Manaus, Brazil

More than 100 people groups in Brazil have never heard the gospel, largely due to geography or policies that isolate them from the outside world. Traditional missionary strategy has been to go and live among them in remote jungle villages. During the last 20 years, God has been opening a new and unexpected pathway to these remote peoples: migration. Approximately 50% of Brazil’s indigenous peoples have migrated to the major cities of the Amazon region. An estimated 50,000 now live in the northern city of Manaus. World Team is committed to reaching these migrant populations.

The confluence of Cultures & Rivers Manaus is a bustling city with skyscrapers, universities, a rich history, vital commerce, and a population of two million people. It’s a developing urban center in the middle of dense jungles and enormous rivers. When driving the crowded boulevards or sipping coffee in one of many shopping malls, you would never guess the city is virtually inaccessible by road from the rest of Brazil. Almost everything and everyone enters and leaves Manaus by river or air. Its vital free-trade zone has brought businesspeople and job seekers from all over Brazil, including many indigenous groups from the jungles.

Our teams, as church multipliers, seek to cooperate with the local church in strengthening and multiplying indigenous churches and leaders in the city of Manaus and the surrounding region with the final aim of encouraging, mentoring, training, and equipping them to serve as indigenous church planters to the greater Amazon region.