André and Sonilde Wanderley
Equipping Missionaries for the Brazilian Sertão
The Mission to Brazil and equipping missionaries
Recruiting and equipping Missionaries for Brazil – Our passion is the evangelism of the Sertanejo and the minority peoples of the Northeast. We seek their empowerment through the biblical teaching across the region of the Sertão. With God’s grace, the churches in the Sertão will become steadfast in the Word and bear fruit for the glory of God. JUVEP is the major missionary development resource for the Sertão and we are stationed with and serving the Lord through JUVEP. We work to recruit and train new missionaries for cross-cultural assignments.
Equipping Missionaries in Brazil is a Priority
The JUVEP Mission is an interdenominational missionary agency that is working to alleviate the lack of Gospel knowledge and evangelical Christians in the Sertão region of Brasil. Many people here – the Sertanejos – are traditional Brazilians. Others, however, are minority groups. JUVEP’s concern includes the minority peoples of the Northeast of Brazil as well as in the less-reached nations of the world.
The Northeastern Sertão is the biggest monocultural mission to challenge of the Brazilian evangelical church. Evangelical presence in this remote area is between 5% and 6%. The vast majority of these are in the larger cities of the Sertão. Most small towns have no or no evangelical presence. The biggest mission to Brazil challenge is to reach the nearly 6,000 rural villages without any churches.
Minority People of the Northeast (Sertão)
In addition we have the challenge of the minority peoples of Northeast Brazil:
- 58 indigenous ethnic groups, an approximate population of 160 thousand indigenous, 31 without the presence of an evangelical church.
- 800 thousand to one million gypsies (known as Ciganos) live in Brazil. In the Northeast Gypsies are present in the nine states. Most of them are little or not evangelized
- There are about 1.17 million Quilombolas throughout Brazil. In the Northeast there are Quilombola communities in all states. As with Gypsies, there are few ministries working with quilombolas. The vast majority of communities are little or not evangelized.
We are committed to helping prepare the workers to evangelizing these people.
Northeast Brazil
Career Highlights
André Wanderley:
Equipping Missionaries – Teacher in Missions, Evangelism, Biblical Geography and Historical Books. Worked on maintenance, construction, vegetable gardening, led and assisted in travel. Mobilized and preached in churches in Altonia and in other cities in Northwestern Paraná, was also responsible for the students’ internships and weekend ministries.
Sonilde Wanderley:
Equipping Missionaries – Teacher for Christian Life, Theology, Bioethics, Christology and Soteriology, Synoptic Gospels, Phenomenology of Religion, Comparative Religions, Didactics and Mission, the Pentateuch, Sects and Heresies, Hermeneutics and Levitics / Hebrews. Also served as Treasurer, cook, academic coordinator, assisted in cross-cultural travel, mobilized and preached in churches in Altonia and in other cities in northwestern Paraná and Mato Grosso do Sul.
Our History - Equipping Missionaries
We are native Brazilian Nordestinos (of the Northeast). We met in 1999 and on April 1, 2003 we got married. Today we have two children named Julius and David.
André: I am the youngest of two brothers. I was born and raised in an evangelical Christian home. From an early age I was taught in the ways of the Lord. During my childhood and adolescence I attended a Presbyterian Church. Then at the age of 15 I understood and received salvation in Christ Jesus. After that I began to attend a Baptist Church. I was active in supporting the ministries entrusted to me.
Sonilde: I am the eldest daughter and was born and raised in a Catholic home. I was always very active in the Catholic church. That is, until I was 18 years old. Around the age of 15 I developed panic syndrome. After much struggle, pain and suffering I was healed through the Word of God. After this experience I began to seek God more through His Word. At 18 years of age after attending a Baptist Church camp I received Jesus as my only and sufficient Savior.
We have been married for 17 years. God blessed us with two children Julius (9 years) and David (4 years). We are a missionary family who have dedicated our lives, gifts, and talents to the service of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For many years our focus has been in recruiting and equipping missionaries for servie. So the nations may know Him and that He may receive all the glory due to His name!
From the beginning of our relationship we attended and served in our local church. In that place we developed our gifts and talents in the areas of teaching, preaching, discipleship and served in a welcoming ministry to new converts.
Our Calling - Equipping Missionaries to Brazil
Over the past few decades, we lived in four Brazilian states and also in Paraguay. More recently, over the past three years we discerned that the Lord has directed us to return to northeastern Brazil. There are serious and diverse needs in this region. The need for evangelism and training for the Northeastern church has become clear to us. Today, the Lord has called us to serve our Northeastern neighbors through teaching, training and missionary mobilization.
Since January 2019 we have been working in partnership with the JUVEP mission. We will remain as long as this is our calling from the Lord.
