Category: Blog

Click Here to see a complete slideshow from the three day conference for Salvadoran pastors and spouses: "Renewing Your Passion for Christ."

Thank you to those of you who were praying this past weekend for the pastor’s conference. It was an amazing success and minstry for more than 2,000 Salvadoran pastors and spouses. Please check back later this week to see a slideshow and read testimonials from this wonderful event.

From November 29 until December 1, 2007, world renowned evangelist, author, pastor and founder of Teen Challenge Ministries, David Wilkerson, along with his son Gary, will host a conference for Salvadoran pastors and their spouses. The event is free for the pastors and promises to be an amazing opportunity for prayer, worship and developing unity and shared vision among the churches of El Salvador. Ron Bueno is directing an interdenominational team of Salvadoran leaders who are organizing the event and the ENLACE office has served as the logistical base for the conference planning. So far, there are more than 2,500 Salvadoran pastors and spouses signed-up for the event from nearly every Christian denomination in El Salvador!

“I’ve been an evangelist for many, many years,” said Daivd Wilkerson, speaking about the conferences which have been held all over the world. “Now after 15 years of pastoring, sharing the hurts and the pains, difficulties of the ministry as a pastor, I felt the Lord finally released me that I might have something to say. I’ve been preaching for 50 years and I’ve come to learn as well as to share. In all of our meetings to pastors, we’ve seen great encouragement, [in] many [pastors] who are hurting, many ready to quit the ministry, leave the pastorate. We’ve been praying that God would bring unity and this has been happening in the meetings. Pastors are getting together, real genuine Holy Ghost led unity… …See I’m in my seventies. I don’t have anything to prove to anybody. I’ve had all the honors a man can stand. I’ve been blessed, the Lord has preserved a good name for the ministry He has given to us. He has truly given me a heart and burden for pastors. And this has been birthed in prayers…”

Click here to read more about the Wilkersons’ passion for hosting these conferences.

photos from uruguay conference, june 2007

October 27 – November 3 a group of 18 came from Meadowbrook Community Church. This was the fifth trip for the Church from Champaign , Illinois. Part of this year’s group painted water tanks, built infrastructure at the well site and did cement work for the water project in Las Delicias. The group also collaborated with three area churches near Las Delicias to bring medical attention to more than 550 community members, of which 65% were children. 

Click here to see a slideshow from the trip.

Click here for more info on mission trips with ENLACE

Take a minute to watch a few of the retreat’s attendees talk about this year’s experience.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE SLIDESHOW FROM THE 2007 PASTOR AND CHURCH LEADER RETREAT

CLICK HERE TO BECOME A FRIEND OF ENLACE IN ORDER TO MAKE THESE EVENTS POSSIBLE

Thank you for your prayers during our recent Pastor & Church Leader retreat. Once again this 3-day retreat was a blessed time! Eleven Salvadoran churches (39 pastors and church leaders) and the ENLACE staff enjoyed a wonderful time in Biblical teaching, prayer, worship as well as plenty of time for games and friendly soccer matches. Time was also spent on Biblical training of servant leadership, practical discussions about specific experiences & best practices shared, as well as regional strategic planning for the coming year.

The deep desire for and dialogue about community transformation was particularly exciting. And it was amazing to see that very transformation at work in the discussions and interactions of the event. As the different church leaders described challenges and blessings, prayed for one another, discussed the opportunities for transformation in their shared regions and listened to one another, the sense of community among the leadership present was strengthened. This sense of unity combined with their joined commitments to serve their individual communities with sacrificial love, promises healthy and sustainable efforts that will bring hope and healing throughout communities in El Salvador.

Check back over the next week to check out videos and photo slideshows from the event.

evening prayer time 2006We are so excited to announce that we will have eleven churches represented at our annual pastor and church leader’s retreat. This event is always the highlight of the year for ENLACE. We spend three days seeking God together in prayer, sharing specific experiences from different contexts, Biblical training on servant leadership, and design new regional strategies for each church . This year, we have invited pastors and leaders from our 3 most committed churches and have included 8 new churches working with ENLACE. Please pray that God’s presence will renew each leader’s heart and commitment for their communities and that they might develop deep friendships with each other leaders to help and encourage them in their work.

click here to see video testimonials from last year’s event

click here to see the photo gallery from last year’s event

TESTIMONIALS FROM LAST YEAR’S EVENT

“We are now actively fulfilling the integral mission of the church… our goal is that there will be restored relationships between the church and community; relationships of friendship, confidence and trust.” -Marcos Melara. pastor, san jose el naranjo

“I learned how to be organized in my church and community. With what we have learned here, we will increase the work of the lord in our community.” -Victorio paz. pastor, community of Abelines

“My leaders and I are now thinking how to expand and promote the integral mission in other churches while getting more involved with our community.” -Miguel Duran. pastor. las delicias

“I have learned how to be better united with my community and how to be a better leader through service.” -Marleni Gonzalez de Mendez. Church leader, el tinteral

“The church and community program provides the core inspiration and training for all the church and community initiatives to happen.” -Alfredo Vargas. director of operations, ENLACE

Your contributions make these events possible. Click here to donate to the church and community program.

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.