Metropolitan El Salvador Conference

Metropolitan El Salvador Conference is a subsidiary of El Salvador Union Mission in the Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.

Metropolitan El Salvador Conference is the mother field of Adventism in El Salvador. Originally, it covered the territory of the entire country, but currently its field of work is concentrated in the metropolitan area of San Salvador. The municipalities of the conference are San Salvador, Ayutuxtepeque, Cuscatancingo, Ciudad Delgado, Ilopango, Mejicanos, San Martín, Soyapango, and Tonacatepeque. Its headquarters are located at 246 West 19^th Street, intersection with Third Avenue North, San Salvador, El Salvador.¹ At the time of writing, the membership of the conference was 34,497 members gathering in 130 organized churches and seventeen groups. Caring for the members in the conference were seventeen pastors in seventeen districts.

Origin of the Church in the Conference

The first Adventist to visit the capital of El Salvador was Pastor A. J. Haysmer in 1914, who at that time was the president of the West Indies Union.² He visited the country in order to acquaint himself with the area before proposing a plan for evangelism in this territory previously unentered by Adventism.³ Thanks to the plan which he proposed, the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists voted that part of the global mission offering for the second quarter of 1915 be used to open the work in El Salvador.⁴ In this way, in October of 1915, John L. Brown and his family came to El Salvador from Spain in order to start missionary work; they moved into a house in San Salvador.⁵ By October of 1916, there was already an organized church in San Salvador with nineteen members, fourteen of whom were baptized due to Brown’s work.⁶

At the end of 1918, a property in the center of the commercial zone in San Salvador was purchased. This property already had a building on it, which with a little work was adapted for use as the mission office. It also housed workers and had a room that could be used for assemblies and meetings. The price paid was the equivalent of $2,600 USD.⁷ Unfortunately, this property had to be sold for financial reasons, but another was purchased for the price of the equivalent of $2,000 USD. It was on this second property that the offices for the mission were built. Construction of the offices was completed in December of 1922.⁸

One of the most influential presidents of the El Salvador Mission during its development was Orley Ford, who with his wife, Lillian Ford, arrived in El Salvador in 1945. Here they began the last stage of their missionary service.⁹ Orley Ford was president of the mission for almost fourteen years, a term that ended in 1958 when he retired. During his administration—and thanks to the work of Lillian Ford—the Dorcas and youth departments were very productive work.

Under Ford’s leadership, the San Salvador Central church was built and then dedicated on January 18, 1957. The church included the main sanctuary with seating for 1,000 people, a mezzanine, four rooms for a school, and offices for the mission. It was built of reinforced brick and concrete in order to withstand fires and earthquakes.¹⁰ Ford continued to work as a district pastor after he retired, and he worked for the church until his death in 1972.¹¹ During this period, San Salvador enjoyed the blessing of his dedicated ministry, which focused on the building of churches and schools. He also led out in the construction of the church in Ciudad Delgado, which was started in November of 1963 and finished on February 9, 1964. This was the third Adventist church built in San Salvador.¹² In December of 1966, the Tenth of September church was dedicated, the second largest church in San Salvador both in size and membership at that time.¹³ On July 1, 1967, the Ayutuxtepeque church building was inaugurated—today it is known as the Scandia church. It included rooms for a church school, which was the origin of the current Model Adventist Secondary School.¹⁴

The decade of the 1970s was especially significant for the El Salvador Mission. During this decade, membership grew by 335 percent, going from 4,819 members in 1970¹⁵ to 16,158 at the end of 1980.¹⁶ The administrative ability of Raúl Rodríguez was significant in this unprecedented growth. Under his leadership there was a great awakening of missionary work, growth in membership, and a strengthening of the educational system. The new and strong focus that Rodríguez placed on Adventist education caused enrollment to rise from 432 students in 1976 to 884 in 1978.

