Category: Blog

In the July issue of The Pentecostal Evangel John Bueno, the executive director of the Assemblies of God World Missions, shares four scriptural aspects of reaching out to the poor: God and the poor, the Church and the poor, and the gospel and the poor. With each aspect, he shows how scripture addresses the responsibility of Christians to minister to and defend the poor who live among us.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE 

John and Lois Bueno were missionaries to El Salvador for over 25 years (CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THEIR MINISTRY IN EL SALVADOR). Their four sons were born and raised in El Salvador. Two of their sons, Ron and David, returned to El Salvador in 1993 to start the ministry of ENLACE.

ENLACE’s approach is an intuitive, fluid, and dynamic process. It is a process that is adapted to every church and community’s unique history, vision, resources and opportunities. The process is fluid and dynamic because each stage builds from and contributes to one another. It is a general framework more than a rigid methodology.

The six general steps of our approach are as follows:
alfredo vargas working with leaders of the good samaritan church

· Discovering your church. In the first stage ENLACE helps the church to discover who they are as a congregation. During this stage the church leaders identify attitudes that might impede them from reaching out to their community. They evaluate their current mission and vision statement and organizational structure. They also begin to appreciate the skills and capacities of their leadership and identify resources available in their congregation. Although this stage continues throughout the entire process as a church learn s more about itself and as new members join the church, the initial stage usually lasts between 3 to 6 months.

· Organizing to serve. The second stage involves aligning a church’s resources with their mission and vision. In this stage the church begins to identify and train servant leaders to connect to their community. In some cases a committee or a set of teams is organized to lead the community transformation process. This stage can last from 3 to 6 months.

· Listening to your community. In the third stage church leaders begin to connect to and understand their community. The church leaders will do a series of activities to develop a community profile. These activities include interviewing formal and informal leaders, meeting with local organizations, and conducting one-on-one informal and formal interviews. Other activities in which leaders are encouraged to participate include walking through their community at different times and days of the week, hanging out at favorite community places, and participating in community activities such as meetings, fairs, or parties. The central emphasis of this stage is for the church to begin to develop relationships with community leaders and organizations and begin to serve together. This stage ranges from 6 to 12 months.

· Partnering effectively with your community . The focus of the fourth stage is to create a common vision for the community and develop the leadership and technical skills required to design and manage appropriate initiatives. This stage involves training church and community leaders to identify, design, manage and evaluate sustainable initiatives. It is also during this stage that we train leaders to mobilize local resources to implement the initiative. The final product of this stage is an equipped leadership team and organizational structure that will manage existing initiatives and identify new ones. This stage ranges from 3 to 7 years.

· Incarnating the mission of the church. The emphasis of this stage is to institutionalize the mission of the church in the whole body. It is during this stage that the leadership of the church is encouraged to communicate and celebrate what they are doing with the congregation . The church leadership identifies and trains new leaders, develops new ways of communicating their mission, vision and activities, and hosts church and community events to celebrate transformation. This stage begins shortly after they have started the partnering stage and continues throughout the life of the church.

· Replicating the model. In this final stage, church leaders train and equip other local and regional churches to transform their communities. It is during this stage that ENLACE provides church leaders with the materials and methodology to replicate the process. This stage ranges from 3 to 5 years.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMPLETE SERIES.

WE WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS.

Many of you have been following the amazing development of the potable water project in Las Delicias. This summer, the church and community concluded a crucial step in the project with the completion of all of the infrastructure at the well site. Multiple groups came from the US to collaborate in the project and were of immense encouragement to the Church and community. Take a minute to view some of the photo galleries from a few of the teams.

