Celebrating Unity

The Churches of Christ have been here in Rio Grande do Sul since 1967. Much good has taken place over the past 40 years through this mission effort. Unfortunately these churches have suffered many divisions and separations over the years, a typical sad story of conflicting personalities, poor financial management, and lack of leadership development. Thankfully, this situation is beginning to change. Pictured here are Mark & Ju White and Rui & Nadia Diogo. They are good friends of ours; they are missionaries who have spent the past several years working in Viamão, a suburb of Porto Alegre. They are preparing to turn this congregation over to three newly appointed elders (the first Church of Christ in this state to have elders) and will soon begin working with the Cantão congregation, a church plant begun through their efforts two years ago. One of Rui and Mark's goals this year was to begin a once-a-year meeting for all Churches of Christ (11 congregations total) in Rio Grande do Sul, a day of worship, fellowship and encouragement. Last Sunday, the first of these meetings was held - a new tradition was started!

The event was somewhat hastily organized, so not all the congregations were able to participate this time. But four did, and we had a great gathering of God's people at - of all places - the Recreational Club of the Building Managers and Janitors Union of Rio Grande do Sul. Just about every profession here in Brazil has a labor union, and depending on the size and resources available, these unions often construct and maintain recreational clubs in the rural areas of cities, so their members can enjoy family activities in a quality environment. One of the newly appointed elders in the Viamão church, Ângelo, is a member of this particular union, and because of this connection, we were able to utilize these facilities at no cost. Membership has its privileges...

The Viamão elders asked me to speak at this event, and I was honored to do so. Since the theme was obviously centered around unity of brothers, I preached on one of my favorite unity passages - John 17. What could be better than hearing it from the Source Himself? The ambience was interesting: speaking in a picnic shelter, barbecue pit to my side, hot corrugated tin roof, people arriving late, occasional fireworks going off in anticipation of that afternoon's soccer game...it's always fun preaching in Brazil!

After the worship, we divided up into prayer groups to pray for the work of all the churches and for one another's needs. Here is Waleska's prayer group, from l-r: Alexandre, Inês, Santa, Barbosa, and Lauro. Barbosa was one of the three men that the Viamão church recently selected to be elders. Barbosa is a fantastic "storyteller" and a pretty good billiards player, besides being a man who is very dedicated to seeing the Kingdom grow in this state.

Here is my prayer group, from left to right: Michelle, João, Deoclides, Vera, Yeda, Teresinha, and Vanda. There are three different congregations represented here.

Here are some of the good folks from Viamão who formed the backbone of the event organization. L-R: Ângelo, his wife Christine, Roberto and Iara, Priscilla, Cintia, Nadia, and one lady whose name I forgot :(

May all of these disciples continue to become one as Jesus and the Father are one!