New Planter Spotlight: Aroldo Filho

The Filho family

Aroldo Filho

How have you seen God working in your life?

I’ve been raised by a Christian family that have taken me to every Sunday sermon and church activities, therefore I was surrounded by Christian people. But only by the age of 13 years I’d came to understand that believing in God was a personal decision that I was meant to make. Ever since I can see God changing and transforming me from an adolescent full of insecurities, needing attention and using of deceives and lies to please others to a man full of awareness of God’s love and so secure in him that can admit my flows and work on it with his help and grace. Today I live the challenge of moving away from friends and family pursuing the dream God has showed us. A dream that has been coming reality day by day, through God’s power and directions, and not through my power or knowledge. Although He has been testing and challenging all my skills and abilities, as I’m a young pastor, pastoring older and more experienced people, but people who have been sharing this challenge with me. It has been a privilege to see God’s care for me and my family providing the daily food and all our needs and the people he calls to pray for us which has been teaching me how close and attend he is, and it has fueling my faith and my awareness that he is the lord of my life and history.

How have you seen God working in your family?

We are a Young couple, married for 3 years and in a relationship since 2011. Mother and father of a 11 months old boy named Caleb. We have always understand the challenge of creating a new family culture together, as each one of us brings our family’s culture as background, but we have trusted God as the focus and mean to create our own ways of relating and sharing our lives. The first year was full of conversations and adjustments learning how to live together, sharing duties and responsibilities and learning a particular challenging to me: how to talk about feelings, as I’ve always kept mine to myself. The arrival of my son and this new phase of my ministry has taught me that time is a precious gift that we must be diligent in it’s administration. My wife and I have been working in our family time with God and with our date time which have changed since the baby and we have been working on focus more on each other, but gracefully, through all these process and adaptation we have seen the presence and mercy of God in our lives.

How have you seen God working in your church?

Been head of a church plantation has been a challenge and privilege. We have moved 300km away from our friends and family changing home but also culture and climate, from a hot and seaside reality to a countryside, mountains cold one. It has been fantastic to work with the core team and to see their growth and dedication to the goals we have establish together. Since we have arrived we have received many offers of help, which we have accepted and they helped us installing, unboxing, cleaning up and so on. They have showed their dedication to the project and God not only serving with their skills and time, but also with their finances as they used their economies to advance the future income of the church partners to meet our moving costs (which will be returned as soon as the financial support of our partners arrives). The core team has already showed a new perspective of the importance of reaching to non-believers with a loving and kind approach. God have gathered people with different skills and gifts and have challenged each one of them to step out of their comfort zone heading to a church plantation full of unknown and mystery, but fueling all of us with excitement and courage from His spirit.

Church Mission & Vision

We understand we must be a relevant church that communicate clearly the Gospel of Jesus, using a understandable communication and being welcoming, biblical while preaching the redeemer sacrifice of Jesus in his birth, life, death and resurrection. Being a benchmark church when it comes to the bible centricity theology, yet communicated with the local culture, welcoming those attracted by the preaching of the gospel. We commit to God and are at His command to reach his still lost sons and daughters. We strive to be multipliers of churches, planting and supporting other churches in Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro and the entire world wherever Gods lead us to invest our resources.

If you would like to know more about Igreja Presbiteriana Caminho Real send an email to:
aroldomalta@gmail.com

New Planter Spotlight: Roberto Barbosa

The Barbosa family

Roberto Barbosa

How have you seen God working in your life?

I see God working in my life through contact with the Bible and the practice of prayer. I feel your grace and great mercy on me. It renews my feelings and thoughts, takes care of my heart and frees me from fear. Whenever I face great challenges and my heart is troubled, God reminds me of the Gospel message and makes me look at the Cross of His Son. Through the Gospel, God daily reinforces my identity: I am a son loved by Him.

How have you seen God working in your family?

With the beginning of the church planting, our family moved to another city and many things were changed in the family routine. Our children changed schools, my wife left her job and we started to live in a new context, with new people around. But God takes care of us in every detail. Our children are well adapted with new friends and the new school. My wife got a new job, and in all of these things, God kept our hearts by holding us closer together as a family. Home life is a great pleasure for us!

How have you seen God working in your church?

A year ago, when we gathered the core group for the first time, we were a small group of dreamers willing to cooperate with what God wanted to do in our city. In that time we saw God bringing people to join us, we had the joy of baptizing some people and our Sunday mornings are marked by the sweet presence of God that makes us celebrate his powerful deeds among us and we grew through the biblical exposition. I look at things that have happened in that short time and I can only say that the grace of God did everything.

