FISHERS OF MEN

When the storm threw Marcio's small boat toward shore, he knew his life depended on swimming for it. Grabbing a plastic bag full of Gospels of John, he managed to make it to a nearby fishing village. The villagers ran to meet him. One of their families had died in a storm only the week before, they told him. Amazed by the stranger's calmness, an audience of 100 listened intently as Marcio explained that God had saved him for a reason. He had brought them a very special Book, written by a fisherman.

Marcio Garcia was a 20-year-old Bible student when he first had the vision of reaching Brazil's isolated fishermen with the good news of salvation. Uncertain whether this was from God, he shared his dream with experienced believers. Most encouraged Marcio to go ahead.

The first priority was to survey 5,600 miles of Brazilian coastline. With the help of Missionary Aviation Fellowship (MAF) Marcio eventually located 2,000 villages that had no knowledge of Jesus Christ. For the first 3½ years, he and his wife Damaris lived on a boat and managed to introduce Jesus to 62 fishing villages. Afterwards they based themselves among the fishermen and raised a family in very simple conditions.

Partners International helped Marcio set up the Evangelical Mission for Assistance to Fishermen, or MEAP, as it is abbreviated in Portuguese, in 1986, with an all-Brazilian board. "I looked for businessmen because they were committed to the Kingdom and not a particular church. Also, they were making business decisions every day.-The kind of help I needed. So I have a fiscal council, but I also have a mission committee, with pastors and missionaries."

Besides Partners International, MEAP enjoys strong ties with Pioneers and Operation Mobilisation. O.M. sends some of its trainees to do practical evangelism with MEAP. On one occasion they tented for two months in Parana and saw an entire fishing village come to the Lord. Besides sharing God's Word and planting churches, MEAP missionaries address medical and other emergency needs. On Canarias Island off the northeast coast they discovered widespread child abuse, and set up two children's centers and a youth center. OM Field Leader Humberto Aragao's church is helping to send a couple to work there.

MEAP focuses strictly on unreached subsistence fishermen who live in remote areas of the coast and islands. They don't go inland, and they don't go where there are churches to do the work.

Thanks to MEAP's wake-up call to Brazilian churches, the number of unreached villages has now been reduced from 2,000 to 400. The mission's own 56 full-time staff members are located in six main bases and 4 satellite bases. All work within a careful system of accountability. Hundreds of others volunteer short-term, including doctors and dentists. The ministry is totally indigenous and none of the finance raised for projects is kept for administration.

"We see a lot of spiritual warfare. Many of the islands are populated by black Africans with African religions. One village we went to practiced Candomble (occultic spirit worship). In two years we saw five churches planted there. In less than five years the area had 5,000 believers. When they met Jesus, the most important thing was deliverance."

Marcio remarks on the effect of Jesus' message on two different villages; one of which accepted the Word, and one that didn't. "If you visit them today you'd think you were on two different planets! The Christians have brought in sanitation, clean water, education. The other village has nothing."

Most of the 400 remaining unreached villages are in the most inaccessible parts of Brazil's extreme north, near the mouth of the Amazon. MEAP's dynamic director admits it isn't easy to find the right workers to live in such places: "There's no internet, McDonalds or supermarkets.--Just a lot of mosquitoes!" But he adds that their first goal is to make people aware that these people exist-"and we need to reach out to them! Not even the government has any contact with them!"

At least a third of Jesus' disciples were fishermen. It's easy to believe He has a special concern for Brazil's forgotten fishing communities--and all who serve as His "fishers of men"!

OM’s role in the Church is to mobilise people to share the knowledge of Jesus and His love with every generation in every nation. OM pioneers and leads initiatives to redeem lives, rebuild communities and restore hope in over 110 countries.