Focus
Christian Areli is the Director of Maná, Museo de las Sagradas Escrituras, the first Museum of the Bible in the Americas, located in Mexico City, which exhibits and academic programs make it possible for visitors to encounter the beauty, history, and central message of the Scriptures.
Journey
At the age of 8, Areli decided to call Jesus Christ as Lord of her life within a community of Christian faith. From an early age, she enjoyed being involved in local church service, actively participating in the missions committee and weekly evangelism activities. As a teenager, for seven consecutive years, she served during summer vacations in various churches in the interior of the Mexican Republic through the ministry known as Summer Missionaries, which prepares young people to teach evangelistic clubs for children—all activities of singular formative value stimulated and strengthened God’s call for his life.
After finishing his career in Social Work and with the willingness to formally prepare for the ministry, she met the Museum of the Bible at the end of 2011 in a cycle of film debate on the Reformation. She found a space of the highest spiritual and academic commitment to the historical-theological reflection of the Scriptures.
The message she heard from the president of the Museum about the principles to which the Reformation invited us to return in every age confronted his innermost being and prompted her to seriously start her biblical training in languages, biblical sciences, and philosophy of religion. The Reformation, the founder, and president of the Museum pointed out, reminds us that salvation is by grace. Likewise, the sanctification of the believer’s life can only be rooted in grace. No practice, spiritual discipline, or rite has the power to transform our lives, but only grace manifested in living and loving communion with Christ.
A year after beginning her formation at the Museum, the Museum’s president invited her to collaborate in formative activities; starting in 2019, she was invited to direct the Museum, a move she has carried out to date, and actively participating in her local faith community.
