El Salvador House Visits with ENLACE
It’s a big deal to invite somebody into your home and an even bigger deal to invite someone into your brokenness. A staple of ENLACE’s ministry in El Salvador and a key component of the development of local churches takes place when church leaders cross that threshold. On a regular basis, leaders enter into the homes of people in the community to engage them in conversation, cover them in prayer, and invite them into the process of growing together. Facilitated by the local pastor and ENLACE staff, these home visits show that the church loves all people, especially those living on the margins.
While in-country, St. Andrew’s team members were able to join the local church of El Castaño on these home visits. Ali Woodward, who returned to El Salvador for a second time this August, shares her experience.
“While in El Salvador, house visits are amongst the most special and impactful parts of the trip. It is during these visits that we get to know an individual’s heart, pray together as brothers and sisters in Christ, and receive the best possible understanding of what their lives are like within a small community. As a team, we got to experience hospitality in its most true and sincere form; no matter what activity of their day we may have been intruding upon, the people of El Castaño would stop what they were doing to be with us, thank us for visiting and bring us chairs so we could sit. They welcomed us with love and vulnerability into their homes and shared their struggles with us so that we could pray together and open all of our hearts to accepting what Jesus has in store for the future. Above all else, I left home visits filled with gratitude for the kindness that we were shown, continuous prayers for the people that we spoke to, and love for the Lord who is working in and through all of the lives that we encountered during our home visits in El Salvador.”
The ENLACE model is dependent on the principle that the local church is the light of the world and the hope within a community. By walking the streets and engaging with the community, ENLACE works to empower the local church to be that light.
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