Westminster Constructs a New Church Building in El Salvador

At the heart of our sister community of San Francisco, El Salvador, is the church building.  Located on the side of a mountain, this church overflows with faith-filled worship.  Families walk for miles to attend.  Joyful music flows out of the building, no matter what the season, the circumstance, or the weather. 

Like Westminster, their church building is used for community events throughout the week and the year.  But unlike our church, it is the only building available for community and family events, and it is badly in need of replacement.  The church building has dirt floors, dilapidated pews made from splintered boards, and walls and ceiling made from found or worn-out materials (see photo at right).

After careful thought and prayer, the community, in conjunction with Westminster’s most recent El Salvador mission team and our Church & World

Committee, decided that the next area of

development should be the replacement of

the church building. (Previous years’

sustainable development projects have

included solar panels for each home in our sister community, solar-panel maintenance, school improvements, scholarships and supplies, water collection tanks for each home, and fertilizer for this agricultural community and family farms.)

Because of the generosity of Westminster members, the late Bill and Opal Ashby, and their bequest to Westminster specifically designated for mission, we were able to build

a new concrete block church building in

El Salvador for $10,000.  The new structure 

is a pleasing, functional and safe space

for education and worship.