In 1994 God led St. Paul Lutheran Church of Fort Worth, Texas to Guatemala where it first made contact with Iglesia Luterana Redentor del Mundo, Redeemer of the World Lutheran Church (and School), in the Cakchiquel Maya village of Santiago Zamora. The first visit was an exploration of sorts, to learn if connections could be made between a Lutheran congregation in Texas through the teams of dentists it sponsored to the developing world, with the local Lutheran congregations where the dental teams conducted their clinics. Up to that time, the teams had accomplished great things in physically helping others; yet, a desire to assist and encourage those in ministry and connect on a spiritual level existed.
That first contact with Redentor del Mundo was the planting of the seeds of the relationship. Some team members felt disappointed they had not attended to large numbers of patients and pulled hundreds of teeth. At the same time, the first steps had taken place of forming a long-term relationship between St. Paul members and the people of Guatemala and the Lutheran missionaries who served among them.
Since that first visit, the depth of the relationship has grown to include dozens upon dozens of individuals in both Texas and Guatemala.
Though this Sister School Ministry began as a purely oral agreement with no set guidelines nor clear objectives, it has come to follow certain patterns and activities. These ongoing patterns and activities can be summarized into a mission statement which both retroactively describes the relationship’s purpose and anticipates its direction:
The Sister School Ministry between St. Paul and Redentor del Mundo Lutheran Schools exists to cultivate a deepening of the faith through an ever developing community of mutual understanding, trust, confidence, and respect between the students, teachers, and families of two distinct cultures who share a common love of their Lord and Savior Christ Jesus.
One of the first ways the schools began sharing in this relationship was through prayer. St. Paul began praying for the new school’s (Redentor del Mundo was founded in 1991) continued ability to share the Gospel to Santiago Zamora’s children and, likewise, Redentor del Mundo began praying for St. Paul’s students, teachers, and families.
A second and physically “hands on” activity to fulfill the mission was designating chapel offerings to help purchase school supplies for the students of Redentor del Mundo. Other tangible activities soon followed. One year, a student of Redentor del Mundo, died following a tragic accident on his way home from school. In response, St. Paul students collected a special offering towards the funeral expenses for the child. St. Paul’s eighth and seventh grade classes also have repeatedly designated a “tithe” of their earnings for their class trips to help support the operation of the sister school, essentially underwriting the salary of one teacher.
The Sister School Ministry has spawned other activities as well, including the auxiliary prayer partnership ministry known as Hermanos en Cristo. It also has led to the annual student exchange ministry, hosting Guatemala teachers and other church leaders, an annual summer trip by the X-Tend Ministries department, confirmation banners and stoles being made by women of Redentor del Mundo, visits to Guatemala by individual members and families of St. Paul, and repeated site visits by St. Paul ministerial staff.
Parallel experiences have also taken place. The Rev. Byron Paz, pastor of Cristo el Salvador Lutheran Church of Puerto Barrios and president of the Lutheran Church in Guatemala has twice visited St. Paul for extended periods of time. Missionaries Rev. Herb Burch (LCMS), Paul and Tammy Kinney (LBT), and Dan and Kay Finley (LBT), likewise have visited the congregation and school.
The annual Dental/Medical mission trip apparently has been influenced by the relationship as well. Although not exclusively so, the mission trips recently have been mostly to Guatemala and there is a likelihood this pattern will continue.
Copyright © 2003 by Michael A. Graham
last updated: 23 February 2003