In the last year, the PAZ church in Santarém has undergone a revolutionary change: what was once several different PAZ churches in and around Santarém has been radically united as one church with several campuses, or nuclei. We call it the Fusion.

Pastor Geraldo

The details of this huge fusion fell on the shoulders of Pastor Geraldo Batista, Santarém Base Leader and Head Pastor of Igreja da Paz in Santarém. He and his team of pastors led the year-long process that involved combining the pastors, resources, members and structures of already existing PAZ neighborhood churches into one city-wide church. The result has been extraordinary, for both the already large Central church and the other churches involved in the fusion, adding even more momentum to a move of God that will capture all of Santarém for Christ. Igreja da Paz in Santarém now has 40 services each Sunday, over 4,000 cell groups and an estimated 32,000 attending the cell groups! Consider how the church has unified in the following areas:

• Preaching

The same word is preached each Sunday in all of the 40 services held throughout Santarém. The leadership training TADEL is the same at all the nuclei (campuses). Each week a pastor develops his sermon and then distributes it to other pastors who preach at the nuclei (campuses). The local churches greatly benefit, hearing the same excellent messages week after week, personalized by the individual preaching pastor.

• Pastoral Staff

The pastoral staff of the local churches have been brought on board the general staff and now receive the same great teaching on disciple-making. They are also being personally discipled by key pastors at Central who are able to pass along the same MDA vision that has been so fruitful at Central church. This has made for a powerful pastoral staff full of gifted teachers, preachers and disciple-makers.



Pastor Geraldo leading the packed 7 PM service at Central

• Space

For years, Central Church has been running at full capacity, hosting 7 2-hour services each Sunday at their downtown campus. The need for more space has been a hindrance to the phenomenal growth. Before the fusion started, Central began renting a local Community Center to host an additional 5 PM service. This was costly and became a strain on the pastoral staff and ministry teams. Now, after the fusion, there are many options for a person wanting to go to a service at 9 AM, 5 PM or 7 PM (peak service times). Central remains packed while local neighborhood churches have seen a boost in their attendance as well.

• Vision

The vision of our PAZ Churches is clearly stated in the slogan: “All the world discipled – Every disciple a committed leader.” And just as Project AmaZon has the short-term goal of a total of 1,000 churches by 2014, Igreja da Paz in Santarém has the short-term goal of 120,000 disciples by 2014!



Model of the new Cathedral of Love

• The Future

To accomplish this vision, we’re going to need much, much more space. Igreja da PAZ in Santarém has been planning the construction of the Cathedral of Love, an impressive building with seating for over 10,000 people! The challenge has been given to the local church to give sacrificially in faith to see this great work happen! We are working on all the necessary preparations to have a groundbreaking ceremony before the end of the year.

And this is only the beginning because our vision is to continue to send fruitful, disciple-making teams from Santarém and plant them all over the Amazon and in the capital cities of Brazil. We will use the same biblically-based, fruit producing approaches (such as MDA and Social Assistance Ministries) currently used in Santarém to win Brazil for Christ!