For Some Gang Members In El Salvador, The Evangelical Church Offers A Way Out
"Our message is that [the gang members] should understand there is a life outside of the gang," says evangelical pastor Nelson Moz. "That they can make it, with the help of God."
In El Salvador's capital San Salvador, people drive around with their car windows closed to avoid petty theft. But when they enter neighborhoods controlled by gangs, they keep their car windows open, to show their faces. That way the gangs know they're not an enemy.
In the center of one such neighborhood, known as La Dina, a tiny Baptist church sits on a narrow street. In a neighborhood notorious for violence, it is the one place gangs leave alone.
The church underscores the growing ties between gangs in El Salvador and evangelical Christianity. In a country where Roman
