Brazil (MNN) — Book of Hope, a harmony of the Gospels for kids, is praising God for incredible success in Brazil. However, the work is far from over, says Book of Hope International's Brazil Director Joseph Bernardo.
Bernardo says they began the work through local churches "because the church can provide not only a good fort for distribution but also continuity for the work. So we have all denominations working with us. This provides about 40,000 volunteers to distribute the Book across Brazil."
They're responsible for distributing 11 million Books of Hope.
According to Bernardo, the Book of Hope has been the tool used to help plant more churches. Font Davida church in Parana is just one example. "This church in the last four years has founded eight new churches with the help of Book of Hope, beginning with the children's evangelization and then working with teenagers and working with families."
He says that's happening all over the country.
Bernardo says discipleship is the main concern within the new churches. He says, "Right now, we're working on a proposal for four new books the we will use in Brazil. And all these books will provide the necessary resources the church will use in discipleship in the schools."
The idea is to provide more engagement with new Christians to help them live the Word of God.
As the church grows, Bernardo says there's a desire to take the Gospel to reach Brazilians living abroad. "Last year we went to Paraguay where there are 1-million Brazilians living, and we evangelized about 4,000 people there."
They're also looking at reaching out internally. "We have 220 different natives living there, and not everyone has the necessary sources of evangelization yet, so we are working with this as well."
Book of Hope Brazil is also doing research in areas of the country that will help them adapt evangelism to meet specific needs like poverty, homelessness, drugs and other social issues.
