Goals of the Sister Parish
Program
- To grow in faith and make manifest our unity in
Christ through sharing experiences of faith and Christian
living.
- To deepen the commitment to justice peace of both
churches through greater understanding of each other's
reality.
- To provide a network of concerned friends to advocate
for Salvadoran church workers should they be in danger.
- To build up the reign of God here on earth as it is
in heaven through support of small community-based
sustainable development projects.
Developing a Sister Parish
Relationship
POSSIBLE ACTIVITIES
- Exchange letters, photos, testimonies, videos, tapes,
music, or biblical reflection. Our goal is a minimum of 3
such communications per year. It is preferable if you
write in Spanish, but do not let this deter you from
writing - we can translate here if necessary.
- Incorporate your sister parish into the worship life
of your congregation: lift them up in your prayers every
week; put announcements about the situation in El
Salvador in your bulletin, try saying the Lord's prayer
in Spanish, learn a couple Spanish hymns, hold an annual
service that lifts up your commitment to your sister
parish.
- Write letters of concern to your government officials
advocating for justice and peace in El Salvador as well
as for the salvadorans in the United States.
- Make a banner to be sent and hung in your sister
church as a constant reminder of your concern and
support.
- Send a delegation to visit El Salvador. Seeing for
yourself is the best way to get in touch with the reality
here and the difficulties faced by Salvadoran Christians.
The best way to go is either to contact The best way to
go is to contact the SISTER PARISH PROGRAM:
ih@netcomsa.com (Apdo. 3003, centro de Gobierno, San
Salvador, El Salvador) before you leave and once you
arrive in El Salvador.
- Hold an educational event in your church exploring
issues in Central America, the history of exploitation
and the role of the church as an advocate for justice.
Involve all ages of your religious education program
through prayers, letters and drawings.
- Plan a video series for adults, youth or
intergenerational. Shorter videos appropriate for a one
hour session include "La Lucha" "A Question of
Conscience" and "School of Assasins." Other longer, more
Hollywood style videos which could be used are "Romero",
"Salvador" "Roses in December" and "El Norte".
Information of how to obtain these is available in the
resource book Preguntenos, available from Augsburg
Fortress, 426 S. 5th St. MN 55440, Phone: (800) 3284648,
Code 69-7593.
- Sponsor a Salvadoran "fiesta" for all ages which
might bring in an outside resource person for a
presentation while at the same time celebrating through
music, food, drama, the life and culture of the
Salvadoran people. Invite Salvadorans who live in your
area to come and share music or typical food such as
tamales or pupusas. Or, make your own pupusas, contact
the Sister Parish Program for a recipe.
- Help with supplies for Sunday School programs in your
sister church (crayons, paper, glue, scissors). Provide a
guitar to enhance the worship life, or discover ways you
might contribute to self-sustaining econonomic
development projects. To send material aid, contact the
Sister Parish program to find out when the next
delegation might be coming, or Pastors for Peace [331
7th Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55141, Phone: (612)
378-0062] to find out when the next caravan might be
leaving.
(For more information on this program, visit
http://www.flcpa.org/hermanas/index.html)
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