The biblical metanarrative reveals an absolute truth that the Triune God is the Lord over human history. The understanding that God, in all His might and majestic wisdom, orchestrates events in human history, is fundamental to all reflections on courses of events as they unfold in human history. The biblical narratives are testimony to this reality. One of the many joys of being a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ is that believers can observe series of events from the past, and of the present, with God as their author and orchestrator.

Historic events, as they progressively occur among all people group, tribes, nations, and tongues, do not happen by accident or chance as some may argue. The exclusivity of divine providential sovereignty over history must be acknowledged. The story of the rise of biblical counseling as a movement in Brazil is an example of God’s providential dealings among Brazilians. In a cursory view, this article presents an observatory account of God’s work in the rise of the biblical counseling movement in Brazil.

OIC Coordinators and Associate Teachers

In previous articles about the work of Overseas Instruction in Counseling (OIC) in Brazil and its four Brazilian Coordinators, we have established that psychology and a humanistic worldview permeate the Brazilian society. Christians believe that God’s revelation in His Word is the fountain from which flows all things that pertain to life and godliness (2 Pet.1:3-4; 2 Tim. 3:16-17). However, prior to the beginning of the biblical counseling movement, Brazilian pastors and Christians did not resonate with the authority and sufficiency of Scripture as the solution to the fundamental problem of the human life.

By divine providence, Jay E. Adams (1929-2020) pioneered nouthetic counseling in the United States and became the father of modern biblical counseling in the late 1960s. Adams re-asserted to American pastors and the church, the primacy, authority, and sufficiency of God’s Word as the solution to the innate problem of mankind. Adams’s vision birthed NANC (the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors), which later became ACBC (the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors). Pastors Randy Patten, Tim Turner, Bob Smith, and Bill Goode’s adoption of Jay Adam’s nouthetic counseling was critical to the development of NANC and the establishment of a training center at Faith Baptist Church in Lafayette, Indiana.

Sometime between 1988 and 1989, two of Jay Adams’s works, Competent to Counsel and The Christian Counselor’s Manual, were translated into Portuguese as Conselheiro Capaz and Manual do Conselheiro Cristão, and they were published by Fiel Editora (Fiel). In 1989, Fiel invited Jay Adams to hold the first biblical counseling conference in Brazil. This monumental conference was an initial exposure to biblical counseling for many Brazilian pastors.

Furthermore, influenced by Jay Adams and the biblical counseling movement at Faith Church, David Smith introduced biblical counseling as a degree, the first of its kind, at Palavra da Vida (Word of Life) Seminary in the late 1970s. For the first time in Brazil’s history, pastors were being specifically trained on how to apply the Scriptures as the solution to the Brazilian dilemma. Notably, Maria Cecilia became very instrumental in assisting Smith with making biblical counseling resources primarily available online at Conexão Conselho Biblico to Brazilian ministers and churches. Hence, the first degrees in biblical counseling were awarded in Brazil at Word of Life in 1990. This historic moment was graced by David Powlison (1949-2019) and Edward T. Welch. As such, by the end of the twentieth century, biblical counseling had begun to gain more momentum in Brazil.

A critical figure who propagated biblical counseling in Brazil in the late 1980s was Bill Moore. Moore had been a missionary in Brazil since his late twenties. He served as a missionary to the Yanomami Indian tribe of the Amazon and later became a church planter and founder of Associação Brasileira de Conselheiros Bíblicos (ABCB). This organization is currently one of the major biblical counseling organizations in Brazil. Having introduced Moore to biblical counseling in 1983, Randy Patten, the director of NANC at the time, trained Moore at Faith Church in Lafayette.

Remarkably, Moore learned firsthand the hope found in God’s Word to comfort the broken hearted, through experiencing the excruciating pain of losing his very young daughter on the mission field. His exposure to biblical counseling further solidified his conviction that the Word of God is sufficient for the various storms of life. Furthermore, in 1987 Moore particularly observed that Brazilian pastors and Christians were falling prey to integrationist practices and humanism. This problem became a motivation for him to propagate biblically based counseling. So, following this calling and desire, he began a Gospel-centered ministry that prioritized biblical counseling as a ministry focus. This ministry grew to become Igreja Batista Nova Aliança(New Covenant Baptist Church) in Campinas, São Paulo.

In his memoir, Who? Me? God, Are You Talking to Me?, Moore stated that words from the Apostle Paul to the Colossian Church defined the purpose of his ministry to the Brazilian Church. Paul wrote: “see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of this world, and not according to Christ” (Col. 2:8). For Moore, this Colossian verse was a mandate to summon Brazilian pastors and Christians to fight the battle against psychology and humanism that has infiltrated Brazilian society. For Moore, it is pertinent that the Brazilian church fight the battle against the infamous secular counseling.

