Brazil

In 2006 I was invited to join Pastor Israel, pastor of a Spanish church, in ministering to a Brazilian church in Brisbane, Australia. I include this section here, even though I did not travel to Brazil, because of the uniqueness of the ministry.

Pastor Israel found himself with a group of Brazilians in his church who were new to the country. They were contract workers from Brazil who could not speak English, and were looking for a local church in which to fellowship in. As they could not find a Brazilian church, they opted to join the Spanish church as an alternative. Being a Portuguese speaking nation, they found they could follow and understand the Spanish being spoken in the church.

After some time, Pastor Israel decided their needs would best be met if they could have their own Brazilian church, which is where I came in. They would meet once a week on Saturday evenings at their own church location, and I would preach and teach them every week.

Hence a Brazilian church was established, having a Spanish pastor, who could not speak Portuguese, with a Portuguese preacher who could not speak Spanish. An odd setup but it worked quite well!

It was a challenging time for me, as I had never ministered much in Portuguese having always ministered in English speaking churches. Yet it was a wonderful time as we saw the church begin to grow. In time we raised up a Pastor from among their congregation to head up the church.