Church Building Fund
The Church Building Fund - What is it?
Over the last four decades we as individuals, churches, and mission board have been constantly studying and implementing many different ways in which the Church of Jesus Christ in Brazil can be helped both from within and from abroad. God has blessed us in such ways that we have been able to help our sister churches around the world, and definitely in Brazil. We have been presented with specific projects and opportunities to support the work going on in Brazil and the IRB federation. One of them is the “Brazil Church Building Fund”! Although Brazil is one of the BRIC nations and has been an “emerging market” for the past few years, this real wealth has not significantly “trickled down” to the members of the IRB.
Anyone could argue that certainly things are much better than twenty years ago, but not to the point where the local churches can easily fund the purchasing of their own properties and church buildings, yet! Inflation in Brazil has been over the 5% mark for the last few years, and that is probably the lowest ever! Average interest rates go between 8% and 12%, also the lowest ever. Now try to qualify for a loan…. It may be a good thing for the nation’s economy, but institutions are very conservative on qualifying low income and “little credit history” lenders for any kind of loan. This makes it very difficult for the many small congregations in the IRB to take the leap from renting a location, or even meeting in someone’s home, to purchasing a property and building.
For updates on current building projects click below:
How do churches qualify?
A fund has been created from which small local churches in Brazil can apply for financial support. There are reasonable prerequisites for the applications to be considered, and we help them with that. We encourage local churches to seek support from, the members of the local congregation, the federation, and other sources. With that we hope that the churches take ownership of their building and are a visible beacon in their community.
The fund
The response from the churches in Canada to this project has been great! We are amazed and grateful to our good Lord for the generosity of His people. To date we have now received over $100,000 toward this project. With the fluctuating exchange rate this amount ranges from R$200,000 – R$400,000. Although that could hardly purchase a church property anywhere in Canada, let alone fund a building, it is a significant amount in Brazil. With just R$50.000 to R$100.000, a building similar to the ones found in Barra Grande or Barreiras could easily be built.
So imagine if the donations suggested in this example were doubled or tripled in the next few years. We could be funding anywhere from 3 to 8 new church buildings in our sister federation.
If you would like to support this work, please click below. All donations are tax deductible, and a receipt will be given. May our mighty Lord continue to bless His Church in Brazil and across all lands. What a privilege it is for each of us to be a small instrument in His hands to that end.