I arrived back from Brazil on Tuesday morning after about 17 hours travelling – and just made it to our Ivy staff meeting!

My suitcase arrived on Thursday, having had a lovely time in various other countries and it clearly wanted longer in Brazil. Having spent a few days there myself, I can understand why.

It was a short trip, sponsored by Living on the Edge who I am privileged to teach leaders for – but we packed a lot into it. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to serve alongside our Brazilian brothers and sisters – and for the encouragement of seeing what God is doing through them.

A warm welcome at Igreja da Cidade

The trip began with an overnight flight to São Paulo, followed by a visit to Igreja da Cidade in São José dos Campos, led by the incredible Pastor Carlito Paes.

When Carlito began leading the church in 1997, it had around 600 members. Today, the figure is over 25,000, with more than 1,800 small groups and 1,700 baptisms already this year!

Wait. That last number deserves a moment. Think of all those people, each with a story, publicly declaring their faith in Jesus. Give God some praise.

In view of our own work at Ladybridge Connect I was inspired (Inspire is actually the name of their network coincidentally) to see that alongside the church planting and discipleship, there are connections to the community through sports facilities on the campus (and a Christian school serving around a thousand pupils). There was so much to take in and plenty to think about when I got up early the next morning for the next flight with Carlito’s son John Victor as my interpreter (and helper – as an over 60 I qualified for special treatment at the airport including going to the front of the queue, you take what you can get).

On Friday morning, I headed south to Porto Alegre and then on to Guaíba, where Betel Church would be my home for the weekend.

I came away with a new friend in Pastor Ozéias Nunes. It was a privilege to spend time with him and serve the church he leads.

Friday evening included speaking to the men as many of them had been away in the mountains for three days (like the brilliant XCC ministry I love here in the UK).

Then, on Saturday, I took 160 leaders through Living on the Edge’s High Impact Church training –

That is an opportunity worth travelling for. I have similarly been to the Middle East to teach for LOTE and here again I get to learn and see that each leader has people to care for, encourage and disciple. My prayer is that what we shared will build faith and resilience, unlocking God’s wisdom to continue to bear fruit in their churches long after the weekend itself.

A church that knows how to rebuild

Then I found that there is also a depth to Betel’s story that matters making it one of the best places on earth I could get to teach about what James 1 has to say about The Art Of Survival.

In January 2022, a rare and violent storm classed as a ‘meteorological explosion’ landed out of nowhere to totally devastate their church building. They spent a year meeting elsewhere while rebuilding, bigger and better – returning to the restored campus in January 2023. Their region then experienced the terrible floods of 2024 – and they had to go again. Bigger and better.

These are people who know about suffering and beginning again. That gives a particular poignancy to us being together, opening God’s Word and thinking about the future of the church. They have had to keep serving through circumstances most of us would struggle to imagine.

I had the privilege of preaching again my own messages three times on Sunday -10am, 5pm and 8pm. More than 2,000 people, with about 75 new members welcomed that day!

This culminated in my bringing a special word of encouragement to the pastor and church.

He told me how he had prayed through all these hard times and knew that God was still with them – he wanted to write a book some day about the journey but he didn’t want to talk about the devastating wind that came. He said he had heard there was a word Greek sailors use for ‘a favourable wind’ and that would be the title but he didn’t know the word.

I said, ‘Well, that’s interesting… because earlier this year on holiday I went with Zoe to a little island called Meganisi – there was a ferry trip going there from where we were staying. At the top of the village of Spartochori we found a little coffee shop and went in to escape the heat and they also sold nice white t shirts with one word on the front which was also the name of the cafe. I bought one, and as I was packing for Brazil felt that I should pack it. Before we left the cafe I happened to ask what the word on the front of the shirt meant if anything, the owner said Ostria means “FAVOURABLE WIND.”

The church went CRAZY and Pastor Ozéias was tearful when I gave him the t shirt I had felt a prompting when packing and ‘just happened’ to put in my case, saying ‘from now on, only the Wind of the Holy Spirit will blow strongly here!’

There was plenty of joy and hospitality too by the way, because boy – Brazilians love to eat.

I was very happy to support this aspect of the ministry. There’s something wonderful about the time around a table on a trip like this, when here at home we seem to often to have retreated into our own spaces. You may travel a very long way to meet people, but sharing food and fellowship soon makes you feel at home and the Brazilians build trust over fun and food.

It was another full day, and a late night (more food to finish! A wonderful way to finish the weekend.

Then came the early start on Monday and the journey home, arriving back in Manchester on Tuesday morning. My case stayed a while as I said, then went to France for a while – but now it’s home with me.

One of the great gifts of a trip like this is the reminder of how much we have to learn from one another – that ‘my church’ is actually the Lord’s church worldwide where God is at work in places far beyond our own experience. People are praying faithfully, persevering courageously, and raising leaders and reaching their communities whose stories we may never hear unless we go and spend time with them.

I’m thankful to Living on the Edge and the Inspire Network partners who helped make the trip possible, to Carlito, John Victor and the team at Igreja da Cidade, and to Ozéias and everyone at Betel for their welcome.

Brazil, you were brilliant. Thank you for making me feel so at home. And of course for the Brazil shirt, which is without doubt the coolest shirt in football.