Goals of the Sister Parish Program

1.	To grow in faith and make manifest our unity in Christ through sharing experiences of faith and Christian living.
2.	To deepen the commitment to justice peace of both churches through greater understanding of each other's reality.
3.	To provide a network of concerned friends to advocate for Salvadoran church workers should they be in danger. 
4.	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

1.	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.
2.	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.
3.	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. 
4.	Make a banner to be sent and hung in your sister church as a constant reminder of your concern and support. 
5.	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.
6.	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.
7.	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. 
8.	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. 
9.	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)