José Carlos Pezini - March 2020 Update

Portuguese-language Ministries Coordinator
Brazil

Mentoring group coordinators

The Outreach Foundation works in partnership with the global church in the places we serve. The partnership between The Outreach Foundation and the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPIB) has been ongoing for almost thirty years. In the beginning, it was a partnership in three major projects. In northeast Brazil, the Sertão Project focused on building churches, schools, and cisterns for that poor, dry region. As a result of this partnership, several churches were planted, many cisterns were constructed, and numerous church buildings and schools were built. Through the Gaucho Project, we shared in planting new churches in the southern part of the country, the least evangelized region in Brazil. More recently, the Amazon Project was a joint effort to evangelize and plant churches in riverside cities.

With the changes in leadership at the IPIB headquarters, as well as my arrival in Brazil in the spring of 2012, some changes have occurred. Together with the evangelism office, we have responded to a cry from the church and focused on leadership training, preparing pastors to plant and revitalize churches, pastoral care, and spiritual formation.

As a result of this joint effort, we have reaped much fruit. In the area of church planting, three new churches have been planted with great success. One will be organized on March 28 with about 200 regular worshippers. In the area of leadership training, I continue to teach three subjects at the Missionary Training Center in Campinas. I am also offering leadership courses in various churches and for different denominations.

In the area of revitalization, in partnership with the SARA ministry, we offer a master's degree in church revitalization. We also offer the revitalization course to four different presbyteries. As a complement to the course, we consult with fifteen churches to help them during the revitalization process.

Our pastoral care ministry, SARA, has 15 mentoring groups spread across the country. The leaders are shown in the photo on the first page. Each group holds two retreats per year and each mentor takes care of 10 pastors. They meet once a month through a video conference. It is multiplying ministry!

The master's degree in spiritual formation that we began in partnership with the Lutheran University continues to transform the lives of those who participate. It is amazing to hear their testimony. A new class will start in August with an average of 25 students.

Finally, in addition to the above, I have given lectures in the areas of leadership, spiritual formation, time management (very important for me, too!), analysis and conflict resolution in different places around the country. The online course for laypeople, in partnership with SARA, is already finished.

This ministry is a great privilege and blessing from God, to shape the lives and vocations of pastors, to help plant new churches, and to revitalize existing congregations. As you can imagine, this work involves a lot of travel! I published a book last year and I have a new book on revitalizing churches coming out in July.

I praise God for his immense grace giving me health and energy to continue serving in the expansion of the Kingdom. Thank you for your role in this ministry, for your prayers and for your generous, ongoing support without which this part of God’s mission would not be possible.

Grace and peace in the Lord,

Pezini and Odete

Read more about Pezini’s ministry HERE.

THE NEED
The Outreach Foundation is seeking gifts totaling $95,000 for ministry and support funds. You may make a gift HERE or by sending a check to our office.