We are looking for people who will come to Portugal to join an expanding team. ECM is currently involved in the following areas:

Lisbon

Portuguese Bible Institute

The Portuguese Bible Institute, is situated on the edge of Lisbon. It’s goal is to equip Portuguese Christians to effectively exercise and multiply their ministries for the extension of God’s kingdom in Portugal and beyond. The college, under the direction of  Fabiano Fernandes, is launching a number of new in itiatives so that Portugese Christians can be equipped plant new churches.

At the college, most students have a full time secular job and come to study in the evenings, so commitment demands real sacrifice. They often go out from the college to minister in local churches and be involved in new church plants. Australians Matt and Louise George along with Alex Kowalenko are on the faculty of PBI, while Matt and Louise are also involved with another student ministry in Lisbon city.

Park of the Nations

Since 2005 ECM has been partnering with  a local Portuguese Church in a new church plant in a new urban suburb of Lisbon which was formed after Expo ’98 was hosted by Portugal. It’s called the Park of the Nations and is seen as the new face of Portugal, with a population of 20,000, and currently no Evangelical church.

The team is headed up by Pastor Tome Fernandes and includes ECM’ers Peter and Anna Crawford, currently in Portuguese language study, along with other long and short term missionaries from Brazil. The Oeiras Baptist Church has also been a great help as part of the team.

The team is praying for the first solid core group of people to move towards the beginning of a church, and needs to find a Portuguese couple who would be willing to serve in leading new converts in discipleship.

Rural Ministry

Mora

About 140 kilometers East of Lisbon is the town of Mora, surrounded by rural countryside. Here Victor and Bia Biscaia work, assisted by Dutch missionary couple Jan & Elisabeth Anema who live at Lavre about 30 kilometres away Jan and Elizabeth are hosts on a working farm where, as they describe it, 'the fields of the Alentejo meet wild nature and untouched riversides', and where the emphasis of their work is on social aid and counseling. You can find out more from their web site at www.anema.com.pt.

The Algarve – Southern Coast

Peter and Marianne Sluimer are based in the Algarve and pastor an international church. Their ministry is to the international community as well as to prisoners, but are looking in the long term to plant a church among the local Portuguese population.  A new meeting has started at the village of Monte Gordo, which the Sluimers are involved in, and hope it will be the beginnings of a new church.

Caldas da Rainha

ECM associate workers Alan and Celeste Pallister have ministered for a number of years at the church in Caldas da Rainha. They have a home that they are also using as a refuge along the lines of the L'Abri Fellowship for students and others seeking answers to life's questions.