JOSÉ CARLOS PEZINI – September 2023 UPDATE

Greetings to all of you in the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus. We would like to express our sincere gratitude for participating in ministry in Brazil. We appreciate your financial support and your prayers. Just like the apostle Paul's experience with the Philippians, the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPIB), SARA, and I have also felt the bonding experience with you as our partners in the Kingdom of God: " And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19.

New Church Development in Brazil — April 2023 Update

Dear brothers and sisters, servants of Christ Jesus,

I greet you with the sweet peace that flows from the throne where Christ sits with the Father and intercedes for each one of us. I hope all of you, as well as your families, are doing well, enjoying health and fellowship with our good God. After two chaotic years of the pandemic, we are happy to be able to live life again.

José Carlos Pezini – October 2022 Update

Brothers and sisters, may the grace and power of God be upon each one of you. I praise God for your faithfulness and generosity and pray that God in His grace will bless you abundantly. Despite the effects of the pandemic, our ministry continues to grow because people like you continue to believe that God rules over everything and everyone.

New Church Development in Brazil — September 2022 Update

The Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPIB), our partner in fulfilling the Great Commission of Jesus, has been striving to plant new churches, and The Outreach Foundation has been working to find partners to plant new churches. One of these new churches is located in the city of Valinhos, State of São Paulo. This is a city with enormous potential, but its inhabitants are very resistant to the Gospel message. Despite the resistance, the church has grown, as the organizing pastor discovered that he can best share the Gospel through interpersonal relationships with good results, thank God!

José Carlos Pezini - October 2021 Update

Dear brothers and sisters, servants of Christ Jesus and collaborators with him in the expansion of the Kingdom,

Grace and peace be with you all.

We've all experienced the difficulties of these past couple of years. But despite the struggles we have faced, battles were won, thus fulfilling the promise that in Christ Jesus we are more than conquerors.

Through your partnership, the gospel has been preached in many places here in Brazil. It has brought salvation to dozens of families in eight different cities, from the southern part of Brazil to the northeast. Here are reports from some of the new churches:

José Carlos Pezini - January 2021 Update

Dear brothers and sisters,

Grace and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope that this year, we will find more peace and freedom to carry out the work for which we were called to do. We mourn with those who lost their loved ones to COVID-19. We pray that with the arrival of the vaccine, life will get better.

Many pastors in Brazil were infected with the virus. Some recovered and others succumbed to COVID-19. Many churches are suffering financially and cannot pay their pastors. But, we must continue doing our ministry. That is why we need you, faithful ministry partners, to continue to pray for us.

Even during the pandemic, our ministry continues, training leaders and pastors for revitalizing and planting new churches. We had to adapt and readjust our courses, which are now offered virtually, but we obtained good results. Here is testimony from Rev. Marcio Tenponi about a church that I helped to revitalize:

New Church Development in Brazil - October Update

We recently received the following letter from Outreach partner the Independent Church of Brazil (IPIB):

Dear Outreach Foundation friends,

The mission ministry is pleased to inform you of some of the actions carried out by the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil during the pandemic period.

With the support of the Central Office (represented by its President Rev. João Luiz Furtado), the local church councils, partnership with The Outreach Foundation, and members of the IPIB, the denomination was able to provide significant help to people who were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The IPIB developed a project entitled "All Together in Mission" which has helped pastors, missionaries, and seminarians in communities impacted financially by the pandemic.

New Church Development in Brazil - January 2020 Update

The General Assembly of the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPIB by its initials in Portuguese) installed its new executive leadership board on July 31, 2019. After seven months of elections and another seven months of transition, the new board headed by its new president, the Rev. João Luiz Furtado, took responsibility for guiding the denomination until 2023. The 116-year-old denomination has 63 Presbyteries, 547 churches, and 685 active pastors. Among the proposals that the newly installed group presented was to “analyze and diagnose missionary field possibilities for church planting” and “incentivize particular churches for the planting of new congregations and future churches.”

Over the last three decades, Presbyterians in the U.S. have contributed to the IPIB in the development of at least 26 congregations. Rev. Dr. José Pezini, The Outreach Foundation’s Portuguese-language Ministries Coordinator, and John Terech, Director of Operations for the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians, will attend the formal service to organize another church planting in March.

Partnership, Projects, South AmericaThe Outreach FoundationJanuary 30, 2020New Church Development in Brazil, Brazil

New Church Development in Brazil - January 2018 Update

Reaching Younger Generations Through New Churches

“Each church has its own style but each one of them needs to have two main characteristics: It needs to be centered in the Gospel, committed to it, because that is what gives it integrity. It also needs to engage people that are not part of any church by identifying deeply with what they are going through.” With those words, Ricardo Agreste challenges Brazilian Christians to become actively involved in planting churches that welcome new generations who are not part of any congregation. Ricardo serves a Presbyterian church that was started fourteen years ago and which has now planted twenty additional churches. He is also one of the directors for the Center for Training of Church Planters (CTPI is its Portuguese acronym) which effectively equips pastors among several denominational traditions.

New Church Development in Brazil - September 2015 Update

Dear Friends,

For many years the principal partnership of The Outreach Foundation with the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil was in relationship to the IPIB’s church-planting initiatives in the semi-arid interior of Northeast Brazil (Sertão), in the river communities of the Amazon Region, and in the largely unchurched southern (Gaucho) part of Brazil.

Partner Updates