Flipping Burgers in Brazil

Laís is the daughter of one of our MB pastors here in Brazil. During a ten-day mission training program, she felt a calling to deepen her faith and consider full-time ministry. It was during those ten days that she met Maximiliano, a young man also pursuing a life in ministry. After falling in love and recognizing that God was inviting them to walk together, Laís and Maximiliano were soon married. 

In 2022, the newlywed couple was accepted into further mission training to discern their future in long-term ministry. To help cover their expenses, they began making sweets and selling them. This not only helped them financially but also revealed some latent cooking abilities!

While the couple was in training, our Brazilian MB mission agency was invited to assist in planting fourteen new churches in the region of Mato Grosso do Sul. However, funding was not readily available to send church planters. 

During a conversation with a pastor from the region, I learned that he was about to shut down the successful burger restaurant he had opened during the pandemic. Then, we had an idea: Could this marketplace opportunity be used for planting churches?

A proposal was made by our mission agency to support this initiative, raising funds to provide the necessary equipment, and have Laís and Maximiliano use the business to start a house church. By April 2023, the couple had moved to the city of Naviraí in that region to begin planting their first church and flipping burgers!

Since then, they have been regularly gathering people for prayer, worship, and Bible study. Their approach to church is very familial, with a strong emphasis on gathering friends for meals and fellowship. They call this style of church “Time at the Table.” So far, they have a group of eighteen people who gather weekly to foster relationships and deepen their connection with the Lord.

Laís and Maximiliano now dream of growing the church community and developing the restaurant to a point where it can support their ministry and enable them to become self-sustaining. They already have hopes to start planting a second church!