Leader's Library Project
THE LEADER'S LIBRARY PROJECT: WHAT IS IT?
As the federation of the Igrejas Reformadas do Brasil matures and grows, so does the number of office bearers. We have a growing number of pastors, elders and deacons. The Lord has graciously blessed this federation with very capable men who are faithfully expounding the Word of God every week to our brothers and sisters in Brazil and pastoring them on a daily basis.
Although these godly men are faithful in their work, there is no end to the maturing in the development of gifts and growing in the knowledge of His Word. A personal library is one of the essential tools to that end.
In Brazil, it is considerably more expensive to buy good theological books. In order to support our brothers who pastor in Brazil, the “Pastor’s Library Project” was launched in April 2014. It was more recently renamed the “Leader’s Library Project”, recognizing that elders, deacons and seminary students could benefit from this project as well.
Mission Aid sponsors this project which reimburses 50% of the amount paid for any new books purchased by a pastor, elder, deacon or seminary student for his personal library. In view of very limited libraries, this project has been contributing significantly toward the expansion of titles in the personal libraries of church leaders and seminary students in the IRB.
This project has been very well received and has been a great blessing to the church leaders in the IRB, and to the churches. A brother seeking this benefit must present a copy of the receipt of purchase, at which time he will receive the amount due.
Following are words of appreciation shared by some of our pastors:
Pr. Laylton (left) and Pr. Adriano Gana (right), among the first to benefit from the Leader’s Library Project (formerly known as Pastor’s Library Project)
Books are instruments of God. The Lord God wrote His commandments with His own finger and ordained that His Word be written. It was through the reading of Scripture that the Lord brought me a profound conviction of my sin and of my need for the Saviour Jesus Christ. This happened to me at 13 years of age and I was reading a Bible in my bed. My family was of papist confession. At that time, in 1986, I did not know anything of the Reformed faith and became a member of a pentecostal sect.
It was through books that I had my first contact with the Reformed faith. The date was April 5th of 1995. I was a theological student in a pentecostal seminary. The book was a work by Fred H. Klooster that had been translated into Portuguese (Calvin’s Doctrine of Predestination). This book was the first one I bought on my journey in search of knowledge of Reformed faith and which led me to reach one of the Igrejas Reformada do Brasil. Once more, the Lord God used books to lead me to getting to know His grace, the comfort that is only in Christ and a church which is faithful to His Word.
Today, by God’s grace, I serve the Lord as His minister. The Lord continues to use books as instruments in perfecting me for the ministry He has entrusted me with. And now I have more reasons to praise the Lord, for there are brothers and sisters who will help me and other ordained servants to have access to more books at a more accessible price.
I praise the Lord for the Pastor’s Library Project (PLP). I thank Mission Aid Brazil and the many supporters for this project.
I pray that the PLP may provide more books, real instruments of God, to be used by the Lord for the perfecting of those who are working in His great harvest here in Brazil.
~Pr. Adriano Gama
Pr. Elienai working out of CLIRE (left) and his personal library (right)
In 2013, after pastoring the Igreja Reformada in Cabo Frio for 10 years, I accepted a call from the Igreja Reformada do Grande Recife to work in a missionary project in coooperation with the Centro de Literatura Reformada (CLIRE). In this work, I minister speeches and courses on various topics, including in the area of office bearer training. I lead a group study on John Calvin’s Institutes and promote other events.
As soon as I started, I noticed that my library was insufficient in view of how broad the themes were in which I needed to minister, but I was grateful to the Lord because the mission project included a monthly allowance for the purchase of books. Now, with the Pastor’s Library Project, I am certain that I will be able to buy more books that will help me further the work in this missionary project. I am grateful to the Lord in moving the brothers and sisters in the U.S. and in Canada to cooperate in the advancing of the preaching of God’s gospel of grace in Brazil.
~Elienai B. Batista