In addition, during one of his furloughs, Moore was introduced to Biblical Counseling Foundations (BCF). BCF is known for their significant resource for counseling: Self-Confrontation: A Manual for In-depth Discipleship. John C. Broger developed this resource, and it was published in 1978. BCF’s Self-Confrontation manual provided a Scripture-based, systematic way to address man’s problem. Moore found this resource particularly invaluable and so he incorporated his training at NANC/ACBC and Faith Church with Self-Confrontation material in his ministry in Campinas. As his reputation grew, Moore was invited to teach and established biblical counseling degrees at the Regular Baptist Seminary in Vila Lageado, São Paulo. He also travelled around Brazil teaching the Self-Confrontation method for counseling.

Flávio Ezaledo, President of ABCB

By 1987, Moore had three visions for his ministry in Brazil: first, training Brazilian pastors, missionaries, and lay leaders in biblical counseling or in-depth discipleship; second, establishing a biblical counseling center in the church; and third, establishing a biblical counseling association. This vision led to the establishment of ABCB with Flávio Ezaledo as the founding President, who also taught at Word of Life Seminary. The founding board of ABCB included Moore’s students, Fernando de Sousa, Pier Roberto Luigi, and Renato Mincherian, and Brazilian pastor Ricardo César Pereira. While Moore has stepped down from the leadership of ABCB, he is still involved in the propagation of biblical counseling in various Bible institutes and among Brazilian pastors, elders, and lay leaders, as he has made about 110 missionary trips to date, since his official retirement in 2004.

As can be seen, the Fiel Conference, the Word of Life Seminary, and Bill Moore’s work were critical to the rise of Biblical counseling in Brazil, along with the work and support of Brazilian pastor Wadislau Martins Gomes, who had studied under Jay Adams, Ed Welch, and David Powlison at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF). Notably, Word of Life propagated biblical counseling as an interdenominational institute. Moore, in collaboration with BCF, propagated biblical counseling through the Regular Baptist Seminary, while Gomes worked with the Presbyterian Church of Brazil to this end.

Another critical piece displaying God’s providential work at the dawn of Biblical counseling in Brazil was the printing press. In addition to Conexao Conselho Biblico, a predominantly online resource and Fiel Editora, as mentioned earlier, Núcleo de Treinamento, Recursos e Aconselhamento, (NUTRA) are major publishing houses that have risen to be influential in making biblical counseling resources available to Brazilian churches.

Jayro M. Cáceres, who also studied at Word of Life Seminary, is the Senior Pastor at Igreja Batista Pedras Vivasin São Paulo. Cáceres and his son, Davi, began biblical counseling training at their local church. The Cáceres understood the impact published resources can have on a movement, therefore, in 2008 NUTRA was established as a means for making biblical counseling resources available to Brazilians. Since its founding, the organization has expanded to be a primary biblical counseling publishing house and a training center in Brazil.

Furthermore, being the sixth most populated country in the world, there is a lot of ground to cover in Brazil. Therefore, Tiago Wagner, through his partnership with Overseas Instruction in Counseling’s ministry, began implementing OIC’s Church Leadership Training curriculum for training biblical counseling trainers at his local church, United Bible Church, in Novo Hamburgo-RS. Tiago’s vision and goal is to train trainers in biblical counseling in order to reach a greater demographic of Brazilians, which he has furthered by working with OIC to establish training centers across Brazil since 2018.

In conclusion, organizations like Word of Life, Fiel, ABCB, NUTRA, and OIC have been a major driving force of biblical counseling in Brazil, along with others. This article does not present an exhaustive account of the movement, for there are other persons, ministries, and Christian institutes like SEBI (the Society for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies) that are rising to the challenge and fighting the battle to help Christians embrace biblical answers for the various issues of life.

Furthermore, as a disclaimer, this article is not intended to provide a critical edition of the various ministries and methods each organization imbibed. As stated from the onset, the intention is to provide the public with an overview account of the evidence of God’s providence in bringing about the biblical counseling movement to the church in Brazil. The various organizations mentioned above are striving to work together to form a coalition that fosters accountability.

Finally, a Brazilian government-recognized biblical counseling certificate is a major strategy these organizations are waiting on God to establish. The ability to certify biblical counselors, alongside the printing press, will be an invaluable tool in the effort to present the hope of the gospel of God to Brazilians. God began a movement in the late twentieth century that will loosen the enemy’s stronghold on Brazilian souls. It is certainly most exciting to observe to where the Lord has brought the movement through the faithfulness of His committed servants thus far. Therefore, the future of biblical counseling in Brazil is very encouraging because God reigns, and because God will continue His work in His people to bring about His good eternal purposes for them.

Soli Deo Gloria!!!

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