4 minute read
Update on Brazil
with Pastor Mike Poe
Pastor Mike Poe of Carlisle First Church of God returned from an extended trip to Brazil in early July. Pastor Mike had gone to see family, but also to meet with our Brazilian church leaders and Brazil Field Director Ernesto Nunes. Traveling with Global Reach Director Travis Helm, Pastor Mike was able to visit, fellowship, and worship alongside the churches in the South at Campo Grande and Jambeiro Parque in Campinas and our historic first Brazil church at Parque São Paulo in Araraquara.
Pastor Ernesto asked in advance for both Travis and Pastor Mike to speak and teach while they were there but hadn’t prompted them on a topic or theme. Independently, both Travis and Pastor Mike settled on a message of encouragement to the churches. Pastor Mike preached specifically about the story of Peter and the angel leading him out of the prison, which, by God’s grace, was exactly what the church was in need of hearing according to Pastor Jimenez. Pastor Ernesto confessed to everyone that he hadn’t told Travis or Pastor Mike what to say, but that God was working through them to encourage the churches. Apparently, they really needed to hear it.
For a reader unfamiliar with our Brazil field, we have six churches in two states, three in the state of São Paulo,
and three in the state of Bahia. Our Brazil churches are lively, full of genuine believers worshipping the Lord. Pastor Mike said that an American might be surprised by how boisterous our Brazil churches can be. While some of our churches, like those in Bahia, are healthy and growing, the churches that Travis and Pastor Mike visited are in economically depressed communities that were especially hard hit by Covid. During the pandemic, the Brazil government forced all religious gatherings to cease, and many pastors were without jobs. Our Brazil newsletters from 2020 sound dire. But the churches in Araraquara and Campinas are bouncing back, rebuilding their churches through sincere worship and community outreach.
Brazil itself is, like many countries, politically divided and extremism is growing. But the country is also modernizing quickly and a deep middle class is growing too. Education is public and free, but many people try hard to afford a private school which is seen as superior.
While Catholicism has been and remains the predominant faith and the official state religion, it is waning and protestant Christianity has been growing considerably. So have ‘neo-Pentecostal’ versions of Christianity, as Pastor Mike calls them. Likewise, Mormonism and the Jehovah Witnesses has seen much growth too. On the other hand, spiritism and Voodo are also mixed in the public belief system. Like most places in the world, religious beliefs are rarely drawn with clear lines. Instead, the average person is likely to have picked up a syncretic belief system, intermixing Catholicism, traditional spiritist beliefs, culturally normative Christian ethics, all filtered through consumerist lenses. Given all of this, there is much work for our churches to do in sharing the genuine Gospel of Jesus and its transformative power personally and socially.
The good news is that Brazil is not a place where Christians are persecuted by the government, or where our activity has to be sequestered or hidden.
When asked about how we can better help and support our Brazil brothers and sisters, Pastor Mike reinforced prayer, saying that “there are spiritual battles there, and it can be all the more real and more in your face down there than it is [in the USA].” We ought then to pray for spiritual health and fortitude of our Brazil brothers and sisters.
Supporting specific projects, like transportation or church building projects, is also quite helpful for our churches in Brazil. While Brazil is certainly modernizing, transportation is still not always available, and public transportation can be dangerous or simply unreliable.
Pastor Mike also encourages eyewitness teams. If you or someone from your church is interested in missions work or work teams in one of our international fields, Brazil is an excellent place to serve the Lord while increasing your circle of faithful connections with loving Christians.
