ACTING ON ITS WORLD MISSION : CHURCH TEAM BOUND FOR WORK IN ECUADOR.

Byline: Carolyn R. Saraspi Daily News Staff Writer

Twenty-one members of Chatsworth's St. Stephen Presbyterian Church were expected to take off before dawn today for a two-week mission in Ecuador.

The congregants will spend a week installing the piping needed to provide running water to Eten, a Quichuan Indian village about six hours south of Quito, Ecuador's capital, said Joe McGowan, the church's pastor.

``It's like stepping into the pages of `National Geographic,' '' McGowan said of Eten. ``Most people go (to other countries) for pleasure trips - this is a whole different experience.''

The 450-member St. Stephen congregation raised $10,000 for the project, money that was used to buy concrete, galvanized pipes, tools and other supplies.

Participants kicked in an additional $1,200 each to pay their own way. They will be staying in the village community house, eating the same food as the villagers and relying on interpreters to communicate in the Quichuan language.

``It's worth it to spend all this money and vacation time to do this,'' said Brent McSwain, a construction project manager from Granada Hills. ``The work we do now (in the United States) is for profit, employers, capitalists. This is our way of using our labor to help people have a richer lot in life.''

The system will channel clean water to faucets outside each of Eten's 107 households. The system will save the villagers an hour's hike to the nearest river with mules and 8-gallon water jugs, McGowan said.

``There's many organizations that exist locally to help the community, but there aren't many that have world missions. There are extreme needs everywhere, but these people are struggling to get surface water without contamination,'' McSwain said.

After the water project is finished, the group will spend the rest of its two-week trip at the church-sponsored For His Children orphanage in Quito.

Some of the money St. Stephen raised also bought pediatric medical equipment and materials the group will use to refurbish the orphanage, which was established by an American missionary family, said Walter Burch, an elder for world mission at St. Stephen.

In addition to painting the exterior of the orphanage, McSwain and others with construction and engineering experience will fix the orphanage's septic system, Burch said.

A smaller group of 11 St. Stephen members participated in a similar water project two years ago in another village of the Andes, Burch said.

The parish became involved with the water projects through its work with the orphanage, which cares for abandoned newborns, many of whom were born with developmental diseases such as Down syndrome, Burch said.

``(These trips) build enthusiasm here in the congregation. When we talk about world mission, they will have a better understanding of where their money goes,'' said McGowan, who has been pastor for seven years.

``We will be sharing our faith in the evening, but we're not down there on an evangelistic mission in terms of converting the village,'' McGowan said.

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Photo: Richard Olmsted, left, Brent McSwain, Pastor Joe McG owen and Walter Bruch are heading to Ecuador, where they will install pipelines to bring running water to the Indian village of Eten.

Tom Mendoza/Daily News