Sarah Cassel (Author) visiting a home in El Salvador.
Earlier this year, I took a trip with IDES to El Salvador to visit one of our mission partners. El Salvador is a country with a vibrant culture and wonderful people. Not to mention the vast variety of fruit trees that provide a tasty snack along your journey! But, Salvadorians have suffered from poverty, oppression, and gang control for decades. The department, or state, we visited is one of the least funded by the local government. They have little trust for their neighbor, in fear that any trust given will be crushed from selfish ambitions.
I noticed there that the church was not just a place for people to come once a week to worship.
It was the first place that people in need turned to because people were actually being helped. That sounds silly to say, but it’s true. The biggest lesson that I have learned from my trip to El Salvador and from working at IDES is that the church has the opportunity to be on the frontlines of help and hope. Over and over, I hear from our partners that help was promised, but none was provided. But even more, I hear that the church was there in the time of most need and did not let someone suffering walk alone.
Christian, you have the opportunity to be on the frontlines to your neighbor, your community, and the world. Do not shy away from walking through hard things and bearing one another's burdens. Although hard, these journeys will lead us into deeper communion with Jesus and reveal the deep love and grace He has shown us. By being a living and walking example of how Jesus has loved you through his death, you have the power to show others that they have great value in the eyes of our God. Do not let the voice of convenience in the back or your mind tell you to stay to yourself and wait for someone else to offer help. That other person may never come. Show the people around you that there is a greater purpose in this life. Be the church.
As I am writing this, the church in El Salvador is 6 weeks into their worship services. There are countless ways they’re serving their community – a medical clinic seeing about 20 people a day, numerous small businesses for poor women, a soccer program with over 150 kids learning about health while hearing the gospel, and many more. It all started with a calling to go and be the church. So go and love others the way that Christ has loved you.
“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:14-17)
- Sarah Cassel (IDES Advancement Assistant)