Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
“How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” — Romans 10:15, NIV
My name is Vanessa Viotti; I serve God in Compassion ministry as Brazil’s National Director. I started with Compassion 11 years ago. In the past I had the honor to serve my country managing church partnerships in Brazil and after serving the Latin America Region as a Compassion program consultant.
During these years, I could see common characteristics in different cultures: The fields “are ripe for harvest” (John 4:35, NIV) and our heart burns with the vision of bringing the message of God’s love and communicating this love by implementing a child development center (CDC)! We praise the Lord for your vision and desire to make this dream a reality — for us it´s a pleasure be part of this.
Brazil is a country of many contrasts. It is true that we have rich and prosperous cities, but sadly many people are still living on the margins of society, in extreme poverty and totally vulnerable. This situation is a reality in Brazil’s northeast side, where we moved all our partnerships in recent years and finally moved the Compassion office.
Over the past 10 years or so, Compassion Brazil defined its strategy for this region, which has sought to establish partnerships with the churches where we have found idolatry and ignorance when it comes to our gracious God, and with it broken families, aimless teens, neglected and highly vulnerable children, diseases and misery.
In recent years, we established almost 130 new partnerships in these areas, with local churches that know their community and needs, because they live inside the same context. The churches in these locations are passionate and want to do more. However, the structure is limited — often it does not even exist. The goal is to implement a holistic child development program where children and adolescents have the opportunity to hear about God’s love. At child development centers, they are able to get to know His Word and also take part in activities aimed at their development of skills and abilities, strengthen relationship and have a healthy life through wise choices and medical care.
Therefore, the partnership to plant churches and CDCs in these regions has been a blessing, overcoming limitations and enabling the local church to serve the community with greater influence. Lives are open to the gospel seeing the church’s love in practical ways, where children are cared for and families are supported in their challenges.
Thus, we have seen the Lord’s church grow and establish itself as a milestone for a living and fruitful faith. God is glorified! The church, God’s powerful way of reaching a hurting world, is doing their job and attending to the Great Commission, and we are willing to serve the bride of Christ.
We are very grateful for your lives and your openness to join us in this mission, contributing so the gospel can reach these communities in a consistent and relevant way.
May the Lord bless you abundantly.
In Christ’s love,
Vanessa Viotti