Since 2010, members of our church have traveled down to Honduras to participate in community development in rural villages. In partnership with World Renew and the Diaconia Nacional, our congregation is in a long term partnership with the community of El Coyolar – Tilapa, in the district of Olancho. In this partnership we work with the community and its members for the long term improvement of education, health, work, discipleship, leadership and beyond.
Over 10 years youth and adults from our congregation traveled to El Coyolar to fellowship with the community and work alongside them constructing latrines, pilas (water basins), and concrete floors. As well, members of the team led workshops on nutrition and women’s health. Also, Pastor Andrew led preaching and pastor training for approximately 20 local pastors.
Presently we are supporting a large agricultural project in the community. New West Church regularly collects money for El Coyolar during the offerings.
For information about the goals of the community, check out our “Partnership” page.
March 2017 –
March 2019: Pastor’s training (TLT), concrete floors and community projects.
March 2018: Painting projects, crop projects.
November 2017: Pastor’s training (TLT) led by Pastor Andrew. Community events. Construct a second classroom at the Education Centre.
March 2017: Pouring concrete floors, plastering walls, organizing community events.
November 2016 – Pastor’s training (TLT) led by Pastor Andrew. Games crafts with kids and families. Begin construction of an additional classroom for the computer-based Education Centre.
March 2016 – Pouring concrete floors, plastering walls.
November 2015 – Plastering walls, community activities, Education Centre improvements.
March 2015 – Agricultural projects, plastering walls in the homes of various community members.
November 2014 – Build a fence around the church. Pastor’s training (TLT) led by Pastor Andrew.
March 2014- Build pilas, latrines, showers and a few floors.
November 2013: Build a fence around the school. Timothy Leadership Training offered by Pastor Andrew.
March 2013: Continue with pilas, latrines, showers and floors. At this point, everyone has at least one concrete floor, a latrine and either a pila or a shower.
November and March 2012: Build pilas, latrines, and cement floors in homes. In 2012, our official 5-year partnership with El Coyolar began. In November Pastor Andrew began to offer Timothy Leadership Training in the community.
November 2011: The first adult group continued the work began by the youth, building pilas, latrines and floors. We also held a health training session which included general hygiene, oral care, nutrition and a Q&A session with a nurse. Pastor Andrew led a preaching workshop for area pastors.
March 2011: Our first group went to El Coyolar. The community already had running water, thanks to a King’s project in 2010. They were using large plastic buckets to store water, so we started building pilas. Many homes did not have latrines, so we built as many as we could. Almost all homes had dirt floors, so we also started putting in concrete floors. These three basic changes have a strong effect on the health of the community.