Our family will serve with Mission to the World in El Salvador for a 4-year term. We are joining 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, we will plant the first reformed church in the country.
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 will determine together once we are there the best avenues for relationship building. Especially in the beginning of our ministry, we will collaborate with an established mercy ministry called Mission to El Salvador to serve several vulnerable groups in downtown San Salvador including
- homeless and orphans
- youth recovering from addiction
- women & children rescued from sex trafficking
Mission to El Salvador holds Bible studies, offers counseling, hosts medical teams for clinics, and teaches practical labor skills like wood-working and auto body repair, among other ministries. Clay is excited for the opportunity to teach and build relationships with men who might take wood-working and car repair classes as a step in breaking the cycle of homelessness or addiction.
Other ministry opportunities we hope to engage as we build relationships include teaching English classes, hosting neighborhood block parties and dinners in our home, leading Bible studies, learning to facilitate trauma healing counseling, 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! Underneath 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