It was also during Rodríguez’s administration in 1979 that the largest evangelistic campaign up until then in El Salvador was conducted. Pastors, lay members, teachers, and office staff all participated under the motto “Evangelistic Explosion.” The campaign was initiated on March 24, 1979, and 501 people were baptized.¹⁷ The close of the campaign took place on May 12 in the Lago de Ilopango, and members from across the entire mission came to celebrate the baptism of 1,325 new members. This event was described by Robert Folkenberg, then president of the Central American Union, as “the most productive evangelistic campaign in the history of Seventh-day Adventists.”¹⁸

At the end of 1979, a civil war broke out in El Salvador. In 1981, public evangelism was suspended, but lay members continued offering Bible studies from house to house. On March 14 of that year, 926 people were baptized, a total that surpassed the goal for the entire year.¹⁹ The war lasted for ten years, and during that decade the missionary work of the Church did not diminish. On the contrary, the mission experienced another time of great growth, closing the decade with 45,079 members, a growth of 279 percent. In that same period, the mission’s number of organized churches increased from 62 to 117, a growth of 285 percent.²⁰

Events Leading to Organization of the Conference

In October 1914, the General Conference voted to separate the territory of El Salvador from the Guatemala Mission, to which it had previously belonged. Both territories formed part of the West Indian Union Conference.²¹ On November 14, 1915, the General Conference voted to separate the territory of El Salvador from the Guatemala Mission in order to form a new field, which would, however, remain attached to the mission.²² In 1922, the mission became part of the newly organized Inter-American Division.²³

In 1925, the El Salvador Mission, for administrative reasons, temporarily reunited with Guatemala to form a single field.²⁴ In 1927, they were again separated when the El Salvador Mission was organized. At that time, El Salvador had five organized churches and a membership of 220.²⁵

The huge growth that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s, led to the El Salvador Mission requesting elevation to conference status.²⁶ This change of status came about not only because of the growth in membership, but also because of financial stability and the strong leadership achieved by the field. The request was approved by the Inter-American Division and General Conference, and in November of 1982 the change of status took place at the triennial session.²⁷ José C. Guevara was elected the first president of the El Salvador Conference.²⁸ At the time of the change of status, El Salvador had a membership of 22,485 and 94 organized churches.²⁹

On May 17, 1994, the Inter-American Division formed a committee to consider reorganizing the El Salvador Conference.³⁰ During the meeting of the administrative board of the Central American Union Mission on April 3, 1995, it was voted to send a request to the Inter-American Division asking that the El Salvador Conference be divided into two local fields.³¹ The Inter-American Division administrative board accepted the recommendation on October 31, 1995, and approved the reorganization of the territory of the El Salvador Conference into two fields.³²

At the fifth quadrennial session of the El Salvador Conference held in San Salvador on January 21 and 22, 1996, it was voted to create the East El Salvador Mission from a portion of the El Salvador Conference. René Martínez was elected president of the new mission, while in the El Salvador Conference, Vicente Meza remained as president. At the time of its organization, the East El Salvador Mission already had 102 organized churches and 29,142 members. Its territory included the departments of Cuzcatlán, Cabañas, La Paz, San Vicente, Usulután, San Miguel, Morazán, and La Unión. The El Salvador Conference had 122 churches and a membership of 37,258 in the departments of Santa Ana, Ahuachapán, Sonsonate, La Libertad, Chalatenango, and San Salvador.³³

On November 26, 2001, the administrative board of the El Salvador Conference voted to create a new trial field, which would be called the West El Salvador Mission, and as coordinator it named Pastor Victor Burgos Tercero.³⁴ At the end of 2006, the West El Salvador Mission became a permanent mission. The territory of the mission included the departments of Santa Ana, Ahuachapán, and Sonsonate, and its headquarters were located in the city of Santa Ana. At the time of its organization, the mission had 130 organized churches and 33,996 members. The El Salvador Conference retained the departments of La Libertad, Chalatenango, and San Salvador, and with a membership of 45,966 in 166 organized churches.³⁵

The Mid-Central American Union Mission decided to create a new trial field within the El Salvador Conference in 2005. A session of the constituents of the Metropolitan El Salvador Conference met and voted to request that the Mid-Central American Union Mission approve the establishment of a trial Central El Salvador Mission.³⁶ In 2006, the new field began to function. In 2008, the mission was officially organized as the Central El Salvador Mission under the leadership of Santos Cañas, president, and Herbert Escobar, secretary-treasurer. The territory of the new mission included the departments of La Libertad, Chalatenango, and several municipalities in the department of San Salvador. Its membership was 25,989, and it had 100 organized churches.³⁷

With this last reorganization, the El Salvador Conference became the current Metropolitan El Salvador Conference.

