History
EMAF’s
ministry began in the region between Iguape and Paranaguá, when 62 fishing
villages began to be evangelized even before the organization of the Mission.
The first
EMAF base, São Paulo Field, was being formed according to the needs the
work presented:
§
Identification of
strategic localities for a base and for planting churches;
§
Leadership responsible
for the regional ministry;
§ Training workers;
§
Missionaries willing to
live in the communities;
§
A house for the workers
and for accommodating teams of volunteers;
§ Boats, varied equipment etc.
The model
generated by the São Paulo Field contributed toward the pioneer operations which
later came to be reproduced in all the other EMAF fields. Some of these
operations are:
The method of planting churches
that began during the first contacts with the people and continued with
evangelization, discipleship, leadership training and shared leadership, was
first applied in the villages in the extreme south of São Paulo. The churches
planted on the SP Field have native leadership and they serve, in a relevant
way, in their own community and in the neighbouring villages.
Qualification of Labourers –
Today all the EMAF field directors and the national base workers were
missionaries or worked on the São Paulo field in some way; this demonstrates
the strategic function of this base in the formation of the leadership and
missionary expansion.
Teams
Social and Community Activities –
The experience of the first missionaries, testifying to the privation and
abandonment in which the fishermen lived, determined the vision of EMAF’s
integral ministry. In the beginning we would help the families donating toward
their immediate needs; this activity extended to medical and dental assistance,
educational and sport projects.
The partnership with churches in the big cities, that
proposed to cooperate with the development of the churches on the fields has
contributed toward the expansion and strengthening of this work.
We praise the Lord for the transforming power of Grace
that changed once and for all the story of lives and villages in São Paulo.
Where there was once only despair today there fullness of joy.
The challenges continue in the evangelization and
discipleship of the families on the SP Field. Villages like Marujá, Enseada da
Baleia, Vila Rápida, Pontal, Barra do Ararapira, among others, are objects of our
prayers and ministrations in order that many might become a part of the Family
of God, for His Glory.
Thank you for waging with us in the battle for this
purpose.
Jandira Almeida
Comunication and Development
April/2011
