Showing Off what God is Doing

Click this photo to see more of Glad Tiding's TripOne of the biggest sacrifices for any missionary is saying good bye to family & friends.  Yet, as God calls, we follow—trusting that He will provide new friends and create a new family from his vast body of believers.  And God is always faithful to provide. Yet, it is a truly special gift when family & friends actually come to El Salvador, see the work we are doing and sometimes even work alongside us!  

 Shane Wimberly has been a missionary volunteer with ENLACE for almost a year and has been assisting with teams and project construction. In June, Shane’s parents Dueward & Sharon Wimberly brought down a small group from Glad Tidings Church in Texas to work in the community of San Antonio near San Jose El Naranjo.  Pastor Dueward shared a message with the community on Sunday and the entire team of 7 worked on 3 latrines. One of the team members, Sophie, also offered a hair cutting workshop to train some locals on some simple haircutting techniques, as well as offered free haircuts to anyone that wanted one.

 The team was a double blessing—offering encouragement and hope to the members of the San Antonio community that they served through their sweat and shoveling, but Shane was also blessed to have the opportunity to show family and friends how God is transforming impoverished communities in El Salvador through the daily efforts of the local churches that partner with ENLACE.  And sharing with people the truth about how God is providing hope, better health and better communities in El Salvador is one of our very favorite things to do!  Thanks to everyone at Glad Tidings!

Rain On a Hot Tin Roof: Music to Our Ears

Due to a severe wind storm in January 2008, many houses in the western part of El Salvador lost part or all of their roofs.

The churches in San Jose El Naranjo, Los Laureles, El Paraiso and San Antonio sought a way to provide help. The San Jose church, which has partnered with ENLACE the later 90’s lead the way in resolving the problem. They also saw this moment as an opportunity to walk alongside the churches working more recently with ENLACE, helping them to indentify the families most affected by the storm and work together with their community to resolve the situation.

After soliciting corrugated roofing material from ENLACE, the churches organized work teams from a variety of sources within their communities—including community associations, general volunteers and church volunteers. Together they installed 140 new roofs, providing 980 people with shelter.

The timing couldn’t be better. The first major tropical storm depression of the season brought five days of consistent rainfall two weeks after the roof installations were completed. Additionally, because of the way in which the churches walked with their communities to solve the problems they were facing, the project not only ended up filling a specific need but also strengthened the links of friendship between the churches and their communities.

pastor marcos with recipient 
recipient family
recipient family

Change We Can Believe In: Victorio, Reina and Umberto Respond From Abelines

As I talk with those interested in international development, I’m often asked why ENLACE is different. While I believe that there are many great organizations out there doing God’s work, ENLACE has a distinct church-focused, community-transformational approach. This approach understands that poverty and injustice are relational before material. In other words, broken relationships are at the root of poverty. If poverty was simply a lack of material resources, then the obvious answer would be to input significant resources. The majority of the time, introducing resources without working towards relational change, doesn't work. ENLACE’s community transformation approach understands that relationships must be restored for lasting change to occur. In Abelines, a community we have walked with since 1999, ENLACE has seen that it is only God’s power that has transformed people’s hearts, enabling them to respond effectively to their neighbors, their community’s resources, and outside donations. I recently visited a church meeting there. Here are some of the things I heard.

 
Pastor Victorio Paz

Victorio Paz, pastor of Abelines church, said, “Many churches have a doctrine that separates them from the world. And before we didn’t have to and weren’t supposed to communicate with non-Christians. Through our trainings with ENLACE, we began to wake up to a deeper meaning of the Word. We now know it is our calling to show love to others. I have become a better friend to the community...We now feel the needs of others. Now, if there is a need in the community and I ask people to help, I can have 50 people ready to help within minutes... The community trusts in us and has confidence in what we preach and say. Before, when we preached it was a message that split people apart, but now we build people up.”

