AIM

The prevalence of gangs and the associated violence within day-to-day Central American life challenges our mission to take action. So, similar to what we have carried out in several Asian nations over the past 30 years, we will establish a series of safe houses where we work to disciple boys so that in time, they will return to their communities as educated Christian change agents.

We aim to select boys aged around 11 -14 years of age who come from gang families/culture. Sadly, many boys who have no intention of becoming gang members nevertheless end up in the scene.

We are selecting boys who are well-behaved and, who have little desire to become gang members. We expect that our young people will graduate from university. Hence, we proactively select boys who are both intelligent and, who value education.

Several of our board members are Christian leaders working directly in the barrios where gangs are based. It is them, along with our mentors, who select the children.

Interestingly, gangs are very positive towards Protestant evangelicals. One of the few ways a gang member can exit the gang is by becoming an evangelical. But bear in mind that the new Christian convert will be quietly followed by gang members to see if he is genuine. If he is simply pretending to be a Christian to exit the gang, then he risks execution.