Sun, Sand and Samba!

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Sun, sand and samba! Or, of course, ‘Formula One´ traffic, a few stray bullets, enormous differences between rich and poor, elite police raids into the favelas and so much more. It’s all in Rio de Janeiro, an amazing and vibrant cosmopolitan city where John and Flor Evans arrived from Guadalajara, Mexico on April 10th 2010 to plant the first Newfrontiers church in Brazil.  John gives us an update on the church plant.

There’s no doubt that God is putting Rio and Brazil itself on the world map and we believe God has brought us here at a significant time. Our first months have been an emotional roller-coaster ride of finding our feet in a new country. After 30 years in Mexico I’d forgotten what it means to enter a new culture.  For Flor it’s a totally new experience. But if Abraham and Sarah did it we can too! ‘Empty-nesters of the world unite!’

Our church started with 13 adults and three children and has now progressed to 18 adults and five children. We also have a family on the other side of the city looking to build a group towards a church plant there. We’re asking God to take us to 50 at least in 2011 as a first step towards building a solid apostolic base in this nation.

The fledgling church has a strong international flavor with Brazilians, English plus a Mexican, an Indian and a Chinese already on board. It sounds like an advert for a take-away but we do believe God wants us to be a true advert for what his international family looks like!

What are our challenges? Number one is to see the church growing on a consistent basis. We recently did our first open air evangelistic event, a luau on Ipanema Beach, and it was great to see folks ‘getting out there’ for the Gospel. We’ll be doing more of that on a regular basis.

We also need to find a new place to meet. God led us prophetically to the place we’ve been using, which has been free of charge but somewhat hidden away. We need a much more public space.

Please also pray for Flor to make a full recovery from recent surgery on both her knees after seriously injuring them (on a bus!) three months after we arrived.