Iglesia Bautista--El Cordero de Dios

I have started going to a Baptist church here, El Cordero de Dios (The Lamb of God) which is Baptist in name only--it is a very progressive church. The pastor's sermons are about the church being a force for change--for justice and peace.

I spent most of Saturday with 4 members of the church at one of their mission sites, an extremely poor community north of San Salvador. When we were discussing how our respective churches were alike or different, they decided they are really Presbyterians though there is no actual Presbyterian presence in El Salvador. They asked if it would be possible for some of our members--youth and adults--to sister with them. I hope this is something the Ridgefield-Crystal Lake Presbyterian Church can explore.

They are a small church of about 50 members. Many of the members came from the department of Morozan and communities like El Mozote where the massacre occurred in 1981. A number of them have been imprisoned for organizing and protesting the government.

They have a ministry with the children of the community we visited on Saturday and have built 10 homes there. This is to replace homes that were destroyed by the earthquake a few years ago. They dream of building 15 more homes and a church, though everyone in the community is Catholic. The Catholic Church isn't happy about their ministry there. They also dream of buying a micro-bus so that they can spend more time in the community and bring the children to San Salvador for field trips to museums, etc. To get there, it took us about 2 hours one way, and we had to take 3 different buses.

Music seems to be important part of the life of the church. They have begun offering keyboard lessons to the children in the church's neighborhood in San Salvador. Someone donated 4 clavinolas for that purpose. When they found out that I had been a piano teacher, they asked me to observe the class and possibly give the instructor some suggestions. When a delegation from the U.S. recently donated a clarinet to the church, there was much excitement and discussion about who would learn to play it.

One of the church members invited me to attend a lunch last Sunday. This was a fund-raiser for the community she originally came from. Evidently the communty has no electricity so the money raised will be used for that.

Both events were great opportunities to practice Spanish. At the lunch I decided I had to put aside my usual reluctance to approach new people. So I went up to as many people as possible, introduced myself, told them I am studying Spanish, and asked if they would be willing to talk with me. All were extremely receptive and got many laughs at my clumsy Spanish pronunciation.

I'm looking forward to attending many more services at El Cordero de Dios. It is great to have a church home away from home.