Church Mission & Vision

Our mission:

Be a church centered on
Gospel, which
seeks to glorify
God loving people
and serve the city.

Our vision:

Culturally relevant, biblically faithful, committed to God's mission, creative in communication and relational.

If you would like to know more about Igreja Plena Rio
http://www.igrejaplenario.com.br

New Planter Spotlight: Bruno da Luz

The da Luz family

Bruno da Luz

Bruno da Luz IS THE HEAD PASTOR FOR Aviva Church in Santa Catarina, Brazil. WE ARE HONORED TO PARTNER WITH HIM AND his CHURCH COMMUNITY starting January 2020.

How have you seen God working in your life?

With each passing day, I feel happier to serve God. I feel a lot of satisfaction. There are many challenges in church planting, but God has brought joy to my life. I have always worked as a physiotherapist, but I have never felt as happy as I am now, being a church planter. Furthermore, it is a big responsibility. God has placed in my heart great fear and zeal for his work. I see God's grace at work in my life, giving me gifts to fulfill His purposes. Skills I didn't have naturally, but his supernatural action has empowered me. I also clearly perceive the Holy Spirit's action in sanctifying me. I feel embarrassed by my sins and soon I humble myself in repentance.

How have you seen God working in your family?

My family and I have learned a lot about what it is to be a genuinely Christian family that glorifies God in every action. I thank God that He has placed a great desire to serve Him in my wife's heart. She supports me in all activities, takes care of our family in a spectacular way, as well as helping with various activities in the church. We try to spend time together, both at meals and at leisure, such as going to the beach. My oldest daughter is 11 years old and already shows signs of the Holy Spirit's action in her life. He shows signs of repentance and a desire to walk in holiness. Our youngest daughter is 4 years old and loves to participate in the worship moments in our church.

How have you seen God working in your church?

What has most impacted my life in planting this church is the powerful hand of God bringing all the necessary financial resources. One of my fears is not having the financial resources to spread the work of God. Perhaps, due to the difficulties I experienced in my childhood, I must have a trauma, which generates fear of missing something. But God has been faithful, bringing all the financial resources we need. For example, financial support from SRC. My faith has increased when I see God's powerful and miraculous action on financial matters. It is amazing to see that when we invest in new chairs, God sends new people and more resources.

Church Mission & Vision

Our mission is to make disciples for Jesus, to influence the world, all for the glory of God. The least reached people in our city are the people with the highest levels of education and the highest socio-economic levels. Among this group, we have less than 20% of Protestants. We want to reach these people. We intend to take the Gospel to them, through strategic actions. We want these people to become Jesus' disciples. In addition, we want our members to influence the different spheres of our society. We want them to be "salt of the earth and light of the world". We are training them to understand the Christian worldview and impact society, influencing the spheres: church, family, culture, politics, economics and education.
In addition, we intend to multiply churches. Our plan is to plant 18 new churches in the next 10 years. So, in the next 5 years, I hope that we have formed a multitude of new disciples for Jesus. I also hope that we are involved in planting at least 2 new churches in the southern region of Santa Catarina. We also intend to have members of our church directly involved in the different spheres of society.

If you would like to know more about Bruno and Aviva Church check out their website at en.avivaigrejacrista.com.

New Planter Spotlight: Sigolf Greuel

Sigolf Gruel and his wife

Sigolf Greuel IS THE THE HEAD PASTOR FOR Comunidade Encontro in Santa Catarina, Brazil. WE ARE HONORED TO PARTNER WITH HIM AND THE CHURCH COMMUNITY BEGINNING IN 2018.

How have you seen God working in your life?

I see God acting and shaping my character through his Word: through the word I read and study, but also the word I preach and share with people. God's word is transforming me and making me more aware and sensitive to people, and giving me a more missional heart. My deepest desire is to become a better person, through the Word of God.

How have you seen God working in your family?

I see clearly God leading our family and approaching us one from another, building solid love bonds between us. Different experiences of life, some of suffering, has been used by God with this purpose in our family. We have been seeking to learn and to trust in the Lord, even in the suffering experiences. And having the whole family committed with Christ and his mission is a blessing!

How have you seen God working in your church?