TAKE A MINUTE TO WATCH THIS WATER PROJECT UPDATE VIDEO

if you have trouble viewing the video press pause and wait for the video to fully load

QUICK FACTS OF THE PROJECT

project to benefit…

1,950 families

5 schools

10 churches

progress so far…

$260,000 from donors, US partner churches, local church, community, and local government

3 wells, 3 tanks, 1 cistern, well station

left to finish…

14 miles of piping

3 pumping stations

2 well pumps

electrical system

water purification system

community training

estimated cost to finish…

$975,000

PARTNER WITH ENLACE BY CONTRIBUTING $500 TO PROVIDE WATER FOR ONE FAMILY FOR GENERATIONS TO COME

Through my experience over the years of working with churches in El Salvador, I have identified five general reasons why churches do not engage in or drop out of community transformation which are as follows:

• COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION IS NOT PART OF THE CHURCH’S MISSION: The first and most important reason why churches do not get involved in community transformation is that it is not central to their mission. Most church leaders understand community service to be an important part of the spiritual formation of their members and an excellent way to announce to their neighbors that there is a church in their area that loves them; nevertheless, they do not believe that the church’s mission is to make a sustainable change in their communities. They define community transformation as a social outreach project but not as change in the relationships, vision and overall living conditions of the most impoverished of their neighbors.

• COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION IS SOMEONE ELSE’S RESPONSIBILITY: In different contexts, at different times, the church has found other agents to hold responsible for social change. The church looks to or holds responsible the government, non-profit agencies, para-church organizations or civil society to take care of the long-term needs of its community. Even when they are skeptical of their effectiveness, churches will hold other organizations responsible for transforming their community.

• CHURCH LEADERS BELIEVE THEY LACK SUFFICIENT RESOURCES TO TRANSFORM THEIR COMMUNITIES: In many cases, churches see themselves as lacking the sufficient resources (such as money, time, and personnel) to effect long-lasting change in their communities. Many churches see themselves as recipients of assistance or as needing resources themselves and therefore cannot contribute to community transformation. Whereas, other churches believe that it requires extensive, professional expertise or large amounts of money to effect substantive change so do not begin to connect or have an impact in their community.

• PREJUDICE: Many churches hold deep ideologies of difference based upon race, ethnicity, class, gender and religion that separates them from their neighbors. Churches hold subconscious and conscious beliefs about the differences between people which inform their lack of action. In some cases, their belief about race or ethnicity affects their relationships and actions toward others. In other cases, their understanding of poverty such as, “people are poor because they want to be,” “or because they are lazy,” prompts a church not to focus their attention on the needs of the poor. Another major reason why churches do not reach out to their neighbors is because of religious differences. Churches are hindered from reaching out to others for fear of crossing lines between major groups of faith (such as Catholic versus Protestant) or even between different denominations.

• CHURCH LEADERS STATE THAT THEY DO NOT KNOW HOW TO EFFECTIVELY TRANSFORM THEIR COMMUNITIES: Many church leaders state that they want to effectively to their neighbors but they do not know how to discover their church’s resources, connect to their community, or develop sustainable initiatives to transform their communities.

Although I’ve seen many church leaders struggle with these five obstacles, it is an amazing experience to watch those who take a chance to develop a mission for their church that includes community transformation, to reach out and partner with their neighbors, to begin to serve sacrificially, and to ultimately become leaders of long-lasting change in their communities.

CLICK HERE to read part 3 of the series “what is community transformation?”

We are excited to announce that we have recently hired three new staff members for our church and community program and are now working in five new churches.

nuria in las deliciasNuria de Reyes was hired as a church and community advisor. Previously Nuria worked closely with Miguel Duran and the Good Samaritan Church in Las Delicias as the director of education for their denomination. Nuria came with high recommendations and has already been an amazing and valuable addition. Nuria is finishing her Masters in Theology and Missiology while also giving classes at a local Bible College. She says, “I was was most impacted by ENLACE’s distinct form in which they work with the church and help them become truly connected to their community.”

ron bueno and arturo in abelinesArturo Perez was also brought on as a church and community advisor. Arturo acquired his Masters in Theology and Missiology while working as the Director of Missions and the Director of the Bible Institute for the Templo Cristiano Assembly of God Church in San Salvador. Arturo was most impressed by ENLACE after seeing so many churches with extremely limited resources that committed to serving its communities.

Our third addition to the ENLACE family is Lilia de Gomez (or Lilí ). Lilí will work as an Initiative Supervisor, overseeing the development and implementation of the work plans assigned to the ENLACE field staff. Lilí is originally from Ecuador and came to El Salvador with her husband in hopes of fulfilling a call they felt to missions. Lilí has been CREDATEC’s head of credit for the past seven years and is excited about making the move over to helping the ENLACE field staff. Lilí has a degree in Theolgy with a concentration in Missions Studies and is currently working on her MBA during nights and weekends.

