Our family is serving with Mission to the World in El Salvador for an initial 4-year term with hopes that God will lead us to stay much longer. We joined a team of missionaries, led by Rodney Davila and his wife Jana, to start a brand-new church planting ministry in the capital city of San Salvador.
MTW has never had a presence in El Salvador, and to our knowledge, there are very few, if any, churches that teach the reformed faith. Nearly 65% of Salvadorans are Catholic and about 20% worship in evangelical churches. We have been told by Salvadorans that many of these Christian churches preach the “Prosperity Gospel,” offering the hope of health and wealth if they live a certain way and support the church financially. We have also heard that witchcraft and the presence of witch doctors are commonplace.
We desire to see the gospel bring healing and hope as we plant a church that manifests Jesus’ love and grace in tangible ways.
Although civil war, poverty, and addiction has characterized El Salvador’s history, the people are strikingly kind and resilient. Join us in praying that God will use this new church to break destructive cultural patterns of violence and despair to transform El Salvador’s future for His glory.
What Does Church Planting Look Like?
We get this question often, and we asked it ourselves in the beginning of our candidacy process. In a nutshell, it’s about us being faithful to build meaningful relationships and God doing the work of transforming hearts and forming a beautiful community of believers. Our family will use every opportunity we have to connect with those God puts in our path – our neighbors, families at the boys’ school, strangers we meet at the market, a homeless person at the ministry center.
But the goal is to go deeper than connecting. We long for relationships with eternal impact, so our mission will be to share the love of Christ, invite them into our community of believers (the church plant!), walk alongside them in discipleship and grace, and continue doing life together as a healthy body of Christ that proclaims hope to El Salvador.
Our team’s vision is to glorify God by advancing a church planting movement in El Salvador through living out the gospel, evangelism, discipleship, and equipping national qualified church leadership to develop & establish presbyterian churches throughout the country.
How We Will Serve
Since this is a brand-new team and ministry in El Salvador, we understand that it may be years before we hold our first official church service. So, we are busy in the meantime. The first item on the agenda for new missionaries like us is to attend language school until we can speak Spanish with excellence. Someone once said that in order to do gospel ministry in another context, you must be able to speak their heart language. Until we can converse about the intricacies of the trinity in Spanish, we will continue our studies. 🙂 During this time, we are trying to learn everything we can about Salvadoran culture, and begin to make connections with our neighbors, families at our boys’ schools, and anyone who God brings into our life.
Other ministry opportunities we hope to engage as we build relationships include volunteering at nearby orphanages, hosting neighborhood block parties and dinners in our home, leading Bible studies, helping build adequate homes, and more.
The sky is the limit when it comes to finding unique ways to serve the people of El Salvador and connect in meaningful relationships. If any of this moves your heart, and you’re wondering if there is a way you can use your unique gifts, please reach out to us! Under the leadership of Rodney Davila and his wife Jana, our team is growing and we need more people to come join in the work God is doing in El Salvador.
“When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” – Matthew 9:36-38