March 30, 2006

Dear Friends,

At the beginning of 2005, I was assigned by the Presbytery of Ceara to be the head pastor of a new church development called “Jardim Iracema,” located in the barrio Jardim Iracema in the periphery of Fortaleza.

When I began, I saw right away that many members were having a difficult time due to previous experiences in the church. Their broken and fragmented lives needed to be healed so that they could recover the joyful spirit in serving God.

This tragedy, if I may call it that, was a very frustrating experience for the members, many of whom have suffered emotionally, spiritually, and psychologically from all the transitions.

I saw a lot of anger in many of the members of the congregation and felt that I need to do my very best to be the good shepherd who lives with, seeks, and serves the sheep. This is especially important when people are in pain, broken, confused, and hopeless.

For me, the ministry at Jardim Iracema has given me the chance to try to be that good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. It also confirms my philosophical and theological understanding of what it takes to be a servant and follower of Jesus Christ (John 10:11).

Before church members can serve their own community, broken hearts must to be healed, wounds need to be cured, and a new vision of ministry must be planted in their lives. There is no more miserable experience in the life of a pastor—or of any congregation—than to see members serving the Lord Almighty without any passion and commitment.

After a year in Jardim Iracema, there are still many fragmented lives, but a lot has been accomplished. A fresh spirit has entered many lives, which has encouraged many brothers and sisters to participate more fully in the life of the community.

Lately, the ministry of Jardim Iracema has taken a new direction: most of our activities have to do with the people outside the church. In this new adventure, the Holy Spirit has led us to work and to give a high priority to people in the neighborhood. Three new activities have had a good impact in the community.

First, we have established a ministry we call, “A Palavra na Rua,” which means, “the Word on the Streets.” In this, a few members from the congregation go out on the street with the pastor, hold a worship service, preach a sermon, and invite people to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This activity has not only made an impact in the neighborhood but on the members of the congregation as well.

The second activity is what we call “O Sopão,” (The Soup). We serve a bowl of soup to 120 people from the neighborhood every day at 4:00 p.m. On Fridays, we do a brief worship service before the meal. We have seen that people appreciate this initiative because they are fed physically as well as spiritually.

The third activity is an outreach ministry. Before worship service on the last Sunday of the month, everyone in the church gets together and goes out on the street to give out Christian pamphlets and brochures that speak about the love of God. It’s a good way to meet people and to speak to them about God’s precious love.

The focus of our ministry is on the people in our neighborhood, and not on the members of the church. Of course, in order to accomplish that switch—and to help the members of the church understand that the church is an instrument of God’s to serve people outside the church—has not been easy task.

The great theologian and Christian martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “The Church is the Church when she exists for the World.” That definition of the church has become to some extent the theme of existence of our ministry in Jardim Iracema.

In first place, we are the church to serve people. Secondly, God has given us the courage to give a high priority to people outside the church of Jesus Christ. We give high priority to the second without ignoring the first. God has been a blessing to all of us doing and developing this type of ministry in our church, as we try to love God and our neighbors as well.

I ask you to please keep me, the life of my family, and the ministry of Jardim Iracema in your prayers.

May the grace of Christ be with you all!

Ricardo Green

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 45