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06-99
BRAZIL
"Pastor, please don't leave!"
Igreja Presbiteriana do Brasil pastor Ceny Tavares arrived
in the town of 40,000 in 1980, to take over a church with 46 members.
Today, the church has 1,000 members, an attendance of 1,500 and has
planted 13 new churches. Ceny has now decided to move to Canada in 2001 as
a missionary, planting churches there. When informed of his decision, the
town council wrote to him, asking him to reconsider his decision to leave;
the police arrested him, and accused him (jokingly!) of treason and
desertion, and held him in jail for a short time (that was their way to
demonstrate how much they would miss him); locals hung banners in the
streets with the words "Pastor Ceny, please don't leave!"; the
mayor called Ceny to his office, closed the door and asked how much 'the
Canadians' were paying him, then offered to double his pay to remain in
the town as 'Special Assistant of the Mayor'. When a town shows such
appreciation for its church planters, it is a sign that it has been truly
transformed by the gospel.
Source: Church Planting Canada, fax (+1) 604
502 1667 and www.jesus.org.uk/dawn
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