Reina with her son Gerson

Reina de Membreno, church leader and health committee member said, “Part of the way we preach the gospel is simply by paying for the medical care of people who can’t afford it…We are now more united as a community.”

Umberto Martinez , church leader, when asked about what changes he has seen in the community, he responded emphatically. “First of all, there is so much less illness! It seemed that people used to line up for kilometers to see the doctor because they were always sick… Now there is improved health in the area, and the church has been a part of it all. The people see the response of the church and they understand the leadership the church has gained through service.

“We’ve had experience with other organizations. [They] meet with us, promote their projects, and they leave. ENLACE has stayed with us.”

When asked what they would do if ENLACE were to leave, Victorio Paz responded, “We would continue on the path in front of us. The way one is taught is the way one continues forward. As long as our church is here, the progress won’t come to an end.”

SEEING IS BELIEVING

In April, ENLACE hosted a team from STOA Ministries made up eye doctors and support staff that offered eye care clinics in multiple communities in San Martin, EL Salvador. The team was able to test vision, dilate eyes to test for diseases, and distribute hundreds of eye glasses. Without clinics like this, most of these community residents would have virtually no access to glasses at all. The team was also able to bring with them a huge amount of medicine. In many cases they were able to give folks with glaucoma sufficient medication for one year. If you aren ' t familiar with this disease, glaucoma increases pressure in the eye and when left untreated, eventually leads to blindness. Glaucoma is the second most common cause of blindness in the world.

We are so thankful to STOA for its help, and we think it's awesome to know that a few more people will be seeing better because of a one-week visit of a small group of caring people!

To see some of the photos for your self, check out our photo gallery at: http://www.enlaceonline.org/picture-gallery/stoa-eye-clinic/

WHAT IS ENLACE’S APPROACH TO HELP CHURCHES THAT DESIRE TO TRANSFORM THEIR COMMUNITIES?: the last entry of the five part “why the church?” series by ron bueno

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.

WHAT IMPEDES MORE CHURCHES FROM TRANSFORMING THEIR COMMUNITIES? part 4 of the "why the church?" series by ron bueno

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?"

WHAT IS COMMUNITY TRANSFORMATION?: part 3 of the "why the church?" series by ron bueno

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.

CLINIC EXPANSION INAUGURATION IN ABELINES

The churches and community of Abelines celebrated the completion of the expansion of their clinic facilities recently. Representatives from five different churches as well as the mayor's office and local police force were present to give their blessings to a building which is almost five times as big as the original one room clinic. The church and community take much pride in these facilities as it is an initiative which they have all been behind over the past five years. The new facilities include an expanded space for seeing patients on a regular basis, two lodging rooms for visiting medical teams or others to stay, as well as a large common area for community meetings and health committee training seminars.

Pastor Miguel Duran from Las Delicias and Pastor Marco Melara from San Jose El Naranjo (other ENLACE partner churches) also made the long trek to Abelines for the first time in order to celebrate with Pastor Victorio. In addition, the three pastors took the opportunity to meet with ENLACE's church and community advisors to iron out their strategic plans in their communities for the upcoming years.

Please take a minute to view the photos from the inauguration day by clicking on the image below.

pastors victorio, marco and miguel in abelines

WHAT IS THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH?: Part 2 of the "Why the Church?" series by Ron Bueno

The mission of the church is to be a restored body that transforms its community. The church is a group of people called and made new by the grace of God through Jesus Christ to love and serve one another and the world (Ephesians 2:8-10). This mission has two equally important and integrated elements: (1) the church should be a body of vibrant, authentic people relating to one anther in love, compassion and justice (Ephesians 4, Ephesians 3:4, 1 Cor. 12, Ro. 12:5). And (2) the church should serve its neighbors to create long-lasting change in the relationships, institutions and overall conditions of their communities, especially focusing upon those of greatest need (Mark 12:31-33, Luke 10:27, Matt 22:39;Ro 13:9, Galatians 5:14, James 2:8).