Challenges and Plans

The work of young people in community service activities have helped the Church enter places in San Salvador which could otherwise not be reached. Both radio programs and social networks are effective means of transmitting the gospel and providing a wider reach for the Adventist message.

The existence of gangs in El Salvador continues to be a challenge to evangelism as their actions have caused many church members to immigrate. There are many communities, especially in the eastern parts of San Salvador, which have a very small Adventist presence. Personal outreach through the organization of small congregations is a very helpful means of evangelization in the city, as the Adventist message can be preached directly in private homes without the necessity of organizing large public evangelism events.

List of Presidents

John L. Brown (1915-1916), C. F. Staben (1918-1919), E. E. Beddoe (1922), E. P. Howard (1923-1927), W. A. Lusk (1928-1929), L. H. Olson (1930-1935), Peter Nygaard (1936-1941), Eduardo A. Acosta (1942-1944), Orley Ford (1945-1958), F. A. Arroyo (1960-1963), Daniel Moncada (1965-1969), Humberto Villegas (1970), Luis E. Leonor (1971-1972), D. E. Crane (1973-1974), Raúl Rodríguez (1976-1979), Juan Otoniel Perla (1980-1981), José C. Guevara (1982-1985), Eliseo Escalante (1986-1988), Raúl Benítez (1989-1990), Ventura Rivas (1991), Vicente Meza (1992-2000), Otoniel Zelaya (2001-2002), Victor Daniel Burgos Tercero (2003-2010), Dany Perla Prudencio (2011), Santiago Avelar (2012-2013), Luis Alonso Aguillón (2014-2016), Dany Rolando Perla (2017- )

Sources

“1,825 Baptized in El Salvador.” Inter-American News Flashes, May 29, 1979.

“1000 Days of Reaping, A Progress Report.” Inter-American News Flashes, April 1, 1983.

Brown, J. L. “A Joyful Anniversary is Reported from the Republic of El Salvador.” ARH, November 16, 1915.

Castro, A., et.al. “Inicio de la Obra Adventista en El Salvador.” Centro de Investigaciones White: UNADECA. April 19, 2014. Accessed June 12, 2019. https://unadeca.net/cwhite/2014/09/19/salvador/.

Central American Union Mission Administrative Board. Central American Union Mission archives, Alajuela, Costa Rica.

“Election, New Constitution, Distribution of Labor, Inter-American Division.” ARH, June 5, 1922.

Folkenberg, Robert. “2,000 Baptized!” Ministry, October 21, 1979.

Ford, Orley and Lilian. “These Fords Still Run.” The Inter-American Messenger, November 1, 1967.

Ford, Orley. “New Church Building in San Salvador.” The Inter-American Messenger, July 1, 1957.

General Conference Committee. General Conference Archives. Accessed July 12, 2019. http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/.

Inter-American Division Board of Directors. Inter-American Division archives, Miami, FL.

Mazariego, Miguel Ángel. “The Birth of a Church.” The Inter-American Messenger, September 1, 1967.

Metropolitan El Salvador Conference Administrative Board. Metropolitan El Salvador Conference archives, San Salvador, El Salvador.

Parmele, R. L. “Central America.” ARH, December 12, 1918.

Perla, Juan, and José Guevar. “926 Baptized in One Day in El Salvador Mission.” Inter-American News Flashes, April 7, 1981.

Reile, L. L. “Central America Advances.” The Inter-American Messenger, June 1, 1964.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1984-2009.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1914-1981.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook Online. Accessed October 2, 2019. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

“SDA’s Celebrate Brotherhood Day in El Salvador.” The Inter-American Messenger Flashes, December 19, 1972.

Spicer, W. A. “General Conference Committee Council, Second Report.” ARH, November 26, 1914.

