Newsletter April 2007
Hi everyone,
We have just returned from the heat of Brazil to the heat of Farnham. We had an excellent time with all our expectations exceeded. Ron Viner who has facilitated the development of the Kairos course for Brazil travelled with us. He has written the following report:
Goiania 9th-13th April 2007 - the first CursoKairos in Brazil!!
We had 20 full participants on this course (including two from the UK); and three further attendees, one who partially completing the course and two others who attended for one or two days. The course was Facilitated by Jan and Duncan Weir and Ron Viner from the UK (Jan is fluent in Portuguese); and a Brazilian from Goiania who had completed Kairos in the UK, Levy Santana. Levy and another Brazilian, Roberto, who had helped with organising the course, also served as translators for Duncan, Ron and the two UK participants on the course as required.
The 20 full participants represented several different churches, including ones from Manaus, Morrinhos and Uberlandia as well as from Goiania, a mission agency focussed on Portuguese speaking nations, especially Mozambique and Angola, and an internationally known intercessory ministry; 6 of them were pastors (as were two of those who attended part of the course) and one other was an employed youth leader in his church. From the first day it was clear that there was a high level of commitment to the course, including the reading (Brazil does not really have a reading culture). For instance, one of the pastors on the course had a bereavement in his congregation to deal with on the second or third day (in Brazil funerals take place within 24/48 hours of a death) but he still attended 80% of the sessions, completed the readings and graduated.
We invited anyone interested in helping to develop CursoKairos in Brazil to remain after the course had finished on the Friday afternoon so we could discuss our future plans with them. About a dozen did so, including all but one of the pastors and the mission agency representatives. All were enthusiastic about becoming involved in the future development of CursoKairos. We left them with the challenge that Duncan and Jan were willing to return to Goiania in August, run a second course there having trained some of them as Facilitators for that course; but that we would need the entire organisation and administration to be done locally. We asked them to pray about their role and then contact Jan by email outlining what they felt God was calling them to do. Levy has agreed to coordinate this emerging group in close liaison with Jan, Duncan and Ron as he will now be in Goiania until early August.
CursoKairos tasters in Brazil 15th - 21st April 2007
Duncan, Jan and Ron then travelled to Braganca Paulista, a city about an hour north of Sao Paulo, and presented a taster session to 40 or 50 people at the First Baptist Church on Sunday afternoon 15th April. This had been organised by Kevin Bradford, an American missionary who teaches at a conservative Bible School in the nearby city of Atibaia. The church in Braganca also has American missionary working with them specifically to develop their mission focus who attended the taster. A Brazilian leader of the Frontiers mission agency was there and he expressed real interest in CursoKairos. Kevin, along with a Dutch colleague, Willem, has been working at introducing the full Perspectives Course into Brazil. However, they feel that is a long-term project and are also intersted in using CursoKairos more immediately in that area.
On Monday 16th April Duncan returned home. Jan and Ron were able to give a 45 minute presentation about CursoKairos to the Go to the Nations Brazilian Council who were meeting in Sao Paulo.
On Tuesday 17th Jan and Ron travelled to Rio de Janeiro ran a taster session that afternoon for half a dozen staff members at Junta de Missões Mundiais da Convenção Batista Brasileira (the Brazilian equivalent of the Baptist Missionary Society). This again was well received, but we don't know where it might lead as far as CursoKairos is concerned. Then in the evening we ran another taster session for the leadership teams of two churches in Rio. We also stayed a couple of nights with one of the pastors and his wife and sensed that they could be important connections for CursoKairos in Rio and Brazil.
We then travelled to Criciuma, Santa Catarina, in the south on Thursday 19th and had opportunities to run two taster sessions at the Igreja Lutheran Renovada and stayed with the pastor and her husband. Both attracted quite small gatherings, 6 to 8 people, but included pastors or representatives from several churches in the city and included the President of the Pastors' Council. Again, from the expressions of interest received, there seems to be an open door in that city/region for CursoKairos, probably as a second phase of the project.
So we are very encouraged. It seems clear that CursoKairos can be effectively adapted and used in Brazil and that there are open doors in at least four regions from this trip.
We would like to invite you to a meeting when we will share further details of our trip and share some of the hopes and challenges we face in the future. Linda Harding the UK coordinator for Kairos and the International director for development into new countries will also be sharing. Brazil is the nineteenth country that has received Kairos.
CURSOKAIROS IN BRAZIL
FRIDAY 18TH MAY 7.30 for 8PM
WEYDON CHRISTIAN CENTRE
UPPER WAY, FARNHAM, GU9 8RL
Thanks so much for your support,
Duncan and Jan
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