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Independent Indigenous Protestant Mega Churches in El Salvador

Robert A. Danielson
Missiology 2013 41: 329 originally published online 26 March 2013
DOI: 10.1177/0091829613480619

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Missiology: An International Review

Independent Indigenous 41(3) 329­–342

© The Author(s) 2013
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DOI: 10.1177/0091829613480619
in El Salvador mis.sagepub.com

Robert A. Danielson
Asbury Theological Seminary Wilmore, KY USA

Abstract
The smallest and most densely populated country in Central America is home to
several indigenous mega churches. It is hoped that by comparing two of these, their
successes, and the growth of these churches in the Global South, we can better
understand this trend. The Tabernaculo Bíblico Bautista “Amigos de Israel” is
a movement with ties to the mission history of El Salvador, but a worship style
influenced by Pentecostalism. Misión Cristiana Elim is a Pentecostal church which
has used the concepts of the cell church movement to become one of the largest
churches in the world.

Keywords
El Salvador, mega church, indigenous, Baptist, Pentecostal, Global South, leadership,
political influence

Introduction
In the wealthy suburb of Colonia Escalón in San Salvador, El Salvador, sits an impres-
sive collection of buildings which mark the heart of the Tabernaculo Bíblico Bautista
“Amigos de Israel” led by Dr. Edgar López Bertrand, often called “Brother Toby” by
the people. It includes a large multi-storied sanctuary with a capacity for 10,000. A
central circular platform maximizes the seating of worshippers and the strategic place-
ment of television cameras, which record services to be played on their 24-hour
national television station, Canal 17. There is also a barbershop, school, cafeteria,
daycare, radio and television stations, and church offices. Nearby is a drug and alcohol

Corresponding author:
Robert A. Danielson
Email: robert.danielson@asburyseminary.edu
330 Missiology: An International Review 41(3)

rehabilitation center, and a new multi-storied parking garage topped by an impressive

seminary facility for 200 students.
On a cold, windy Monday evening in a large sanctuary in a poor barrio of El
Salvador’s second largest city, Santa Ana, Pastor Mario Vega, the senior pastor of an
estimated 150,000 member Pentecostal church called the Misión Cristiana Elim,
mounts the podium to deliver a fiery message on the passion to preach the gospel to an
audience of about 1500 cell leaders and church members of what is often reported as
the second largest church in the world. Facilities are simple and limited, which is
suitable for a church which lives most vibrantly in living rooms across the country.
How has the smallest, most densely populated country of Central America become
such a center for Protestant church growth in a traditionally Roman Catholic society?
How have these two mega churches developed as indigenous movements? What are
their similarities and differences? The lessons which can be learned from El Salvador
can help shine a light on how church renewal is occurring in the Global South.

The History of Protestantism in El Salvador

Like most countries in Latin America, El Salvador is traditionally Roman Catholic
going back to the Spanish conquest of the area by Pedro de Alvarado in 1525, and this
is still the dominant faith in the country today. Protestant Christianity did not come to
El Salvador until 1893, when a Bible peddler for the American Bible Society from
Uruguay first visited the country. Permanent mission work began in 1896, with the
non-denominational Central American Mission (CAM) founded by fundamentalist
Cyrus I. Scofield in Dallas, Texas (Jahnel, 2008: 19, 24). Their only missionary was a
self-supported Baptist named Percy T. Chapman who was working in the city of Santa
Ana. In response to a letter sent by a Salvadorian through Chapman, the American
Baptist Home Mission Society became the first major denomination to come to El
Salvador in 1911 (Northrip, 1954: 35–51). Chapman resigned from CAM and became
the first missionary pastor for the American Baptists. This caused tension between the
two groups, but by 1934 the Baptists had 16 congregations and 750 members and by
1964 became the Asociación Bautista de El Salvador, the most prominent historical
Protestant denomination in the country. By 1970, there were about 2600 members in
El Salvador (Jahnel, 2008: 31).
In 1904, an independent Canadian Pentecostal, Frederick E. Mebius, brought
Pentecostalism to El Salvador founding a number of independent churches which were
left to develop in indigenous ways (Wilson, 1983: 189). By 1929 the Assemblies of
God entered El Salvador and began to bring together some of the existing groups. By
1970, there were about 29,000 Pentecostals, or 3.55% of the total population, and they
were by far the dominant Protestant group in the country (Jahnel, 2008: 29).
While many other Protestant groups have entered El Salvador over the years, most
remain small with very little impact. By 1970, the only other major group was the
Seventh-Day Adventists with 6300 members (Jahnel, 2008: 32). Today’s estimates
from the World Christian Database (n.d.) indicate that 11% of the country is Evangelical
Danielson 331

