Happy New Year!
On September 20, 2012 we completed 8 years in Brazil. We want to express our thankfulness for everyone who has supported us with prayer, moral and financial support these years.
What seemed like such a strange calling ten years ago when God told us to prepare for Brazil has become our new normal. It’s hard to imagine living without a missional perspective, wherever we might live, or whatever our job might be.
It is nothing short of an amazing project that God has for each of our lives as Christians. If we risk giving Him everything, all our dreams, plans, and everything that we cling to for security, we can be sure that life will not be boring. We call it “adventure with a purpose”.
We’ve been in Pacajá six months now and we find ourselves missing the more active ministry roles we were filling in Altamira. There we had a solid base of contacts and friendships and a certain credibility within the community. In Pacajá we are starting from zero.
Our main objective in this first phase is to make contacts — get to know people and start getting known. Every routine task outside the house is a new adventure, an opportunity to meet someone or make some kind of connection with someone we already know. We find ourselves intentionally trying to get out and about just to increase the possibility of meeting someone.
All this is slow and sometimes frustrating but we are starting to see fruit. We are making friends, getting known, and people are curious if not interested in the vision we have for this new church in Pacajá.
On December 27th our Brazilian colleagues (Ferreira and Fernanda) moved to Pacajá to complete our initial team. With their arrival we have started actively as a church. We held a New Year’s celebration inviting the friends we’ve been making in Pacajá. We began meeting as a leadership team and we’ve started a small home group.
Our vision for Pacajá includes being part of the community in a relevant way. That means going beyond meeting spiritual needs, and trying to meet felt needs in the community as we are able to. One way of doing that is providing English classes.
We shared this vision with the City officials and it was received very well. They wanted us to immediately start providing English lessons as part of a program for children and youth.
Marsha started in October with children from one of the underdeveloped neighborhoods. Many of the kids are a bit high energy, but Marsha’s interest in the kids is having an impact on their behavior.
We are considering building a structure to open a Community Development Center to reach out to the community. Our first activity would be a English school open to the general public. This will be one of the first things we explore as a team.
Four years ago Rick and Deana Bergen and our Brazilian friends Ivanildo and Monica left Altamira to plant a church hub in the City of Marabá, roughly 300 miles east of Altamira. Pacajá puts us right in the middle of Altamira and Marabá which has allowed us to visit Marabá these past few months more than we had in the past four years.
Keith had an opportunity to teach a session at a weekend conference for newer believers in Marabá. Logan also went as a participant. It was nice to be a small part of the work there and get to know this group better. We look forward to the day when some of these now new believers are helping teach at our first conferences here in Pacajá.
Seeing the simplicity and impact this young church is having on the community reminds us of how non-sophisticated church planting can be. It reminds us of the vision we have for Pacajá. At the core of church planting all we need to do is be accessible and continue to let God transform our own lives. From there people will see who God is through our lives. Obviously there is a lot more to it, but it isn’t as complicated as sometimes people make it.
Prayer requests:
v Clear direction in this new work
v Our family and team as we adjust to a new place and try to make friends
v Health and safety of our family and team
Thank you for all your support!
Please keep us and this work in your prayers.
Blessings in Christ,
The Wilsons
On September 20, 2012 we completed 8 years in Brazil. We want to express our thankfulness for everyone who has supported us with prayer, moral and financial support these years.
Our main objective in this first phase is to make contacts — get to know people and start getting known. Every routine task outside the house is a new adventure, an opportunity to meet someone or make some kind of connection with someone we already know. We find ourselves intentionally trying to get out and about just to increase the possibility of meeting someone.
On December 27th our Brazilian colleagues (Ferreira and Fernanda) moved to Pacajá to complete our initial team. With their arrival we have started actively as a church. We held a New Year’s celebration inviting the friends we’ve been making in Pacajá. We began meeting as a leadership team and we’ve started a small home group.
