Special Guests for Christmas Chapel!

We are making a change to our calendar! Our calendar states that our Christmas Chapel will be on Wednesday, December 15. We are changing it to Tuesday, December 14, at 11:15 AM.

Pastor Amanda Castillo, her husband Horacio, and daughter Abigail will be visiting the Atlanta area from Guatemala in December. They will be speaking at the Christmas Chapel and sharing about Christmas traditions in Guatemala! In addition, they will be with Pastor Gary Christensen in each of the Faith Development classes that morning!

The Iglesia Luterana Agustina de Guatemala (Augustinian Lutheran Church of Guatemala) was founded in 1991 by Pastor Horacio Castillo and his family. The members come from the margins of the Guatemalan society, people of few resources and are predominantly indigenous.

Guatemala suffered through a 36 year internal war. This war ended in 1996 with the signing of the peace accords. Padre Horacio Castillo helped write and later was among those who signed the peace accords.

The first churches of the ILAG were formed in Guatemala City among the internally displaced, those who fled into the City during the war, who were (and still are) living in the ravines of the City.  The ILAG also operates two elementary schools which serve children and families in these marginalized areas of the City.

As refuges began to return from Mexico, they contacted Padre Horacio as they had known him from his visits to some of the camps.  Through these contacts the ILAG grew in the rural areas of the country among the resettled refuges.

The ILAG continues to grow each year by a few mission sites and churches as communities hear that the ILAG walks with people delivering the gospel freely to all people and visits the communities regularly.

The philosophy of the ILAG is to provide pastoral accompaniment and holistic development.  The center of the ILAG is Christ and from this center we seek to provide for all aspects of the life of our members and their communities – the spiritual, physical, emotional and material.

To learn more about this great ministry, please visit their website:

http://www.ilagpartners.org/about.cfm