and 29% are classified as Renewalists (which include Pentecostals, Charismatics, and
Neo-Charismatics). What led to such a rapid growth over the last forty years?

Romero, Civil War, Crisis and Immigration

In the 1970s the political situation in El Salvador began to grow increasingly intense
and culminated in a civil war from 1981 to 1992, with over seventy thousand people
dead and many others dislocated to other countries. Many of these immigrants went to
the United States, where an estimated 1.474 million Salvadorians live (US Census
Bureau 2010: 6). As the country became increasingly polarized into the political left
and the political right, the dominant Roman Catholic Church sought to soothe the situ-
ation by appointing the moderate Oscar Romero as archbishop of the country in 1977.
With the movements of Vatican II and the second Conferencia Episcopal Latinoamericana
(CELAM II) in Medellín in the late 1960s, the Roman Catholic Church of El Salvador
was already wrestling with the issues raised by liberation theology. With the murder of
Father Rutilio Grande, Archbishop Romero increasingly took a stand for the poor and
the oppressed. In March 1980, Romero was assassinated while saying mass.
Romero was looked upon as a champion of the people, and the Catholic population
of El Salvador turned to the church for answers. While the Vatican selected the liberal
bishop Arturo Rivera y Damas to replace Romero, he failed to stop the civil war and
did not live up to the expectations of a people desperate for peace and answers. The
Roman Catholic Church was divided by the political situation in El Salvador, while the
Protestants tended to support the right as an opponent to communism or to remain
neutral. Meanwhile the people were caught in a bloody war where both sides were
equally dangerous. Their popular religious leader had been murdered, and their church
seemed directionless. Protestant missionaries fled the country and the people left in
the country increasingly began to turn to God as a source of hope in a dark situation.
Many people began to turn to Protestantism, especially Pentecostalism to find hope in
the future. From 1980 to 2000, Protestants in El Salvador grew from 7% to 16% of the
population (Jahnel, 2008: 322). According to professor Timothy Wadkins, El Salvador
has been an area of rapid religious change and growth. He writes,

According to the latest polls conducted by the University of Central America, Roman
Catholic allegiance in El Salvador has dropped below 60% over the past two decades, while
Evangelical professions have risen to nearly 30% and continue to grow. Some three-quarters
of these Evangelical converts belong to the tongues-speaking, faith-healing and boisterous
Pentecostal traditions. In greater San Salvador alone, there are over a dozen churches each
having attendance figures of more than five thousand. One of the largest is the Tabernaculo
Bíblico Bautista “Amigos de Israel Central.” Founded by U.S. educated Dr. Edgar López
Bertrand, better known as “brother Toby,” the Baptist Tabernacle boasts over 80,000 and has
spawned over 40 smaller churches, including several within North American Salvadorian
communities. In addition to its two schools and radio and television stations, the church’s
plush 8,000 seat sanctuary hosts six consecutive, highly entertaining and choreographed
Sunday services that have the look and feel of North America’s largest mega-churches.
(Wadkins, 2008: 32)
332 Missiology: An International Review 41(3)

El Salvador is also the location of what many recognize as the second largest church
in the world. With around 150,000 members the Pentecostal Misión Cristiana Elim
focuses more of its work among the poorer population. Basing their work on the
Korean cell church model of David Yonggi Cho, they are a massive presence in El
Salvador. By examining these two important mega churches, we can better understand
the growth of the church in El Salvador.