We feel extremely blessed that God has brought this new staff to us so that we may continue working and expanding this ministry. But there could be more!

CALLING ALL FRIENDS OF ENLACE!!!

Over the past two years we have begun working with five new churches, corresponding to the natural overflow of interest in the communities where we have worked for so long. In San Jose El Naranjo, for example, two churches have joined our efforts under the guidance of Pastor Marco Melara and his outreach committee. In the Abelines area, two new churches are now receiving training after seeing the impact that Pastor Victorio Paz and the social outreach and health committees were making. Likewise, Pastor Miguel Duran and his church leaders have asked ENLACE to help them begin the training with one other church in their area. In each of these instances, there have been many more churches (in two cases, the local Catholic Church leaders have asked for Biblical training) interested in having ENLACE walk alongside them as they begin to serve their communities.

ron bueno at community meeting in las deliciasWe simply do not yet have the staff or resources to walk alongside these churches and leaders. With this in mind, we developed the Friends of ENLACE program to give our friends a chance to support ENLACE’s growth. This program gives you the opportunity to easily donate to our church and community program on a monthly basis. In doing so, you are supplying our church and community program with the resources needed to continue to walk alongside these new churches. Please consider committing to three years of monthly gifts and help support the ongoing work that is literally transforming poor communities all over El Salvador.

Click here to go to the donate now page where you can set-up easy monthly payments by credit card.

On June 16, a group of 19 people from the Union Church of San Salvador worked alongside the Church and Community members of El Cambio, El Tinteral. The leaders in El Cambio continue their risk prevention work by building drainage canals and retaining walls to prevent future landslides and erosion in the area. So far, more than 30 walls have been built, most of them using ruined tires to construct the walls. This method maximizes local resources by incorporating otherwise useless items to construct a sturdy retaining wall to prevent erosion (which is prevelant in their area). A large portion of El Cambio was a settlement community for displaced families after the 2001 earthquakes. Many of these families have gone from living in plastic shelters to now having sturdy block homes, potable water, sanitation facilities, improved access roads and improved stoves in many homes. Over the years, the church and community has increased its capacity to manage such projects. It is easily understandable that the community would now want to protect their community against future disaster.

The extent of the possible damage due to erosion in the area was made very clear in 2005 after two weeks of heavy rain caused by hurricane Stan and other tropical storms pounded the area. The church and community leaders developed a plan to prevent future disasters in their area and insuring the safety of their new community.

The Union Church donated missions funds designated for follow-up from the 2005 storms to help with the cost of this ongoing work in El Tinteral. On June 16, the church also had the chance to see first hand what it is like installing such walls.

community member prying the tire open to allow dirt to be packed in

union church member, andrew murgatroyd, giving a free ride

sarah jacobson with community members
oscar taking a break

Click here to see a photo gallery from the work day.

A group from Faith Christian Fellowship (FCF) in Clarksburg, West Virginia arrived for the third year in a row to work alongside the Good Samaritan Church in Las Delicias. This year the group was able to do more than make friends while sharing manual labor efforts with church and community members. Pastor John Eklund, outreach minister of FCF, conducted a training seminar for over thirty pastors and leaders in the area on starting and implementing a Celebration Recovery (Christ-centered addiction recovery) program in the area. It turns out that a local pastor has started the program in San Salvador and will be helping the churches in the Las Delicias area walk through the process. In addition, Charlotte Snead, a M.O.P.S. (Mothers of Pre-schoolers) coordinator, spent time with the women’s ministry of the Good Samaritan Church having a wonderful time of encouragement and sharing.

john eklund sharing through walter bolanos

pastor luke brugger laying block
community members volunteering by hauling sand to work site

The group also worked at the site of the water wells. They started on a general storage building and a small home for the the caretakers of the property. The youth from the group made some great friends with community members who were volunteering at the work site. Pastor Miguel, his church and the community were overjoyed to continue a growing relationship with the FCF church. Pastor Miguel said that the group came with a servant’s heart and did an amazing job of collaborating with and empowering the work of the local church and community.

