The Hope Impact project came in 2007 with one main goal: to share the message of the Bible through the free distribution of books. Over the years, the project has become the means for many people to change their lifestyles and outlook on the world because of the content of these publications.
However, it takes Adventists to dedicate part of their time to get these books into the hands of those who need to receive them. One of the people dedicated to this mission is Sergio Fernandes. From Monday to Friday, he takes care of the maintenance of the Adventist Church's South American headquarters building in Brasília, in the Federal District. However, in his spare time, he seeks to approach those who do not yet know Christ so they can understand the message of the Bible.
“We are doing the church planting project in Luziânia,” Fernandes says. The term “church planting” translates into the implantation of a new church where Adventists are not present. The purpose is for the residents of Parque Mingone II and Marília neighborhoods, in Luziânia, Goiás, to have an Adventist congregation so they can participate in programs and receive people interested in learning more about the Bible.
Currently, the location hosts a 20-night outreach program. With that, three people have already been baptized. The initiative will be completed next Sabbath, October 30, when the group will go out to the streets of the neighborhood to deliver copies of the book Esperança Além da Crise (English, “Hope Beyond Crisis”). This is also the date that Adventists in South America will use the available means to present friends with the same work at Hope Impact.
At the church's South American headquarters, each employee received 80 books to make their own impact. Added to them, there will be more than 23 million copies distributed in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
Hope Beyond Crisis
“We hope that people will read, be motivated by this message of hope, and also be able to share this same message of hope with other friends,” points out Pastor Stanley Arco, president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church for eight countries in South America.
So far, according to Pastor Luís Gonçalves, the evangelist for the same territory, nearly 400 million books have been distributed in the last 14 years, in Portuguese and Spanish. In addition to the physical version, Esperança Além da Crise and other titles are also available in digital and audio versions. They can be accessed for free at book.esperanca.com.br
The work delivered this year was written by evangelist Mark Finley and aims to alleviate the suffering of people who experience the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have lived in a time of crisis for some time now, but with the arrival of the new coronavirus pandemic, this crisis has increased. And we understand that there is something that goes beyond this crisis—something more important than the crisis, more important than the pandemic—so we understand that even being in a pandemic, we can have hope that goes beyond what we see and feel”, says Gonçalves.
This article was originally published on the South American Division’s Portuguese news site
