Encontrao Movement obtains huge tent for Evangelical campaigns

Edelberto Behs, CURITIBA, Brasil, January 16, 2004

The Zero Mission of the Encontrao Movement (ME) has obtained a huge tent in order Taxi Heathrow Airport to evangelize as Jesus did, traveling from one place to another, spreading the Good News to the most isolated parts of the country.

The enormous blue and yellow tent, which can house 1,500 people, was made in Joinville in the state of Santa Catarina. The project, known as the Urban Tent Mission, is not looking for the funds to buy a truck to transport the tent with seats for six.

The Friends’ of Mission, who support the ME, have collected 75 percent of the US$17,000 they need to buy the truck. “There is great enthusiasm to support this project,” said ME’s Continuous Educational Coordinator Asta Züge.

When the truck is ready the ME will be able to travel and hold meetings in those parts of the country that the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession of Brazil (IECLB) does not usually reach given its conventional parish structure. The IECLB forms part of the ME.

The tent has already been set up twice. The first time was in Vila Nori, in the state of Curitiba on November 8-9.

The idea was born in the regional ME meeting in Mafra, Santa Catarina in March last year. It was a collective dream, said Asta.

The idea is not new. On a smaller scale the parish of Matias, a neighborhood in Canoas, in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre, has been using a tent for more than two years. “We set up the tent in neighborhoods where the Church does not have a presence and we begin to call the people,” said local pastor Paulo Gilberto Böhm.

This tent is much smaller, with the capacity for 150 people. The parish provides all the necessary infrastructure, benches, lighting etc. The tent remains in a determined spot for a week to 10 days. “In this time, the parish practically moves to the tent,” said the Pastor.

When we announce that the tent will be set up, the entire parish mobilizes, from women to young people. More than 100 leaders participate, he added.

Böhm warns, however, that continuity is decisive. “We rent a meeting room or we ask for a garage to sep on bringing people together, to hold worship services and Bible studies,” he said.

Once the transportation is in place, Mission Zero plans to travel Brazil with the tent that will also serve to give Evangelical support to already established communities or to hold mass Church events.