With foundation's help, Souza offers pastors "a voice of encouragement and hope" |
When learning to fly an airplane, a pilot must master core skills that include confidence and adaptability. Josias Souza, the Baptist Convention of New England’s pastoral leadership development coordinator and formerly an emergency flight instructor for an airline in Brazil, coaches pastors as they develop these skills while planting and strengthening churches across the six-state region.
Souza, his wife, and three children, moved to New England in 2004 to start Celebration Church in Charlestown, the oldest neighborhood in the City of Boston. With encouragement from First Brazilian Baptist Church of Greater Boston, Celebration Church (www.celebrationboston.com) attracts people interested in worship that Souza, who prefers “Joe,” describes as “lively, upbeat, and informal.”
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Joe Souza (left) visited Lierte Soares in February 2019 at Precision Valley Baptist Church, Springfield, Vermont. (Used with permission of Soares). |
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Despite COVID-19 the church outgrew its shared space in Charlestown and moved twenty miles north to Middleton. They are painting and reconstructing a large rented space with a parking lot in a strip mall on South Main Street and are developing it as a church facility––thanks in part to a $6,000 grant from the Baptist Foundation of New England’s Church Health Fund. They also launched satellite congregations in Stoughton, south of Boston, and in Northborough, where they meet at the BCNE office.
Souza divides his time between mentoring leaders for the three congregations and coaching other BCNE pastors, many of whom are of ethnic heritage, speak little English, work bivocationally often for low wages, and have difficulty adjusting cross-culturally.
Souza, 54, says he “enjoys helping pastors in whatever they’re doing. I have a heart for that type of ministry. . . . I’ve made every mistake in the book. I’m a survivor.” When asked Souza calls himself “a voice of encouragement and hope,” a coach, and a mentor for the next generation of New England church leaders.
One of those pastors, Lierte Soares, met Souza to discuss church planting possibilities. Soares, 41, was still seeking God’s call to missionary church planting. After Souza inspired him to take a risk, Soares and his family moved to New England in March 2014. In the past six years, Soares planted a Brazilian church in the Boston suburb of Newton and later merged it with struggling Framingham Baptist Church. Today the church counts 130 members (seventy fewer than before the pandemic). Since 2015, Soares also has been helping Precision Valley Baptist Church, Springfield, Vermont, grow from twelve to 120 people.
Soares calls his mentor “the bridge” and the “go-to guy” who made it possible for the two churches to develop healthy ministries. The pastor of multiethnic churches, who splits his time between two states, calls Souza “a shepherd who shares his vision with me.” When Soares was still “green from the inside out” as a church planter, Souza urged him to develop the skills and habits of confidence and adaptability that sustain him through difficulties.
“You need to have a Barnabas in your life,” Soares said of Souza, with reference to the Apostle Paul’s missionary partner and source of encouragement. Souza’s “heart is as big as he is himself,” he noted.
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A Word from the Executive Director |
Six ways it’s hard to be a small-church pastor
It is hard for a pastor to preach inspiring sermons, counsel effectively, survive financially, remain relevant, motivate others, and be faithful to God’s calling––especially when serving a small church. Why?
· People watch great sermons from great orators with a few clicks of a button. How can a small-church pastor possibly preach a sermon people want to listen to?
· Everyone has great problems and media psychologists think they can be fixed by a superficial broadcast. Why should anyone listen to what a small-church pastor says in a counseling session?
· A seminary education is expensive, requiring large student loans. Ministerial salaries, at least in small churches, are meager and it is increasingly common for pastors to have to work a second job. How can a small-church pastor survive financially?
· Celebrity pastors speak at all the conferences and little of what they say applies to small churches. How can a small-church pastor be relevant?
· Christians have adopted a consumer mindset. They want to be served, instead of serving others. Can a pastor really motivate people to serve?
· Satan hates and seeks to destroy pastors. When Satan succeeds, the integrity of all pastors is questioned. How can a small-church pastor remain faithful?
As hard as it is to be a small-church pastor, those who answer God’s call and continue in that role for a long time find that they can do nothing but be pastors. It’s their mission, burning passion, and fervent duty. We must offer them our prayers, support, and assistance.
That’s why the Baptist Foundation of New England invests in pastoral leadership ministries. We know it is hard to be a faithful and effective pastor of a small church and we want to help ease the burden. Join us in supporting pastors by giving to either the Church Health Fund or the Ministerial Benevolence Fund.
Dr. Terry W. Dorsett
Executive Director
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When a church seeks a pastor, they want the strength of an eagle, the grace of a swan, the gentleness of a dove, the friendliness of a sparrow, and the night hours of an owl. And when they catch that bird, they expect the pastor to live on the food of a canary.
– Source: Anonymous (https://viralbeliever.com/christian-quotes-on-stewardship/).
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