There is a great interest for tentmaking in Brazil, says Gustavo Borges. Last week he presented tentmaking to hundreds of people at a major mission conference in Brazil. Photo: Tent International
My dream is to see Christians professionals and students from Brazil move to other nations to glorify God by making a difference in the world, says Gustavo Borges.
He is one of the key people behind Tent Brazil, Tent International´s latest start-up.
The new national Tent-branch was presented at Congresso Brasileiro de Missões (CBM), the major mission conference in Brazil held in the end of October. Tent´s booth at the conference was one of the best attended. Representatives from Tent also had three seminars on tentmaking at the event.
The official opening of Tent Brazil took place during a GO Equipped course in Belo Horizonte November 2-4. The course had 27 participants and many of them are ready to move to other nations in the months and years to come.
Great interest
The interest for tentmaking is great. Tent Brazil will now focus on developing and providing services that will enable us to send great numbers of Christian Brazilians to other nations, says Gustavo Borges.
He attended a GO Equipped course in the US a few years ago. Since then he has dreamt of making the tentmaking vision know among Jesus-followers in Brazil. The planning of Tent Brazil started one year ago.
Attractive for new groups
Borges believes that the tentmaking model will attract new groups of people to be engaged in missions.
There are many believers who do not feel called to be traditional missionaries. They may still have a desire to serve God by using their professions in other nations, says the Brazilian missions- and business entrepreneur.
In Brazil´s capital, Brasilia, he has started a café and restaurant where the main aim is to reach out with the gospel. He and his wife are open to do new start up in other countries as well if they sense that God is calling them to do so.
Filling a gap
Gustavo says that several Brazilian mission agencies have spoken about tentmaking the past years. There is still a lack of a tailor-made resource centre for professionals and students.
Some agencies have seen tentmaking more like an opportunity to solve problems with fundraising. We will aim at pointing out how tentmaking is a Biblical model for doing missions that has been used since the times of the apostles and until today. Throughout history the Gospel has often been brought to new places by professionals or by people seeking to do missions, says Borges.
By Steinar Opheim