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Honduras


As violence continues, so does Lutheran ministry


By Stephen Deal “ I


t was one of our bitterest nights ever,” recalled Hernan Lopez, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in the La Union neighborhood of San Pedro Sula, Honduras. “The street was filled with bodies and blood.” Lopez was referring to the scene in front of the church’s building on Christmas Eve 2010, just a half hour before worship. A gun battle between rival youth gangs had taken seven lives. Two bodies lay on the church’s front entrance. It was a terrifying chapter in the gang-related violence that has plagued La Union since 2002.


Over the years, residents have learned to cope with the occupation of their neighborhood by one of Honduras’ most notorious gangs. “Children didn’t go out to play,” said José Martin Girón, president of the Christian Lutheran Church of Honduras. “Neighbors rarely visited each other. And women passed the day trapped inside their homes.”


But residents could only endure so much. For many, the breaking point


came Jan. 19, 2011, when gang members and police faced off in a 25-minute battle that sprayed bullets in all directions, leaving dead bodies on the street and on rooftops. At that point, half or more of the homes in La Union were abandoned. The once close-knit neighborhood became desolate for the remaining families. For four months, Good Shepherd suspended most church activities, including a large Sunday school and an active youth program. Their plight didn’t go unnoticed. Messages of Christian solidarity poured in from sister churches throughout the Americas, followed by visits early this year from Lutheran church leaders including Medardo Gómez, bishop of the Salvadoran Lutheran Church, and John D. Schleicher, bishop of the ELCA North/West Lower Michigan Synod. This synod, along with the New England and Northeastern Minnesota synods, are companions of the Honduran church. “We traveled to Honduras because we were worried about our [Lutheran] brothers and sisters,” Schleicher said. “We left no less fearful for their physi- cal well-being but inspired by their conviction, by the hope within them that will not die.” Lutherans worldwide joined with the Honduran church for two Sundays of prayer and fasting: Feb. 13 and May 29. Those prayers have been at least partially answered. An uneasy calm has returned to the street in front of Good Shepherd. Gradually church activities have resumed, beginning with weekly worship for adults in March, Sunday school in May and youth activities in June. As a precaution, all activities take place behind locked doors. Children and youth


Victoria Jimenez, Rey- naldo Banegas and other worshipers at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, San Pedro Sula, Honduras, sing songs of hope despite the gang violence in their neighborhood.


gather as far as possible from the street entrance and front windows. Attendance by parishioners who


still live in the neighborhood is steady. Many others won’t return to reoccupy their homes or to wor- ship because they fear a new round of violence. Worship attendance has dropped by as much as 40 percent, Lopez said.


Those who remain are convinced


that the Lutheran church presence in La Union is more important than ever.


“We give thanks to God for our sister churches around the world, and for the solidarity that we have received from everyone who has become aware of our circumstances,” Lopez said. “We also pray for those who are unable to comprehend the magnitude of what we have suffered. Above all, we ask that we might be able to continue working for God’s kingdom even under such difficult conditions.” M


Deal is a missionary serving as regional repre- sentative for ELCA Global Mission in Central America.


October 2011 33


KATHE PETERSON


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