We Have a Dream in Brazil! ^Featured

During the period that we studied the Bible with the disciples, and in the following weeks, months and years that followed our decision to become Christians, we experienced God's wonderful grace and his incredible power. God truly does "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine!" (Ephesians 3:20). We saw his forgiveness heal wounds from the past, unite different people, save many friends, and fill our hearts with hope. Hope is "an anchor for the soul,firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19). We had the privilege to work for the church for a few years, leading groups of singles, teens and campus students. We were administrators in the church as well. Additionally, we built close friendships that continue to this day, to be used by God to shape and transform us.

In June 2000, we started dating and we got married in June 2003. In October of that year, we moved to Brasilia, the city where Ana grew up. There, after going through three years of deep discouragement, we devoted ourselves wholeheartedly to God and to others. After a few years, we were invited to lead the Brasilia International Church of Christ. Together with Denilson and Paula Campos, Daniel and Patricia Jezini, Cintia and Ariel Mesquita, and with John and Kay Hoyt, we spent five of our best years as Christians. Also, we were blesses by the intense loving help of James and Kelly Shults. Together, talking, making decisions, uniting the church, crying and certainly laughing, we sought God's direction to help that church move forward. We had a few defeats and many victories! Although we didn't always think the same way, we learned to disagree and still move forward together, enjoying the blessings God granted us.

In the second semester of 2013, we started talking to key leaders in the São Paulo church, who later invited us to come and lead the church there. We sought God, asked for lots of advice, and decided to come in late January 2014. Several reasons drove us to make such a decision:

First, we are so grateful for what we experienced here. For many years, we were loved, led, advised and encouraged by disciples of this church. We were saved here; it was here where we took our first steps in the Christian life and learned to influence people for Jesus; it was here where Ana and I met and got married. All good things come from God, and yet we acknowledge with reverence that God also uses people to give gifts to his children, and we have a huge debt of gratitude to this church.

Second, we are convinced that the São Paulo International Church of Christ is a great church made up of disciples who have truly given up everything they have and followed Jesus Christ. Our eyes fill with tears as we think about the stories of love, sacrifice and selflessness we hear in every sector and every region of this church. Our hearts filled with courage as we thought we'd have the privilege to lead and work alongside so many of these brothers and

Third, although we stayed in Brasília for ten years, and there fought our own battles, our hearts ached with longing for the brothers and sisters from Sao Paulo, and we saw the pain that the church was going through during that period. Never did we consider ourselves as the couple who would solve the problems here, but we recognized that we could help, and wished to form a team of leaders and friends who, with a humble and determined spirit, would lead

Fourth, we were deeply moved to see the humility that existed in the hearts of the main leaders of this church. The Bible teaches that "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble" (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5). Although in the past humility was not one of the virtues by which we were known, we have learned that it is the quality that, as God's people, we should seek the most individually and collectively. Each of the main leaders of the São Paulo church has, on average, 20 years' experience working for the church. Together, Ana and I have less than 10. Major leaders here have planted or led churches or regions of hundreds of people. We led a church with just under 70 disciples. Several leaders have children who are already in adulthood or in the adolescent stage. Our kids are under 10. Naturally, the leaders here would hardly consider us as the couple they would like to bring to lead the church.

However, during the conversations we had before we decided to come, we witnessed in these men and women a surrendered, humble spirit, willing to put the well-being of the churchabove their own, and to work in a mutually submissive way to God's glory.

Finally, we witnessed the desire of the church to rebuild what was not good. We talked to many leaders, paid by the church or not, and witnessed a sincere love for Christ and a real desire to pay the price to do whatever was necessary for His church in São Paulo to be healthy and a light for the world. Obviously, it is much easier to start a new construction than rebuild something differently. The reconstruction process involves pain as we separate what is good from what is bad, and patience and humility to lead those who disagree or are weak. If the church of God were worthless, something we could throw away or discard, maybe we would not get excited to participate in this reconstruction. But the church is the bride of Christ, precious and beautiful, and we were extremely excited and honored to participate in this reconstruction.

In the six months since we arrived in São Paulo, we have seen God work in a simple and powerful way to restore relationships, unite us and give us hope. We have been touched by the love with which the church has treated us and our children and we have learned a lot from the example of so many who are already ahead of us nearer to our Jesus. Because of this and other things, we want to thank the disciples of this church.

Truly, we believe that our best days as a church are ahead of us! We did not come to São Paulo to restore the glory days of the past, but to be one more piece, in addition to those who are already here in this church, to build a new thing, which is even now springing up. To paraphrase the words of Martin Luther King, "we have a dream!" The dream of being a fruitful church, which rescues as many people as possible from the emptiness of a world "without God and without hope," as the seed in Matthew 13:32 which grows into a tree that provides shelter to the birds of the sky! The dream of living in joy and unity, as brothers united around the purpose of pleasing our Father in everything, enjoying the blessings of thefull life Christ gives us! The dream of "fighting the good fight, finishing the race, keeping the faith" and then hearing the sweet words of our Father: "Well done, good and faithful servant, come and share your master's happiness!" (Matthew 25:21).

Shall we dream together?

Jorge and Ana Bittencourt

Translated from http://www.icoc.org.br/#!20140707-nostemosumsonho/c1ban