Community service is an imperative of the gospel, and members of ASN realize this imperative in several ways. First, there are projects in which we as a church are involved. Second, there are projects in which members of our congregation are involved because they have a common interest in a particular area. Their membership in ASN reinforces their mutual commitment, and other members of the congregation encourage them with moral support. Third, many members work professionally for non-governmental organizations and non-profit groups that promote the common good.

By being an integral part of Iglesia Evangélica Luterana del Ecuador [IELE link] ASN is involved along with our Spanish and German-speaking sister congregations in several public service organizations.  We are members of the Consejo Latinoamericano de Iglesias /Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI), [CLAI link] which works in various ways with socially marginalized communities, as well as the Comisión Ecuménica de Derechos Humanos (CEDHU). [CEDHU link]

The main community service project of Advent-St. Nicholas is our support for the scholarship program developed by the Chuquiragua Women’s Kiwanis Club of Quito. The goal is to support young women from low-income families during their last three years of high school, critical years when many drop out due to financial, family, and social pressures. A good number of those who manage to finish high school go on to university.

Officers from the Chuquiragua Women’s Kiwanis Club and recipients of their scholarships visit Advent-St. Nicholas to report on their progress

We also support the Centro Integral de la Familia (CIF), a center that offers relational and systemic therapy, helping individuals, couples, families and groups find healthy ways of resolving problems, conflicts, and crises. [Centro Integral de la Familia (CIF)]

Members of our congregation have been actively involved in various efforts to reach out to prisoners and improve jail conditions, working particularly with English-speaking prisoners who may be at a disadvantage in dealing with the Ecuadorean legal system. Also, a group within our congregation was instrumental in bringing the Quaker-inspired Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP) to Ecuador, and they continue working with groups that want to develop non-violent ways of dealing with conflict within themselves, in families, at school, and at work.  [AVP USA; AVP International].