Giovanni Arroyo

Giovanni Arroyo, a native of Puerto Rico, migrated to New York City as a young boy. As he learned English in his new elementary school, his family nurtured him in the faith at Knickerbocker United Methodist church in Brooklyn, N.Y. It was there that Giovanni recognized and answered his call into ministry. 

At the age of 10, in his family’s home-based children's worship group, which served approximately 15 children four times weekly, Giovanni began his discernment process. From there, Giovanni took on various roles in his local church, as well as roles in both district and annual conference.

Professionally, Giovanni has worked in the research field with The City College of New York in language inquisition and experimental psychology, the New York State Psychiatric Institute in exposure to violence and child abuse studies, the National Development and Research Institute with young adult inject-drug users, and as a grant evaluator for the Long Island Children’s Museum. 

Giovanni has served in the New York Annual Conference as pastor in a shared facility ministry setting in Norwalk, Conn. For the past six years, Giovanni has served Salem/Baltimore Hispanic Ministry in the Baltimore Washington Conference as the pastor of two congregations, which are housed in the same facility but are offered in two different languages. He has also served in the Baltimore Washington Conference in various leadership positions, including chair of Commission on Religion Race, executive member of Hispanic/Latino Ministries, Annual Conference worship team, clergy recruitment, immigration ministry,  Justice for Our Neighbor, and others.