January 29, 2001

Texas CLC forges relationship for social ministry in Brazil
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___The Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission has established a relationship with the largest evangelical Christian social ministry in Latin America.
___At its Jan. 19 meeting, the commission approved a three-year cooperative agreement between the Texas Baptist moral concerns agency and the Brazilian Baptist Reencontro Educational and Social Ministries.
___Texas Baptists will provide volunteer teams, prayer support and financial help through the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger. Reencontro operates six centers serving 40 low-income areas ("favelas") in metropolitan Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
___Ministries include two clinics, a day care center, an elementary school, a vocational and technical school, a shelter for street children, drug rehabilitation programs and food distribution.
___The historic First Baptist Church of Niteroi in Rio de Janeiro has sponsored Reencontro ministries for 29 years. Pioneering Texas Baptist missionary William Buck Bagby organized the church in his home in 1892, and Nilson Fanini, past president of the Baptist World Alliance, has been pastor there for 36 years.
___Reencontro will submit specific requests for volunteers to the Texas CLC, detailing the type of work, qualifications and equipment required, as well as dates and length of service.
___First Baptist Church of Niteroi will provide lodging for Texas Baptist volunteers at its encampment, about 12 miles from the church.
___"Reencontro needs volunteer doctors, nurses, dentists, optometrists and other health-care providers," said Nathan Porter, Texas Baptist CLC hunger consultant.
___The clinics provide 22 health care specialties and offer services from ultrasound and x-rays to electrocardiograms and mammograms.
___Volunteers also are needed to work directly with children and youth in the day care center, school, street children's shelter and center.
___The elementary education center at Boa Vista Hill for grades one to eight serves 278 children and their families. The shelter and ministry for street children provides health care, meals, education, counseling and art activities for children ages 6 to 18.
___Other volunteer opportunities include landscaping, construction and remodeling, as well as participating in food distribution. Reencontro provides hunger relief primarily by delivering food baskets to needy families. From 1,500 to 3,000 baskets are given away every 15 days.
___This year, $20,000 from the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger will help support Reencontro's hunger relief and development ministries. Texas Baptists will provide funds to Reencontro on a monthly basis through the Baptist World Alliance.
___The CLC coordinates the world hunger offering for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. In 1999, Reencontro received $10,000 from the Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger through the Baptist World Alliance.
___The Texas Baptist Offering for World Hunger is collected year-round. Designated contributions may be made through any BGCT-affiliated church or by sending gifts directly to the BGCT.

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