Notes

1. Seventh-day Adventist Online Yearbook, “Metropolitan El Salvador Conference,” accessed October 1, 2019, https://www.adventistyearbook.org/entity?EntityID=14010.↩

2. “Directory of the Seventh-day Adventist Denomination,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, DC: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1914), 6.↩

3. W. A. Spicer, “General Conference Committee Council, Second Report,” ARH, November 26, 1914, 10-11.↩

4. General Conference Committee, December 10, 1914, 242, General Conference Archives, accessed June 17, 2019, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1914.pdf.↩

5. General Conference Committee, August 24, 1915, 305, General Conference Archives, accessed June 17, 2019, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1915.pdf.↩

6. J. L. Brown, “A Joyful Anniversary is Reported from the Republic of El Salvador,” ARH, November 16, 1915, 24.↩

7. R. L. Parmele, “Central America,” ARH, December 12, 1918, 21-22.↩

8. A. Castro, R. García, J. Marroquín, and K. Merino, “Inicio de la Obra Adventista en El Salvador,” Centro de Investigaciones White: UNADECA, April 19, 2014, accessed June 12, 2019, https://unadeca.net/cwhite/2014/09/19/salvador/.↩

9. “Salvador Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, DC: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1946), 129.↩

10. Orley Ford, “New Church Building in San Salvador,” The Inter-American Messenger, July 1, 1957, 9.↩

11. “SDA’s Celebrate Brotherhood Day in El Salvador,” The Inter-American Messenger Flashes, December 19, 1972, 2.↩

12. L. L. Reile, “Central America Advances,” The Inter-American Messenger, June 1, 1964, 1, 3, 7.↩

13. Miguel Ángel Mazariego, “The Birth of a Church,” The Inter-American Messenger, September 1, 1967, 10.↩

14. Orley and Lilian Ford, “These Fords Still Run,” The Inter-American Messenger, November 1, 1967, 6.↩

15. “El Salvador Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1971), 182.↩

16. “El Salvador Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1981), 229.↩

17. “1,825 Baptized in El Salvador,” Inter-American News Flashes, May 29, 1979, 1.↩

18. Robert Folkenberg, “2,000 Baptized!” Ministry, October 21, 1979, 8-9.↩

19. Juan Perla and José Guevar, “926 Baptized in One Day in El Salvador Mission,” Inter-American News Flashes, April 7, 1981, 1.↩

20. “El Salvador Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1991), 157.↩

21. General Conference Committee, October 29, 1914, 217, General Conference Archives, accessed June 17, 2019. http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1914.pdf.↩

22. General Conference Committee, November 14, 1915, 350, General Conference Archives, accessed June 17, 2019. http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1915.pdf.↩

23. “Election, New Constitution, Distribution of Labor, Inter-American Division,” ARH, June 5, 1922, 2, 29.↩

24. “Guatemala-Salvador Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Takoma Park, Washington, DC: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1926), 213.↩

25. “Salvador Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Takoma Park, Washington, DC: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1928), 244.↩

26. General Conference Committee, April 1, 1982, 69, General Conference Archives, accessed July 12, 2019, http://documents.adventistarchives.org/Minutes/GCC/GCC1982-04.pdf.↩

27. “1000 Days of Reaping, A Progress Report,” Inter-American News Flashes, April 1, 1983, 20-24.↩

28. “El Salvador Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1984), 175.↩

29. “El Salvador Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1983), 173.↩

30. Inter-American Division Board of Directors, May 17, 1994, Inter-American Division Archives.↩

31. Central American Union Mission Administrative Board, April 3, 1995, vote 060-93, Central American Union Mission Archives.↩

32. Inter-American Division Board of Directors, October 31, 1995, vote IAD 94-029, Inter-American Division Archives.↩

33. “East El Salvador Mission” and “El Salvador Conference,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1997), 128-129.↩

34. Ibid.↩

35. “El Salvador Conference” and “West El Salvador Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2007), 134-135.↩

36. Metropolitan El Salvador Conference Administrative Board, November 24, 2005, Metropolitan El Salvador Conference Archives.↩

37. “Central El Salvador Mission,” Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 2009), 139.↩