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Stories of transformation José Méndez Toj

LIFE STORY

The divorce between the making of the church and the community is very marked in Guatemala, even though the Bible teaches us that the mission of the church is integral. A pastor of the “Mount Sinai” church of the Assemblies of God, named José Méndez Toj, 46 years old, from the rural community of Paquip, municipality of Tecpán, belonging to the Kaqchikel indigenous group, relates how the church should not separate saying with thinking and acting.

Before becoming a pastor I was engaged in micro agriculture, like most members of my community, I was indifferent to what was happening around me. after I was called by the Seños to pastor a small church, my messages focused solely on the spiritual life of the members. One day I met Asociación Vida, a tearfund partner and they trained and involved me in the issue of the integral mission of the church, something that I had not heard or understood.

In that process, we were surprised by the storm AGATA, which affected many families from several communities in the region, as a church and with the accompaniment of Asociación Vida, we made a coordination and process with the leaders of the communities, to relocate 16 most affected families in a safe place, managing to provide them with housing, water system and electricity,  likewise, we manage the construction of minimum housing for other families in extreme poverty and train a member of the community as a health promoter for the community.

As a pastor and for the growth and mobilization of the church, in a community assembly I was elected as community mayor (senior leader) for a year and subsequently as president of the Community Development Council, where I had the opportunity to coordinate the work of 70 leaders for community development, as a result we had the improvement of the main streets,  technical study for a local market, improvement of education and improvement in the health of the community, this aroused the awareness of other churches to get involved in the development of the community.

The communities have had greater confidence in the Evangelical church, I am currently the president of the association of 13 communities (mancomunidades) managing to be elevated to the category of Municipality by the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala, which has led us to tables of dialogue, lobbying and advocacy actions with government officials at the national level,  Departmental and municipal, with this, we seek greater opportunities for integral development for 10,500 people in the medium and long term while still being the biblical church that God demands of us.

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