Mission Preparation
Before dedicating our lives to Kingdom work, we had a university education and professional jobs. André resigned from a good job as a Business Administrator (using his Business degree) and Sonilde resigned from the teaching job that used her Biology degree. Then we went to seminary.
We were sent to seminary by our Church, Baptist Emanuel from the interior city of Petrolina in the state of Pernambuco) . We attended the Bethany Evangelical Seminary (SEB), which was also in Petrolina (in 2004) to develop our ministerial formation. Our 4 year course in Theology and Missions was in boarding school format with full dedication of our time.
SEB gave us a deeper contact with the Evangelical Mission of Bethany (MEB) and in 2007 we did our internship in Belo Horizonte in state of Minas Gerais (MG) with Editora Betânia and “Together with Bethany Missions” (JUMIB). At the end of our internship we received an invitation to work with JUMIB
missionary mission in the big city of Campinas, in Sao Paulo state (SP). There we lived and worked for 3 years (2008-2010).
Off to the Big City
We did logistical work to support the cross-cultural missionaries who were already in the field and for those preparing to go to the field. André worked on building the base, preaching, and spreading missions to the churches of
Campinas and the region. He primarily mobilized new missionary projects. Sonilde worked at the mission agency’s secretariat, assisting with the finance and missionary logistics. She also supported preaching and mobilizing people from the churches of the region.
In 2009, still at JUMIB, we received the challenge to lead and coordinate the EIMB (International School Missions Bethany) where we worked and made several short-term mission trips along with EIMB students.
Paraguay
In 2010 EIMB transferred us to Paraguay. In January 2011 we moved to the city of Luque, Paraguay and there we coordinated the EIMB along with the missionary team. At the end of the year we were transferred to the Bethany Seminary and Bible Institute, (SEMIB) in ltônia (in Parana state), where we invested our lives in equipping missionaries for the next 7 years (2011 – 2018). Now in 2019 we began mission to Brazil service at JUVEP.
Special Needs for Wanderleys
- NOTE: Wanderleys are not paid by JUVEP and are dependent on financial supporters to enable their work.
- Intercessors who pledge to support us in prayer;
- Partners who help us financially so that we can continue our ministry full time;
- Strategic partners who are committed to spreading the word of our project and the needs in the Northeast of Brazil;
- For resources for our children’s school
- For health care resources
Wanderley Family Budget Needs
- Rent
- Food
- School for our children
- Health insurance
- Transportation
- Required Social Security Contributions
- Ministry Training Courses
- Estimated Value: $ 2,500.00 (monthly)
David and Julio Wanderley
Why Public Schools are to be avoided in Brazil
College educated parents want to ensure their children are able to be educated and prepared for the challenges of adult life. In the United States, many parents have carefully selected their residency based on the quality of the nearby public schools. In Brazil, there are no public schools suitable for college preparation.
The good news is private schools are common in Brazil and offer quality education at a modest price (~$125/mo. per student). Like bad schools in America, public schools are dangerous for the kids.
Letter from Julio
Hello, I’m Júlio and next March I will be 10 years old. I am the son of André and Sonilde and I have a little brother, Davi, 4 years old. My family is a missionary and that’s why I have lived in 3 different states in Brazil and outside Brazil, in Paraguay. I really enjoy studying and I always get good grades at school. I am currently in the 5th year of Elementary School.
Last year we moved from the state of Paraná to João Pessoa-PB, because of my parents’ missionary work with the Juvep Mission. The school where I studied in Paraná, was a school with Christian principles and while we prayed for our change, I made three requests to God: that we find a good place to live, a good church to congregate and a Christian school so that I could study . That was my heart’s desire and I asked God in faith. God answered the three requests! Today we live close to the school where I study, we go to a good church near our home and I am studying at Meta school, a school with Christian principles.
I am very happy at the school where I study! I have learned many good things and made many friends. Every day we have a devotional moment before classes start. We are studying the fruit of the Spirit, and this month’s theme is joy. I really like my colleagues and teachers and my desire is to keep learning more and more!
See you! Goodbye.
Photos of the Boys
Letter from David
Hi, I’m Davi! I am 4 years old and it is the first time that I go to school. I am very happy and I am already writing my name alone. I am learning letters and numbers. I like my classmates and teachers. As I said to my mom, my little heart is full of joy that I can go to school with my brother. It’s very good!
As I still don’t know how to write, my mom wrote this letter for me, but soon, I will write my own letters soon. Goodbye!
How to Support Wanderley's work in Brazil.
Our work is totally aligned with the needs of JUVEP. We serve whereever needed, whether supporting an upcoming mission trip, teaching classes or helping people. Pray for us to find the most important tasks to help JUVEP and to exercise them well.