How have you seen God working in your life?
In each new cycle in my life, I see God's action clearly. I am fully convinced of God's work in my life, His call to cooperate in church planting. This conviction has been growing more and more, and I know that God, through his Spirit, has equipped me with the gifts and abilities to face the challenges of planting a new church. The Gospel has been fruitful in my heart, and in my family, and we are very satisfied and happy to have been, as a family, called to be church planters. I know that I am a terrible sinner undeserved of such grace, and as I encounter the Lord's goodness towards me, I dedicate myself in love and gratitude to the Lord's service.
How have you seen God working in your family?
I am grateful to God for our family. Evelyn, my wife, has grown a lot at this point in her life, growing in her devotion to God, using her gifts and abilities in the church, leading the worship ministry, taking good care of the children, and constantly assisting me in the ministry. We have three children, Pedro, 14 years old, already confessed Christ as Lord and Savior and was baptized; Benjamin, 7 years old, recognizes the Lord as his Savior, but we are still discipling him for baptism, and our youngest boy Joaquim, the three are constantly taught and corrected by the Gospel. Throughout the process of preparing for the planting, we instilled in their minds that we are a family of church planters and that as disciples we are called to live in obedience to Jesus and make disciples who make disciples. We see their growth in understanding of the Gospel of Jesus every day.
How have you seen God working in your church?
Something we've been saying among ourselves, in the council of elders, and in our leadership. The hand of the Lord is upon us. We started our meetings with that vision in November 2021, we preached the Gospel, and our friends began to arrive, they believed in Jesus, some already considered themselves believers and came from other churches, but without conviction of their salvation and were unaware of the true gospel. We baptized people, and we saw the good hand of the Lord until it was necessary to find a place, due to the growth and organization for the launch of the church. We were seized with fear and questions about where the resources would come from since we were 10 people and rents were high. But God has been faithful, bringing all the financial resources we need. For example, financial support from SRC. We always pray that the Lord does not let us be discouraged in boldly preaching the Gospel, and we ask that he supplies financially so that we are able to advance in the spread of the kingdom and in making disciples. He has responded and expanded our faith in incredible ways. We see God's care since the first chair, the investment in equipment, renting the new space, and buying new chairs. God's good hand is upon us.
What is your church’s mission/vision?
We exist to help people to know God, live in the community, and serve in the world. We build churches passionate about Jesus. In the next 10 years, we want to plant 22 churches in the metropolitan area of Florianópolis, the capital of Santa Catarina. There are 22 cities with about one million and five hundred thousand inhabitants. Our State is among one of the least evangelized regions of Brazil.
Church Website: https://www.instagram.com/avivapalhoca/
For further information please contact Rafael at avivapalhoca@gmail.com