Misión Cristiana Elim—A Pentecostal Success Story

Elim was actually started in Guatemala by Dr. Othoniel Ríos Paredes, who sent Sergio
Sólorzano to start the movement in El Salvador with nine people in May 1977
(Comiskey, 2004: 30–31). By 1980, the church had started two daughter churches,
including one in Santa Ana, where Mario Vega was appointed as pastor. As the civil
war erupted into violence, Comiskey (2004: 33–34) notes the church not only grew at
an amazing pace, but spread outside of El Salvador as refugees left the country. In
1983, due to doctrinal issues, Elim in El Salvador split from the Elim movement in
Guatemala and became a separate entity.
In 1985, Elim began to encounter the idea of cell church growth through the works
of David Yonggi Cho of the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Korea (Comiskey, 2004:
35–36). In 1986, the 25 daughter churches agreed with Pastor Sólorzano to close their
churches and become zone pastors in a new cell system. By 1988 there were 20,000
people attending cell meetings.
A crisis in leadership emerged in 1995 with Pastor Sólorzano spending church
finances on himself and finally divorcing his wife for another woman (Comiskey,
2004: 38–41). Despite attempts by the leadership to discipline the founder, in 1997 he
announced that he was leaving to start a new church. Pastor Mario Vega was chosen to
bring both healing and stability to the church.
The growth from this time on has been staggering. Elim does not keep membership
statistics, but they do hold yearly rallies to bring together the church. Comiskey (2004:
41) writes, “On November 8, 1998, Elim filled two stadiums simultaneously; on
November 14, 1999, they filled three stadiums; and in November 2000, the church
filled five stadiums with some 120,000 people attending events. In November 2002,
Elim Church gathered more than 150,000 people spread over eight football fields.”
Comiskey (2004: 43–61) also relates Mario Vega’s powerful testimony as a sickly
but intelligent child who descended into a life of rebellion and drugs only to receive
Christ in 1975 in a small Pentecostal church. After trying to start his own church, he
joined with the new Elim movement under Pastor Sólorzano and would eventually
write up the main doctrinal views of the church (cf. Vega 1993). With his appointment
to the church in Santa Ana in 1980 and his subsequent move to Senior Pastor of Misión
Cristiana Elim, Mario Vega has brought a passion for the cell church model as well as
a more ecumenical view to Elim.
In an interview with Manuel Vásquez (Jan. 7, 2010), the zone pastor for Sonsonate
who has been in the ministry 30 years, it is possible to get a feel for how Elim operates.
He is in charge of about 550 cell groups with about 15 people in a cell. There are
Danielson 333

multiple services on Sunday with additional weekly meetings based on the various
regions of the cells. There are only 14 “churches” in Elim, one for each capital city of
the 14 departments of El Salvador, with San Salvador and Mario Vega being the main
“church” and the others being zone churches. Pastor Vásquez emphasized that there
are three key areas he sees as important in his ministry: alleviating spiritual poverty,
helping end intellectual poverty, and the restoration of people. Elim also was an early
proponent of radio and television mass media and has also spread on the internet
(www.elim.org.sv).

Tabernaculo Bíblico Bautista “Amigos de Israel”—

Renewal of Tradition
Much of the success of the Tabernaculo Bíblico Bautista “Amigos de Israel” is given
to its influential and popular leader, Brother Toby. Marvin Galeas (2008) published the
official version of Brother Toby’s life from numerous interviews and it is published
and distributed by Brother Toby’s church. Edgar López Bertrand was born in El
Salvador on September 30, 1939. He was raised primarily by his father, an accountant
with the Department of Labor, who in 1960 became the national director of the
Treasury. Galeas often presents conflicting information. Brother Toby claims to have
grown up in a poor family, but studied at some of the best schools and lived in one of
the wealthiest neighborhoods in El Salvador. He also studied in the United States. He
became a businessman with a number of different companies and accumulated quite a
bit of wealth from his businesses.
On September 8, 1971, Brother Toby went on a motorcycle trip to Mexico with
Bruce Bell, a Baptist pastor. Bruce Bell was an independent Baptist missionary from
the US who helped found the Miramonte Baptist Church. The trip to Mexico was actu-
ally for a series of evangelistic meetings. Brother Toby relates in the book that these
meetings were not very successful, and so to save his friend from embarrassment
he went forward at an altar call (Galeas, 2008: 162–68). Despite this rather question-
able beginning, Brother Toby continued going to Bruce Bell’s church and after some
time had a change of heart and became convinced that God was calling him to serve in
pastoral ministry. For some unclear reason Brother Toby was later asked by Bruce Bell
to leave the church and not come back.
Brother Toby went on to study at Temple University in Chattanooga, Tennessee and
was ordained as a pastor July 17, 1975. According to church information, Brother
Toby has two doctorates, one in theology and one in psychology. He has married three
times. He had three children with his first wife of 22 years. He had one child and
adopted a girl with his second wife. His third wife started as the children’s nanny and
is much younger than he is, but they had no children. In a televised message for the
New Year in 2010, Brother Toby mentioned that his third wife and he are no longer
together.
His ministry in the Tabernaculo Bíblico Bautista “Amigos de Israel” began on April
6, 1977 and started with 13 people meeting in his living room. Brother Toby claims
that in 38 years of ministry his church has established 420 churches in El Salvador and
334 Missiology: An International Review 41(3)

