September 2003

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

After a long furlough year in the States, we returned to Brazil on July 27 and are finally settled back in the city of Fortaleza. It was a little hectic at first—the day after our arrival we began our activities in the seminary—but we are happy to be involved again in the ministry of the seminary as well as in the activities of the Presbytery of Ceara.

This semester I am helping the seminary teaching three classes. In the bachelor’s degree program I teach two courses: ubrban ministry and an introductory course in English. In the lay leadership program I am teaching a course in the area of Christian education. It has been a busy time for us as we settled in while at the same time developing the activities in the seminary and in the local churches.

In this letter we would like to share with you two brief stories. First, a significant event in the life of the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPI). The IPI is one of two Presbyterian denominations in Brazil with which the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has a partnership. During week we arrived in Brazil, the IPI was celebrating its first century of existence. The denomination was founded on July 31, 1903, by seven Brazilian Presbyterian pastors and elders from all around the country. So, during the week of July 27, 2003, many presbyteries, local churches, synods, as well as the General Assembly of the IPI were celebrating throughout the country.

In Fortaleza, the Presbytery of Ceara and local churches gathered to celebrate this event. I was honored to participate in the event, which was led by the presbytery executive, the Reverend Aureo Rodrigues de Oliveira. It was an activity in which all those who were present had the opportunity to see slides of the mission work of the denomination throughout its hundred years of existence. We also had the opportunity to hear testimonies and stories from many members of the local churches. We were blessed to have the presence of a mission team from the Presbytery of East Iowa. Some of the pastors and the executive presbyter from the Presbytery of East Iowa congratulated the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil for its achievement.

Their presence and words of encouragement to the Presbytery of Ceara confirm once again that the mission of the church of Jesus Christ is not subject to one race, to one language, to one culture, or to only one kind of people. Christians came from all over and, united in the spirit of Christ and with the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil, they celebrated 100 years of preaching the gospel of love of our Lord Jesus Christ to the people of Brazil and to the people of the world.

Another brief story we would like to share with you is the story of the diversity that exists in the midst of the seminary. There are 149 students registered this year in the bachelor’s degree program. Forty-three percent of the students are women, and they come from different denominations such as the Assembly of God, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Church of Christ, Catholic, Methodist, Lutheran, and Baptist. One evening at the seminary in an informal conversation with many students, we were discussing which denomination is closest to the bosom of God. Each one of us was immersed in the discussion, each defending the denomination he or she belonged to. I told a female Pentecostal student that the fact that she was attending a Presbyterian theological school put her very, very close to seeing the true light. In a humble and humorous spirit, she told us: We Pentecostals are not led by the light to the presence of God, we are led to the presence of God by fire. Therefore, we look for the true fire.” That diversity is part of the theological seminary I am part of. It has been a blessing for me and for my family to be part of this theological institution devoted to preparing the lives of many young people from many denominations in the great city of Fortaleza.

Thanks be to God, we are all doing fine and looking forward to serving God. We pray that through our ministry in Fortaleza others may come to know the true and only God revealed in the person of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Please keep us in your daily prayers.

Yours in Christ’s service,

The Greens: Ricardo, Reyna, Kerry, Ashley and Richard

The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, page 258