International Partner: People of God Church in El Salvador
El Salvador is a very small country in Central America, about the size of New Jersey. It’s a very beautiful country: mountainous with many vistas of striking volcanoes. It also has beautiful beaches, although swimming is very dangerous due to rip currents.
El Salvador, like most countries colonized at one time by Spain, is predominantly Roman Catholic. However, it has a thriving and significant national Lutheran Church. Many Advent members over the years have traveled to El Salvador to visit the Lutheran Church. Our visits are based on the Lutheran Church’s history of accompanying Bishop Medardo Gomez to ensure his safety during the Civil War (1980n to 1992). We have the honor of meeting with Bishop Gomez and other leaders of the church when we visit.
Since 2014, Advent has had a formal sister relationship with the People of God (Pueblo de Dios) Lutheran Church in Calderitas. Calderitas is a small village of about 600 people located on the side of a dormant volcano. It takes a couple of hours to drive there from the capital city, San Salvador.
In our sister relationship, we have made a commitment to each other to pray for each other regularly, and to share in each other’s joys and sorrows. Now, every year when we visit El Salvador, we visit our sisters and brothers in Calderitas to learn about the conditions of life there, and to deepen our relationships. Fortunately Calderitas is relatively free from the gang violence that plagues El Salvador. But it was particularly meaningful to People of God when we prayed for one of their members, Moises, who was murdered by gang members in 2015.
Please plan to worship at Advent on Sunday, April 22, when we celebrate El Salvador Sunday! Our guest preacher at all three services will be Christian Chavarria, who is the pastor of People of God. Pastor Christian will also speak at the 10 AM discussion hour. And please prayerfully consider traveling to El Salvador. A group will be going from July 3 to July 11. Speak to Norma Martin for details.
Pastor Christian, People of God, and everyone at Advent who cares about El Salvador is deeply grateful to the members of Advent for their prayers for our sister church, and for your support.