22 in other countries. The ministry has recorded more than 576,000 sermons on cas-
settes, CDs, and DVDs. The ministry costs $33,000.00 a day to keep the entire work
of Tabernaculo Bíblico Bautista “Amigos de Israel” functioning (Galenas, 2008: 17–
21). Jahnel (2008: 52) offers more about Brother Toby and his role in the religious
landscape in El Salvador when he writes,

A shining example of a Neo-Pentecostal Church in San Salvador was, and is, the Tabernáculo
Bíblico Bautista Amigos de Israel of the U.S.-educated psychologist Dr. Edgar López
Beltrán, a.k.a. Brother Tobi. In 1977 and 1986, Beltrán founded his first congregations in the
exclusive district La Sultana and in Escalón, respectively. On the basis of his success and the
large financial sums that came in from the U.S.A. and from affluent congregational members,
he soon founded new congregations throughout the country. During the development of
these congregations, Beltrán received financial and ideological support also from Gordon
Robertson, director of the Christian Broadcasting Network in the U.S.A. With his program,
The 700 club, he was present on Salvadoran television since 1983 with daily programs,
where in addition to religious topics, explicitly political issues were also dealt with—for
example, the approval of weapons sales to the military regime in Guatemala and El
Salvador—and where a virulent anti-communism was supported. Canal 25, to a large extent
financed by Paul Crouch, president of the television transmitter Trinity Broadcasting
Network, broadcasted U.S. programs that simply had been dubbed into Spanish, and was
similarly inflammatory. Indeed with regard to media access, a definite division of domains
can be observed. “Neo-Pentecostals” dominate television; radio stations remain for the
Pentecostals and the conservatives; the liberals are practically not represented at all.

In May of 2005, Brother Toby was arrested in Houston, Texas for trying to bring in
his adopted daughter to the United States with false papers (Rice, 2005). He pled
guilty and served a short term in prison in the US. Despite and perhaps because of this
incident, Brother Toby maintained a high degree of popularity among his followers in
El Salvador, many of whom have immigrant family members in the US. He notes in
his biography that on Mother’s Day of 2008, his church had 79,000 people in attend-
ance for his three services. Wadkins (2008: 46) criticizes Brother Toby by noting,

While he [Brother Toby] refuses to speak out on matters of social and economic injustice, he
is befriended by President Tony Saca, was selected to pray at Saca’s inauguration, and during
elections comes to the pulpit dressed in ARENA party colours.

Brother Toby is widely known for his support of the conservative party. In March of
2009, ARENA lost the election to the FMLN. It remains to be seen how this will
impact Brother Toby’s political activities in the media in the future. Meanwhile,
Brother Toby continues to be a powerful presence in the religious world in El Salvador,
because of his presence on radio, television, and the internet (www.tabernaculo.net).
In his preaching style, Brother Toby tends to rely on wit and humor, both of which
are highly appreciated in El Salvadorian culture. He uses local slang, and although his
sermons are not theologically deep, they are reassuring. Every service ends with invi-
tations for people to accept Christ, and this strong evangelistic message is often heard
between programs on their television station as well. A local station in Santa Ana
Danielson 335

presents the local news with every story ending with a scripture and the by-line,
“Today would be a good day to accept Jesus as your savior,” or something similar.

