school children. Later, he moved to New York City and worked for the city Welfare Department. In 1985, he joined the Fordham Hispanic United Methodist Church in the Bronx, N.Y. Two years later, he entered the Theological School at Drew University in Madison, N.J., where he earned his Master of Divinity degree in 1990.

As a deacon Eliezer was appointed to the First United Methodist Church of East Hampton, N.Y., in 1990 and served for four years. In 1994, he began serving the Quakertown UMC in the Northern New Jersey (regional) Conference (now the Greater New Jersey Conference). The following year he was appointed to the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church, where he served for 10 years. In 2002, he received his Doctor of Ministry degree from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.

Eliezer is married to Magda E. Morales. Along with their children, Daniel and Eduardo, they attend Calvary United Methodist Church in Frederick, Md.