For information on mission trips click here.

Click here to see a photo gallery from the trip.

Click here to see the new Las Delicias community profile.

The church and community leaders of the community of Las Delicias invited (or maybe "challenged" would be a better word) the ENLACE staff to a pupusa* eating contest on May 26. It was an amazing time for all the ENLACE staff to celebrate the amazing progress of the water project and then eat until stuffed. We estimate that more than 900 pupusas were eaten that Saturday afternoon. An employee of ENLACE’s sister org CREDATEC, Israel Melendez, ate 17 pupusas winning the event. While Evelyn Rosales (also from ENLACE) ate 16 coming in first for the female category. Her 9 yr old daughter, Rebecca ate 9 pupusas. Click here to see a photo gallery of the event.

ENLACE employee, Jorge Herrera, after trying to stuff down 10 pupusas

pastor Miguel Duran presenting the community leaders who attended the contest

one of the feasting tables

rebecca putting down number 9

*A pupusa (from pipil [the native language] "pupusawa") is a thick, hand-made corn tortilla (made using masa de maiz, a maize floour dough) that is stuffed with one or a combination of the following: cheese (queso) (usually a soft Salvadoran cheese called Quesillo), fried pork rind (called chicharrón), refried beans (frijoles fritos), or queso con loroco (loroco is a flower bud). Some more creative "pupuserías" serve pupusas with exotic ingredients, such as shrimp, squash, or local herbs.

pupusas being cooked on the "plancha"

Community transformation is a dynamic and continuous process in which people are restored to God and reflect his reign or Kingdom in every area of their lives. Many understand community transformation as the process of change while others focus upon the results or outcomes such as affordable housing, better health or dignified employment . At ENLACE, community transformation is the process in which relationships are restored to God and to each other; a process that enables active participation of all community members under a shared vision to develop responsive institutions and sustainable, poverty alleviating initiatives.

pastor miguel duran of las delicias talking with community leadersIn our experience, community transformation is a slow, arduous, and evolving process. You first see glimpses of transformation in people’s hearts, values, attitudes toward God and to each other which after many years encourages and produces sustainable changes to the conditions of their lives such as dignified housing, employment, and health.

ENLACE discovers the process of community transformation as it occurs in six dimensions or spheres.

Restored relationships : People restored to God and to each other producing a loving, compassionate and just community of servants of God. The community sees each other as children of God, dependent upon God and interdependent upon each other to fulfill his plan for the world. Everyone is restored, called and an active part of fulfilling the purposes of God.

Active participation : A community where everyone participates actively in vision-casting, decision-making, and implementing sustainable solutions that is inclusive, equitable and just. Participation is based upon and encourages the forming and using of gifts and skills given by God to build the entire community.

Shared vision : A vision of the future that is shared by the community, that is realistic and reflects the Kingdom of God. The vision should be developed in open dialog among community members. It should ultimately create a shared sense of identity and purpose.

Servant leadership : Leaders from within the community are committed to listening, learning and caring for the entire community with special care for the most needy. Servant leaders are concerned with the spiritual and personal development of those they serve. Ultimately they strive to create new servant leaders. 

Effective institutions : Public and private organizations and churches that respond to opportunities identified by community servant leaders that fit within their shared vision and are implemented in a transparent, just and effective manner. Effective institutions do not impose agendas or programs but try to facilitate and strengthen local initiatives.

Sustainable solutions : Initiatives that are identified and designed by the church and community leaders based upon existing local resources and skills that have a long-lasting impact on the community.

community members volunteering at las delicias water project

click here to donate to ENLACE’s church and community program.

May 2-4 ENLACE hosted a three-day workshop with all employees. The workshop, entitled ” The Church in Mission: Transforming Your Community,” included a focus on the Biblical basis of the mission of the church, the church’s part in God’s plan for reaching the world and the details of ENLACE’s projects and programs. These days were invlauable for the ENLACE staff to grow together, dream and plan for what lies ahead in the upcoming years.

Click here to see a photo album of the first day.