Blending Pentecostalism with Tradition

Both the Tabernaculo Bíblico Bautista “Amigos de Israel” and Misión Cristiana Elim
share things in common (see Table 1). Both churches emerged from the period shortly
before the civil war as outside missionaries were leaving the country. In fact, both
churches started with roughly the same number of people one month apart in 1977.
Both build on the Pentecostal and Baptist roots of Protestantism in El Salvador. As
Jahnel (2008: 53) notes,

Because of their autonomy and a far-reaching theological openness, the Baptist congregations
were often very non-uniform. As of the mid-1970s, the adoption of Pentecostal elements in
the church service, such as spiritual baptism and speaking in tongues, could be observed in
many congregations, which often led to a fast growth in the respective congregations.
Because of this increasing Pentecostalization, most congregations hardly resembled the
European or North American model of classical baptism. This scene became even more
confusing when more and more Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal churches incorporated the
title “Baptists,” in their names, without ever cultivating Baptist traditions or joining Baptist
church alliances such as the ABES.

In an interview, Pastor Jorge Aguirre (Dec. 29, 2009), the Director of Ministries at the
Tabernaculo Bíblico Bautista “Amigos de Israel,” made it very clear that the
Tabernaculo was not Pentecostal, but traditionally Baptist. However, the church uses
modern music and instrumentation, some lift their hands in public worship, there is a
miracle wall for people to post prayer requests and testimonies of miracles, and there
are special services called culto de los necios (services of the stubborn people) where
people pray for miracles and claim them until they receive an answer from God. Jahnel
(2008: 52) lists Brother Toby as a “Neo-Pentecostal” more than a Baptist.
In this article, I am following the distinctions of these various groups as laid out in
the Encyclopedia of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christianity (Burgess, 2006). Given
their theological positions, neither Elim nor the Tabernaculo clearly fall into the cate-
gories for the classic historical Pentecostal or Charismatic movements. I have labeled
Elim Independent Pentecostal because its theology and practices are very similar to
Western Pentecostalism, but it does not maintain denominational ties with any particu-
lar group, and it has developed its own theological positions which diverge from his-
toric Pentecostalism. The Tabernaculo is more complex, since it rejects any
identification with Pentecostalism, yet exhibits many similar worship practices similar
to Charismatic or Neo-Charismatic movements. The term “Neo-Charismatic” here is
being used with reference to Burgess (2006: 329), who notes, “Included [in the term
Neo-Charismatics] were 18,810 independent and indigenous churches and groups that
cannot be classified as either Pentecostal or charismatic, but share a common emphasis
on the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts, Pentecostal-like experience (not Pentecostal termi-
nology), signs and wonders, and power encounters” (emphasis in the original).
336 Missiology: An International Review 41(3)

Table 1.  Comparison of two Salvadoran mega churches.

Elements for Misión Cristiana Elim Tabernáculo Bíblico Bautista

Comparison
Date founded May 1977
Pastor/leadership team Mario Vega (senior pastor)
with 14 zone pastors
overseeing numerous cell
groups
Number of founding 9 13
members
Estimate of current Around 150,000 participants
participants in cell groups
Self-identification Reformed with elements of
Pentecostalism
External identification Independent Pentecostal
by scholars
Political affiliation Lesser involvement, but some
connections with more liberal
FMLN. Pastor prayed at the
inauguration of President
Mauricio Funes in 2009
Class affiliation Lower to lower middle class
Media involvement Maintains some local
television stations, but
focuses on radio to keep
contact with membership and
for outreach
Website www.elim.org.sv
Social ministries A few focused ministries
particularly on children,
but most social outreach is
considered the task of the
individual cell group.
Daughter churches Thousands of cells in El
Salvador and active in 7
countries including 37 cells in
the US
Amigos de Israel
April 6, 1977
Edgar López Bertrand
(popularly known as Hermano
Toby) and 18 full-time assistant
pastors
Around 80,000 participants
at the main sanctuary in San
Salvador
Baptist
Neo-Charismatic
Very close connections
with conservative ARENA
party. Pastor prayed at the
inauguration of President Tony
Saca in 2004
Middle to upper class
Maintains one of a few 24-
hour television stations in
the country, and several local
stations as well
www.tabernaculo.net
12 programs led by an assistant
pastor covering numerous
social issues: feeding the
hungry, orphanages, prison
ministries, etc.
Claims 420 church in El
Salvador and 22 in other
countries including 8 in the US

