Using everyday jobs and personal connections, a growing number of Brazilian Christians are taking their faith to some of the most difficult ares of the world.
VIDEO SCRIPT
SCRIPT: BRAZIL MISSIONARY MOVEMENT
George Thomas, CBN News
(INTRO)
IN BRAZIL, MISSIONARIES USE EVERYDAY JOBS AND PERSONAL CONNECTION TO CARRY THE FAITH ACROSS BORDERS.
GEORGE THOMAS SHOWS US HOW THEY’RE REDEFINING MISSIONS.
(PACKAGE)
VO: While Brazil is famous for soccer, samba, and the Amazon, it’s also becoming known for something else: sending missionaries.
From bustling São Paulo to small villages half a world away, Brazilians are being called to spread the message of Jesus Christ. they include 45-year-old Daniele Silva from the city of Belo Horizonte.
Daniele Silva, Brazilian Missionary to Asia / Middle East
(“I’ve known about missions since 2005, but I decided to answer this call in 2014.”)
(NATS OF SILVA MAKING DRIP COFFEE)
VO: Instead of preaching from a pulpit, Silva serves coffee. She opens small cafes in the Middle East and Asia– places traditional missionaries aren’t often welcome.
Daniele Silva, Brazilian Missionary to Asia / Middle East
(“In addition to generating income for that nation, and generating local jobs, I can build relationships with people, right? With each person who enters, in my case a coffee shop, it’s an opportunity to make friends, to strengthen relationships, and over time, share the love of Christ with others.”)
VO: Silva has faced plenty of barriers such as New languages, strange foods, and unique cultures.
Daniele Silva, Brazilian Missionary to Asia / Middle East
(“In the beginning I had a lot of difficulty communicating. I didn’t know the language. The food was another shock. It was very spicy compared to what I’m used to in Brazil. I also traveled to very remote areas where there were no roads, and the conditions were so tough.”)
Marcelo Crivella, Brazilian Congressman (at picture of him preaching in South Africa in front of thousands)
(“George: What’s this?
Crivella: This is South Africa.
George: That was you as a missionary?
Crivella: Yes, I was young. Look how the Brazilians can connect. I was the only white person in the middle of this great crowd in the time of apartheid when whites and blacks couldn’t talk to each other. It was forbidden by law. George: Do you miss being a missionary?
Crivella: I would love to go back there.”)
VO: Marcelo Crivella, a well-known evangelical pastor turned politician, once served in several African nations.
He says Brazil’s warmth, hospitality, and cultural diversity help its missionaries connect across borders like never before
Marcelo Crivella, Brazilian Congressman
(“Here in Brazil, we are not red, we are not white, we are not yellow, we are not black, we are Brazilians! We are a mix of everything that’s why we can go and be accepted in all these countries.”)
George Thomas, SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL (standup)
(“400,000 missionaries are deployed around the world. The United States is the number one mission’s-sending country, deploying roughly about 127,000 missionaries. Brazil comes in at number two. Each year, about 38,000 Brazilians travel around the world.”)
VO: Dr. Todd Johnson, a leading religion researcher at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, says Brazilians have a deep understanding of God’s command to go into all the world and make disciples.
Todd Johnson, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
(“Brazilians have done a wide variety of things from planting churches to working in hospitals to doing aid work of various kinds in some of the toughest places in the world and it’s really a story that’s probably not known by most people.”)
VO: And they’re also changing how missions are done.
Breno Vietas, Last Call
(“Brazilian churches want to grow and expand to other nations, so they realize the traditional way of doing missions needs to be challenged and reshaped.”)
VO: Breno Vieitas spent 13 years serving in Mozambique and Spain. He says the old model of raising support can be tough, especially on families.
Breno Vietas, Last Call
(“I remember being so concerned about raising funds as a missionary. We had so little, and what little we had, we shared with the Mozambican missionaries.”)
VO: Now, he’s leading a national push for churches to encourage missionaries to work regular jobs while also serving in ministry. The goal? Make missions smarter, more sustainable, and more effective.
Breno Vietas, Last Call
(“I’ve returned to Brazil now from the field to mobilize our churches for this new vision. My goal is to spend the next several years raising a new generation of Brazilian missionaries who can be more effective in the field.”)
Rebeca Teixeira, Brazilian Missionary to Europe
(“No, Europe is not dead, we are just getting started!”)
VO: Rebeca Teixeira is part of this new generation. With the Brazilian Foursquare church, her family has planted churches in Portugal for years. Now, she travels across the continent encouraging young believers to reclaim Europe for Jesus.
Rebeca Teixeira, Brazilian Missionary to Europe
(“My heart is to empower and encourage these young leaders wherever they are, if it’s in Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, I don’t care, a place is just a possibility to see the action of God. This is what South Americans really think of: legacy, enduring, lasting, legacy throughout families and generations.”)
(NATS OF SEND BRAZIL STADIUM EVENTS)
VO: In 2000, Brazil made history when 140,000 young people packed three stadiums for The SEND, a 12-hour rally to mobilize a new wave of missionaries. Nearly two million more joined online.
One of the most powerful moments came as tens of thousands of Brazilians lifted their shoes in the air as a symbolic pledge to take the Gospel to the nations.
Rebeca Teixeira, Brazilian Missionary to Europe
(“Missions is done in the following way: It is with the hands of the ones that give, the knees of the ones that pray and with the feet of the ones that go.”)
VO: From coffee shops in Asia to churches across Europe, this new wave of Brazilian missionaries being trained to work bi-vocationally, is blazing a path not just about passion, but about sustainability as they carry Christ to the nations.
George Thomas, CBN News, São Paulo, Brazil.
People Interviewed and their Titles
Daniele Silva, Brazilian Missionary to Asia / Middle East
Marcelo Crivella, Brazilian Congressman
Todd Johnson, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
Breno Vietas, Last Call
Rebeca Teixeira, Brazilian Missionary to Europe
Recording Location
Brazil
Reporter/Producer for the story
George Thomas
Story Provider/Contact
Stephen Little, CBN News Producer, stephen.little@cbn.org
Producing Organization
CBN News, the Christian Broadcasting Network, https://cbn.com/news
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