About Our Ministry
Portugal is in desperate spiritual need, but how is that determined? Christian sociologists report that anything less than 10% is considered “unchurched”making the European countries in black (those with less than 4% born-again Christian populations) unchurched. While most countries hover between 1% and 2%, Portugal sits at the bottom, around .08%. By comparison, the U.S. has 25-30 times the number of believers as the countries of Europe, the African continent's Christian population has swelled 50 times the rate of growth in Europe, and Asia's Christian population has grown 40 times the rate of Western Europe. These figures reveal that Europe is a spiritual desert in need of the living water of Jesus. Europe and Portugal need our help. MISSÃO GLOBAL 2015, a Portuguese sociological study lists over 200 major towns and cities where no New Testament Christian church exists. (In Portuguese)
Caravela Church Planting/Leadership Development
To understand our ministry it helps to understand the culture we're ministering to. Many Portuguese we've met speak of Portugal's greatness in the past tense, of a nation that literally ruled the world through expansion and discovery by way of the Caravela ships only to become Western Europe's poorest country today. Governments have tried to foster change, Socialist military coups have failed, and the Catholic church, which once controlled the halls of power, is now politically irrelevant. The small community of Christians believes that real cultural change can occur using the metaphor of the Caravela ships as a model for: rapid movement; equipping all for service; common vision; Portuguese pride. Our goal is not only the salvation of souls but the penetration and influence of culture in the name of Jesus. The Caravela ministry calls for:
- Intentional rapid church planting and growth
- A Portuguese look & feel to the churches
- Using New Testament principles
- Understanding contemporary European/Portuguese culture
- Investment in Portuguese Christian leaders through mentoring and education
- Commitment to reaching every strata of society
- Excellence and relevance to a skeptical population
Our role will not be as individual church planters per-se rather, our main job as discussed with Portuguese leaders will be leadership development, mentoring, oversight, and training of young Portuguese church planters. These Portuguese church planters will need coaching, equipping, and accountibilty as well as support in their positions; its an sobering role we’ve been asked to fill. For us, this is a unique opportunity not only to see churches planted but to be a part of the structural work of laying good foundations for future growth.
Go Connect
Rob Marmion writes from KontaktMission’s GoConnect: “In order to plant more churches, we need to send more missionaries. In order to send more missionaries, we need to get lots of people thinking about European missions, especially young people.” Outpoured.org believes in the value of short-term missions, not necessarily for the benefit of the host culture but for the participants and for the kingdom. Angelina and I will be working with KontaktMission to host short-term missions because we believe that young Americans need to experience the world around them and the work of the Lord’s kingdom first-hand. If you would like to request more information about GoConnect click here.
Gone For Good
Brent and Becky at Kaleo Church in Bakersfield California started something big, one that we along with Life Journey Christian Church, and several other congregations in Bakersfield are passionately a part of. One Sunday every 6-8 weeks we gather together for a shortened service before embarking on a Gone for Good outreach assignment. "And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful." Titus 3:14 One of the greatest outcomes from Gone for Good is the impact on the people of Bakersfield who wouldn’t normally see Christians on Sunday morning. The name of Jesus has been honored and just as in the first century, “the people have held [us] in high esteem” (Acts 5:13) because of who Jesus is. Gone for Good and the good work of Christians have been featured multiple times in the local press, people’s lives have been touched, and seeds have been planted yielding very interesting results. We believe that while Portugal is desperate for the preached Gospel, it also needs the incarnational Gospel with Christians living out their calling in tangible ways. It is our hope to take G4G to Portugal and into the Portuguese speaking world.