Over the last thirteen years, I have partnered with churches in El Salvador who are committed to alleviate poverty in their communities. I have learned how important it is for a church to understand and define its mission to be a restored body of believers, or as Howard Synder in his book The Community of the King calls it, a “messianic community,” as well as an effective agent of transformation in its community. A church that has not clearly included both elements in its mission has either gone inward and become a “life boat” waiting for God to return or has become externally focused and become a social agent without transforming power. In my experience, the church will only accomplish both things when it becomes an authentic community of people actively waiting on God, listening and obeying, and being poured out to transform its community.

ron bueno sharing at the inauguration of the expanded abelines clinic

It is incredible to experience a church as it begins to focus upon the needs of others before its self. It becomes an unstoppable force within the community, impacting the lives of thousands of people in life-giving ways. When a church begins to see and care for one another as God does a new form of community is created that serves to draw people deeper into the heart of God and also back out to people. As Richard Foster describes, in his book Prayer, the deeper you go into the heart of God the less life becomes about you and the more God pours you out to others. The more the church becomes a people submitted to God and to each other, it becomes of one heart and mind (Acts 4:32, 1 Cor. 1:10, 2 Cor. 13:4, Philippians 2:2), committed to meet the needs of those in its community (Acts 4:34, James 1:27).

The loving, caring community of believers that is the church brings you deeper into a relationship with God but also testifies of God’s unchanging love for his world. As Jesus prayed for his disciples, and for all of us, asking God “that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me,” he asked that we would “be brought to complete unity” in order to express the depth of God’s love to the world (John 17:22-23). This new form of community testifies of God’s love and becomes a reservoir of hope to their neighbors. When a church, as a group of people who love and serve God, begin to lift up their eyes to see each other and their neighbors as God does, they become the salt and light to their community; they become the leaven with spiritual authority to become effective agents of change in their community. It is as a mysterious, amazing, dynamic process where the body is formed and strengthened as its serves effectively its community.

To walk alongside a church as they discover and develop this mission is the greatest part of my job.

Please continue to check back over the next few weeks as we continue with this five part series.

WHY THE CHURCH?: SERIES INTRODUCTION

Over the years, I have heard Ron Bueno, ENLACE’s Executive Director, explain to our staff, local church partners and donors why he believes that the church is the answer to poverty in El Salvador. I asked him recently to write down his answers to the most frequently asked questions regarding ENLACE’s commitment to equip local churches to transform their communities. I've asked Ron to address the following questions:

· Why the church?

· What is the church’s mission?

· What is community transformation?

· What impedes more churches from transforming their communities?

· How would you describe a church that is transforming their community?

Over the next few weeks we'll post Ron's responses to these core questions. Thank you for taking the time to read these posts and we appreciate your comments.

           -David McGee
            Director of Communications 

QUESTION 1: WHY THE CHURCH? by ron bueno

From the beginning of ENLACE in 1993, I believed that we had to encourage and equip local community leaders to develop
their own solutions to poverty. I realized that it was vital for local leaders to identify and build upon available resources and experiences in order to design and manage initiatives that would have a long-term impact in their communities. At first, we focused our training and coaching on community and church leaders, but we soon realized that the church was the best agent of change in their own community for three reasons:
church training in las delicias