As with the Tabernaculo, Elim is also not purely Pentecostal. In an interview Mario
Vega (Jan. 11, 2010) responded when asked about their theological basis that “We are
a kind of hybrid, we are Reformed, but with elements of Pentecostalism.” He went on
to describe Elim as a mix of Pentecostalism and Calvinism which was developed over
time. Interestingly, in an interview with Jaime Peña (Jan. 7, 2010), director of the more
traditional Seminario Bautista Latinoamericano (SEBLA), he revealed that about 70%
Danielson 337

of his students come from the Tabernaculo Bíblico Bautista Amigos de Israel, even
though they are not directly connected. He also mentioned that the seminary was in the
process of signing an agreement with Elim, as that movement is becoming more
interested in theological higher education.

Social Ministries
It is also important to recognize the importance of social ministries for these growing
indigenous mega churches. In their book, Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of
Christian Social Engagement, Miller and Yamamori (2007: 5–6) set out to study
churches which met four qualifications; they were fast-growing, were located in the
developing world, had active social ministries, and were self-supporting indigenous
groups. They found that 85% of the churches meeting these criteria were Pentecostal.
They label these groups “Progressive Pentecostals.” This revelation encouraged me to
explore the social dimension in these El Salvadorian mega churches, both of which
meet Miller and Yamamori’s criteria.
The Tabernaculo Bíblico Bautista “Amigos de Israel” has a very visual presence and
strong focus on social ministries. Pastor Aguirre (Dec. 29, 2009) outlined 12 programs
which include: a children’s shelter; drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs; food pro-
grams for the elderly without family; a program for feeding the homeless called Pan y
Chocolate which feeds 2400 people every week; a medical team of 42 doctors and
dentists which serve free of charge in poor areas; a team of 72 lawyers who give free
legal advice; a ministry which teaches 125 women how to sew; literacy programs;
hospital visitation teams; an orphanage for children with Down’s Syndrome; a prison
ministry; and a special ministry to people just arrested which gives “mercy bags” with
tissues, soap, snack, and drink to help them in a crucial time and make initial contacts
before they enter the judicial system. These ministries are completely sponsored by the
church and are considered an integral part of what the church is all about.
Pastor Manuel Vasqúez (interview, Jan. 7, 2010), the head of the Elim regional
church in Sonsonate, told me about active programs Elim has for helping poor children
with emotional, physical, and spiritual problems. There are also jail ministries which
include helping set up cells in prisons and raising up leaders who can be reintegrated
by the church after they are released. When asked about social ministries in Elim,
Mario Vega (interview, Jan. 11, 2010) replied that “social ministry is the mission of the
church.” Pastor Vega indicated that their approach was frequently more informal since
it was based on the cell structure of the church. The needs of members should be taken
care of by other members of the same cell, but this involvement was considered a
crucial part of what it means to be a part of a cell. Needs that cannot be dealt with at
the cell level move up to higher levels in the church to be met.

Centrality of Evangelism
When Pastor Aguirre (interview, Dec. 29, 2009) was asked why he felt Tabernaculo
Bíblico Bautista “Amigos de Israel” was successful in El Salvador, he responded with
338 Missiology: An International Review 41(3)

reference to three things: a love of souls, a love of Israel, and social outreach. Without
a doubt, love of souls is primary. The Tabernaculo has 29 clubs of 200–300 people
who go on buses to evangelize others. They aim to talk to 5000 people a week with a
goal of reaching 400,000 for 2009. They claim to have surpassed this number and to
have presented the gospel person-to-person to at least 456,000 in 2009. The radio and
television stations are completely geared for evangelism. Programs almost always end
with prayers for salvation, and programs are aimed to present the gospel as the answer
to people’s immediate needs. Personal testimonies are often presented.
Elim also has a television station and has provided radio ministries from the start.
Radio has played an important role from the beginning of the movement to help con-
nect people to the teachings of the central church. When asked about his vision for the
church, Mario Vega (interview, Jan. 11, 2010) responded quickly: “Evangelize all the
world and transform the society.” He went on to explain that every convert would
begin a 26-week program following his or her conversion. The first lessons would
focus on the meaning of salvation, the Bible, prayer, and ultimately move into teaching
each follower about the cell system, so that each person could be a part of the ministry
of all believers. He also stressed the importance of bringing youth into the cells to
avoid the growth of gang violence in the society.
For both churches, evangelism walks hand in hand with their social ministry.
Salvadorians are highly pragmatic people, and both of these churches have helped
people off of drugs, out of gangs, and back into restored family relationships. It is this
success which continues to attract new adherents, but all of the leaders interviewed put
a greater emphasis on evangelistic outreach as the fundamental motivator behind their
social outreach.

Growing Political Involvement

Both churches are becoming more politically involved when compared with past
Protestant political activity. Brother Toby’s friendship with former El Salvadorian
President Elias Antonio Saca, was very evident when he was invited to pray at the
presidential inauguration. Pastor Carlos Rivas of Tabernaculo de Avivamiento
Internacional (TAI), another rapidly growing church in El Salvador, broke away from
the Tabernaculo because he was told to stop his vocal criticism of the conservative
government (Llana, 2009). Brother Toby’s efforts have included dramatic social out-
reach to the poor, but much of his support comes from the middle class and wealthy in
El Salvador, who tend to support the political conservatives.
Mario Vega has not been a prominent person in the political arena. In her article,
Llana (2009: 2), in writing on the most recent elections in El Salvador which saw the
ruling conservative party of Saca defeated by the liberal FMLN under Mauricio Funes,
notes that

Pastor Vega attributes the leftward tilt in evangelical voting patterns to Funes, who was not
a militant in the war and represents a more moderate left. Vega say he hopes the shift
translates into more social justice on the part of Evangelicals: “We could become the
country’s social conscience.”
Danielson 339

This move falls in line with Vega’s concerns for social ministry, and also the historical
reality that Pentecostals have typically represented the poorer social classes. This shift
to social and possibly political action is important, especially in light of Williams’s
study (1997) which linked the poor to both Pentecostalism and Catholicism, but found
the Pentecostals overwhelmingly non-political and the Catholics in favor of the politi-
cal left. It is interesting to note that Mario Vega was asked to pray at the formal inau-
guration of President Funes in July 2009, becoming the second Protestant after Brother
Toby to share this honor.

Challenges for the Salvadoran Mega churches

The Tabernaculo and Elim clearly demonstrate that mega churches in El Salvador face
some big challenges. Administration of such large organizations faces logistical prob-
lems even in a small country like El Salvador. The cell model used by Elim seems
ideal, but even that structure may have become so large that the organization becomes
unwieldy. Tied to the challenge of administration is the need for accurate communica-
tion throughout the structure. Again, Elim has demonstrated through its use of radio
and cell networks an incredible advantage in this area. This was especially true follow-
ing a devastating earthquake in 2001, when Elim organized the entire church for
Sunday services and had aid flowing to people within 24 hours of the quake, even
before government aid began, simply by using radio and the cell network (Vega 2001).
The Tabernaculo has also been very astute in its use of television to communicate its
message and maintain a sense of common identity within its membership. But the
question remains, How effective is this communication in the spiritual growth of the
congregation?
There are also major challenges in the areas of finances and leadership. Both Elim
and the Tabernaculo have shown the potential problems which can arise in these
areas. Elim has already weathered these storms with the successful transition to a
new leader after the removal of Pastor Sólorzano, but the Tabernaculo has yet to face
these types of challenges. Both churches must also assess how to integrate their
social action within the political context. What are the potential dangers of aligning
with one political party over another? How might this affect the community of the
congregation? This situation is too new to evaluate at this time, but it is an area of
potential concern.
Finally, and most importantly, both Elim and the Tabernaculo need to determine
how effectively their theological message can be understood and lived out in such
large communities. While the prosperity gospel is not a major element in either church
(both instead focus on the idea of restoring people and families to wholeness in Christ),
it could become a potential doctrinal issue which needs to be addressed. Because of
their size and prominence in the media, both churches run the danger of attracting
people seeking to be entertained rather than people desiring to be transformed. Elim
has sought to counter this with a very effective discipling program at the cell level, but
the Tabernaculo still needs to address this beyond simply encouraging people to be
involved in a local branch of the church.
340 Missiology: An International Review 41(3)

Conclusion
What we may be witnessing in El Salvador is a changing stage in the development of
the global church. Historically evangelical churches are becoming “Pentecostalized”
and this includes the growth of popular lay charismatic movements, such as Kerygma
and the Catholic Charismatic Renewal within the Roman Catholic Church (cf. Piedra,
2006; Horton, 2009). But now, traditionally Pentecostal churches are finding a grow-
ing need for organization, order in worship, and theological training for their leaders,
what Campos (1996: 92) calls “Protestantized Pentecostalism” in the Brazilian con-
text. Jaime Peña (interview, Jan. 7, 2010), the director of the Seminario Bautista
Latinoamericana (SEBLA), indicated that both the Tabernaculo Bíblico Bautista
“Amigos de Israel” and Misión Cristiana Elim were interested in the seminary. While
the Tabernaculo has a new seminary facility in San Salvador for training its leaders,
locally in Santa Ana, many with ties to the church go to SEBLA since it is less expen-
sive and easier to access. Misión Cristiana Elim appears interested in more theological
training for their leaders to help support their cell structure, and is looking to SEBLA
as a possible answer. Both indigenous independent mega churches are coming to the
seminary tied to the historical American Baptist mission work in El Salvador. Peña
made it clear to me that SEBLA retained their commitment to certain liberal ideas,
such as the belief in the ordination of women, which both the Tabernaculo and Elim
seem opposed to accepting.
Increasing concerns of social ministry are becoming major areas of ministry
among conservative Protestant groups. In El Salvador, ministry to the poor, to prison-
ers, and especially a growing need to deal with gangs and gang-related violence is on
the rise. In an editorial from January 10, 2010, Carlos Rivas (2010), the general pas-
tor of Tabernaculo de Avivamiento Internacional (TAI), wrote of a program that
brought together two prominent Roman Catholic leaders, including the Bishop of San
Salvador, Toby Jr. (the son of Brother Toby and the second senior pastor of the
Tabernaculo), and himself to work on the issue of violence in an ecumenical way.
This type of cooperation between Roman Catholics and Evangelicals in Latin
America would have been almost unthinkable a few years ago.
The impact of immigration and the increasing transnational nature of the El
Salvadorian church is opening doors for new ideas, advanced training of leaders, and
an influx of financial support, all of which allow these mega churches to maintain their
independence and indigenous nature, while still taking advantage of the opportunities
offered by the church in the Global North. In the same way, these churches are making
inroads in bringing the Salvadorian form of Christian spirituality to the United States
(Elim lists 37 US daughter churches on its website and the Tabernaculo lists eight on
their webpage). So far this is mostly limited to Salvadorian immigrant communities,
but we can expect it to continue to spread.
If El Salvador is truly an example of the future of the church in the Global South,
we may be seeing a flattening out of the growth of Pentecostalism along with a blend-
ing of theology with that of the historical missionary denominations. This blending is
creating an interesting form of indigenous Christianity which is neither clearly
Pentecostal nor clearly traditionally Protestant. Much more study needs to be done on
Danielson 341

Catholic Charismatic movements and the churches which are rapidly growing in the
Global South, especially those which are free from external denominational or finan-
cial controls. This new move will be more influenced by the historical, cultural, and
regional influences of the local context, and will not fit into our neatly constructed
theological boxes. It may also become more imperative that missions work be actively
involved in the areas of theological education in partnership with existing local institu-
tions. No matter what changes are occurring, it would be beneficial for the Global
Church to continue watching developments of these types of churches in El Salvador
and throughout the Global South.

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Author biography
Robert Danielson is a faculty associate and affiliate professor at Asbury Theological Seminary
in Wilmore, Kentucky. He has served as a missionary in the People’s Republic of China and on
several short-term missions to Central America.

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