The short history of Comunidade Encontro is an eloquent testimony of God's acting. In only two and a half years, we have already consolidated ourselves as a congregation. New people coming every week, and many of them becoming disciples of Jesus are another clear sign of God's action among us. Lives are being transformed. Also the way everything happened to set the new project Encontro Ilha, the base group and the partnerships, shows us that God is acting among us and in the control of everything.

Church Mission & Vision

Encontro is a contemporary christian congregation that cares about people and provides opportunities for meaningful relationships with Jesus and with others, acting with societal relevance.

Visão:
To be a referencial of christian congregation, multi-located, planter of new communities, communicating the Gospel of Jesus with boldness, excellence and creativity.

---

If you would like to reach out to Sigolf, you can visit the church's website at www.encontro.org.

Spotlight: Alfredo Forhans & Iglesia Evangélica Los Pinos Nuevos, Holguin

Alfredo Forhans

The Forhans Family

We are excited to partner with Alfredo Forhans and support Iglesia Evangélica Los Pinos Nuevos in Holguin, Cuba. Please keep Alfredo and his family in your prayers.

What are the names of your family members?

Dainel Pifferrer is my wife and we have three children, Juan, Rebecca and Laritza. We have one son-in-law, Hennyer and a grandson, Allen.

What is the name of your church and roughly how many attendees do you currently have?

Iglesia Evangélica Los Pinos Nuevos

Where are you originally from and where is your current church located?

I was born in the city of Holguin, Cuba. The church is in the center of the city of Holguin.

Tell us the story of how God called you to plant churches and why you chose the current location for your church plant.

In fact it was a process, as such I found myself pastoring in a very traditional and legalistic church. It was after a crisis in the ministry in that church, mainly due to legalism, that we requested to leave. We were encouraged to move to the city of Holguin to do church planting work. To tell the truth, we had no idea what we were going to do, since we had never worked in church planting before. Being in the city of Holguin, God began to move our hearts towards the work of planting, and with it, the vision and philosophy of how we were going to do it started to show up. The current location of the church was decided after a first attempt in the outskirts of the city. We realized that if we wanted to impact the city with the gospel we should move to strategic areas where we had a greater reach to the community.

What is the spiritual temperature in your community/country? How does this reflect your church’s mission and focus?

Cuba is a very syncretistic country both culturally and religiously. It can be said that the Cuban people now live in a kind of pragmatism mixed with much uncertainty and search for answers to their many concerns. It is a culture open to teaching and willing to learn. The most common gospel alternative in the Cuban context is heavily influenced by neo-Pentecostal movements with a strong legalistic emphasis. There are hardly any churches preaching the gospel of the grace of God. That is why our church focuses on preaching and extending the gospel of God's grace, opening a dialogue with the culture that allows us to interact with their concerns and present the gospel alternative, in fact this is our core value.

Tell us one of the most difficult situations you have faced during your years as a church planter. How did God work through that particular situation?

The most difficult situation was in the beginning of the work. Among the greatest difficulties was that I had never had previous experience in planting. On the other hand, we did not have formed leadership. We arrived alone to the city of Holguín, so we had to start from scratch. Another difficulty was the economy. We did not have any financial resources to do much. Then God began to reach out to friends, to whom we presented the gospel, and these came eventually to be the leading leaders we have today. Also during economic scarcity, God opened doors, one of them being the beloved church of SRC, who generously supported us and made strategic investments for the development of the work in Holguin.

Tell us about how you have seen God working.

God has being at work wonderfully by giving us friends, very special people whom his grace brought to salvation. Then we trained them, and they became the main leaders in the work of Holguin. Interestingly these friends, not only have a wonderful job in their leadership in Holguin, many of them have a very important leadership role in the movement of the gospel that God has raised in Cuba.

If there are any other stories or information you would like to share, please do so here.

Something interesting in this planting process, which I call it the story of God's love and faithfulness: When we started planting, we had no idea what God would be doing in the future. No one can say that this was a human strategy, rather it always was and still is a good plan of God. He has given the vision and the passion. God has provided friends, changed hearts, provided the necessary resources. In short, I can only say humbly, that we have followed the call of God, and he has been doing everything for us. We ask for humility and strength to follow. God bless all of you friends. A big hug from Cuba.

Please list any prayer requests we can share with our SRC family.

• We ask for renewed wisdom and new strengths to move forward.
• For the new generation of leaders we are working with right now.
• Also pray for the advance of the gospel on in our nation.

---

If you would like to reach out to Alfredo, you can visit the church's website at http://lospinos.cubava.cu/.