1. Only an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ can change people’s hearts to create a viable community and therefore community development . In the first few years, we worked hard to include the community in the design and management of projects so that they would have ownership and participation; however, we realized that no matter how well we helped the community design their projects to be just and efficient we could not change people’s relationships to each other. For example, people would work together to build a water system they all needed, but as soon as there was a problem with someone’s spigot, they would not necessarily work together to help that person resolve their problem. The project could not restore relationships, which is the first and most important step in community transformation; only an ongoing, dynamic relationship with Jesus Christ can truly change someone’s heart to think of others before themselves.
2. It is the church’s mission to restore people unto God and to each other. Community leaders and associations with whom we first worked, ultimately had their own interests in mind and so were influenced by quick solutions or political forces. Additionally, there was a high rate of turnover among community association leaders due to political, personal, and financial reasons (including migrating to the U.S. for work). In contrast, the church’s leadership, seen as body and not as individuals, was a continuous and steady presence in the community which did not act, at least when done well, upon political or personal interest. Rather, the church body committed to a long-term process because it believed in a biblical mandate that led them to commit to their communities.
3. The church is a continuous reservoir of resources. ENLACE has worked primarily with churches of less than 100 members located in impoverished, rural areas of El Salvador. Many of the church leaders believed they did not have the financial or human resources to become effective agents of change in their community. As soon as they looked at their church more closely and began to partner with their community, they discovered a wealth of skills and resources within their congregations. Churches already had, or could develop quickly, great fundraising skills and could pool resources together effectively. They also had a deep commitment to stewardship and compassion which made them an endless reservoir of resources to transform their communities.

Please continue to check back over the next few weeks as we continue with these questions.

ACCESS ROAD INAUGURATION IN EL TINTERAL

The community of El Cambio in El Tinteral celebarated the completion of a new access road. This small settlement community has seen amazing progress since it was founded after the 2001 earthquakes. Families in the El Tinteral area took refuge in what would be called El Cambio ("The Change") after a small plot of mountainous terrain was donated to put up temporary shelters. El Cambio's Ebenezer Church was established with the vision of collaborating with its community in order to bring positive change to the area. ENLACE has partnered with this church, community leaders, the mayor's office and other organizations over the last 6 years to bring sturdy homes, sanitation facilities, potable water, improved cooking methods, a local library and community center. All of these initiatives have truly brought "a change" to El Cambio.

click on the photo to see the photo gallery of the inauguration day

community members at inauguration

27 WELDERS, 2 PIGS, AND A MACHETE

Kate Joslin, a friend from California, writes about San Jose El Naranjo

Leaving the hustle and bustle of San Salvador in the rearview mirror, our jeep bounced along roads to the rural town of San Jose El Naranjo. The sights were common for my companions but pigs roaming the streets and old men strolling with machetes in hand were not something I was accustomed to in California. During my two-week visit to El Salvador, I was blessed with the unique privilege of visiting a local church ENLACE has been building a relationship with and training for the past five years.

Upon arriving at the Jerusalem Church, sparks flew as many teenagers welded iron bars together. Pastor Marco Antonio Melara informed me these teenagers were part of a vocational training program launched in November 2006. With twenty-seven local students enrolled, I assumed this was one of the many projects ENLACE helped organize. How surprised I was to learn that ENLACE had no direct role in the initiative, but that the Jerusalem Church had designed it on their own. Resources were pulled from within the church and contact was even made for government funding through the Mayor’s office and Ministry of Education. Instructor Elio Adonai Moran Lopez explained the reason for his involvement with the students, “I’m doing all that I can so that later they can fend for themselves.” This training program, complete with a certificate of completion, will help young men learn a skill they may potentially use in the workforce.

The ENLACE workers and I were greatly encouraged to see the Jerusalem Church reaching out to their local community. Pastor Marco explained, “as a church we have the responsibility and a mandate from God to help people however we can.” I felt very fortunate to be able to witness firsthand the fruit of ENLACE’s ministry. This church was applying the training provided by Enlace to serve their community in new ways.

As we left San Jose El Naranjo my thoughts drifted back to the buzz of the welding torch. The love the Jerusalem Church displayed toward those in their community was clearly evident. These were believers in the same God I worshipped and yet they were doing so much with the little they had. I was greatly challenged to serve those around me in California with the same unselfish and focused commitment. As a Christian, I say I believe a lot of things. But if my life is not radically different because of God’s transforming grace, then what do I really believe? My actions either confirm or deny the words that come out of my mouth.

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” Matthew 25:44-45

-Kate Joslin

check out a video testimonial of the project: