Page 140 - tesis

medicines free of charge not only to the members of the congregation, but also to whoever needs them \u2019 (Bolet\u00EDn \u2018Nacidos para Servir, Avance Verbo\u2019 No.9/octubre 2005). So in a rather timid way some of these churches have started a few social aid programmes.\u000AA good number now of these churches have schools, medical clinics, or carry out medical visits to the rural areas, distribute food and clothing to poor people. The researcher observed that the pastors and laity considered social aid as a way of getting people together so that they could be evangelized. In other words, helping socially is not something that is done for itself but rather a function of evangelism. Some of these churches call these programmes mercy services or help for the poor. As can be seen later, these programmes are at an incipient stage and do not receive much attention with the exception of some of the churches who have more defined programmes.\u000A7. Evangelism as a means to change the country\u000AFor the Neo-Pentecostals as for the rest of the Evangelical churches evangelism is the centre of their mission. They maintain the Evangelical motto that they \u2018can change a country by changing individuals\u2019. The Neo-Pentecostals have a firm belief that saved individuals will save the country. They consider that the gospel does not only bring personal changes of a new relationship with God, but also to the heart of society. Cant\u00F3n specifies that among the Neo-Pentecostals salvation reaches out in two directions: it is a concept which articulates individual salvation and salvation of the nation (1998: 262). This idea can be seen in the ESH church which has as its goal seeing Guatemala as a nation enjoying the blessings of salvation here in this present epoch.\u000APersonal conversion plays an important role in this process. People who have studied Protestant phenomena are beginning to recognize the impact of the gospel as a factor of religious change. Cant\u00F3n states that \u2018the idea of conversion is associated with the practice of global acquisition and represents a radical new way of living, drastically separated from the previous forms of existence\u2019 (1998: 130). For the NPCs Almolonga, the\u000A127\u000A