2008 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering        National Goal: $170 million

Week of Prayer for International Missions
November 30 - December 7

 Day 5: Quilombolas of Brazil

A When Ivanilson Costa arrived in Tombo to teach Quilombola children, he was the sole Christian in the Brazilian village. For 10 months, Costa prayed for someone to help him share Christ.

God answered Costa’s prayers in December 2005 when missionaries Keith and Deborah Jefferson, of Texas, visited.

“Before they arrived, it was almost prohibited to speak words of Christianity,” Ivanilson says, “and now we preach openly.”

Keith estimates more than 2,800 Quilombola villages are spread across 23 of Brazil’s 26 states. The villages, established as safe havens for runaway slaves in the 17th century, are still safely tucked away from civilization in Brazil’s remote interior.

But the same isolation that served to protect the Quilombolas from slave owners in the 1600s has also shielded them from hearing the Gospel.

“There will never be enough missionaries to reach the lost people groups of Brazil, so we’re here to encourage, challenge and help the Brazilians to reach the people groups of Brazil,” Keith says.

Ask God to touch Brazilian believers’ hearts for the sake of sharing Jesus with the Quilombola. Pray also that those who hear the Gospel message will accept Christ’s free gift of salvation.

Pray:

Ask God to touch Brazilian believers’ hearts for the sake of sharing Jesus with the Quilombola. Pray also that those who hear the Gospel message will accept Christ’s free gift of salvation.

photos:

Quilombolas

To learn more about International Missions, contact your church or visit www.imb.org