Great work happening in Brazil through MAP missionaries

The Missionary Adoption Program (MAP) connects Texas Baptists churches with churches, associations and conventions in countries all over the world to jointly adopt local missionaries native to those countries. We have recent reports from some of these missionaries in Brazil of new churches starting and communities being reached for the Lord.

Fabiano and Nivea have been planting seeds and discipling people in Jatuarana, an indigenous community in the Amazon. They are excited to report that a church is being built in the community.

Fabiano says, “God is wonderful because he has revealed himself to these indigenous people through the preaching of the gospel. When we reach a tribe, we reach a whole generation. Adults and children are very happy because they see that God loves them and wants to save them.”

Josias and Eliene as seeing families come to faith through small group ministry. They have started small groups in their community in Santerem and all the way to Alenquer, a six-hour boat ride away. A woman named Poliane joined to hear the stories of Jesus. She brought her husband to join. He has brought his brother. Pray for this trend to continue.

Josias says, “We believe in the Lord, with all our strength, that He will do much and bring many to the fellowship of the church through [small groups].”

Another woman named Dany had been coming to church for some time and always brought her Bible with her in her purse or bag. After some messages about the character of a Christian and how they should show their faith, she came up to MAP Missionary Carlos to share what God had said to her. She said she realized that she was ashamed of Jesus and afraid of what others might say to her if she showed her Bible publicly. The next time she came to the church, she entered smiling, holding her Bible for all to see. Carlos said, “We praise God for teaching us through the preaching of His Word.”

Missionary Daniel Costa held the first service of the Baptist Congregation in Axinim the same week a medical mission team visited the community. They held dental and medical clinics in the morning and led Vacation Bible School in the afternoons. This helped Daniel, who was new to the work, get to know the community better and helped him gain trust in the community as well. This broke the ice at the local school, with the school administrator providing a building for the medical appointments in the morning. Daniel shared, “We are now holding discipleship activities at the school where children are learning more about Jesus.”

Missionaries Douglas and Camila serve in Tefe and oversee other missionaries. They were able to visit several of the MAP Missionaries in their area to see the work and help the ministry. They helped with the construction of a Missionary house in Puna, talked strategy and helped with the planning of a church in Nogueira, and held weekly discipleship with 15 children in their own community. Camila summed the work up well by saying, “We praise God for all that He has done here in the Amazon. We are grateful to the Lord for having you with us in this beautiful missionary work. We continue to count on your prayers and offerings on behalf of our family and ministry.”

MAP is a ministry of the Center for Missional Engagement. It has partnerships in 14 countries. For more information about MAP, or how your church can be involved in supporting missionaries around the world, contact missionaryadoptionprogram[at]txb.org or go to txb.org/map.