Amazon Hope is a work that aims to share the gospel by all available means and, if possible and appropriate, to acquire its own ship. This is done in collaboration with other organizations in Brazil that already have transportation to reach the least reached populations.

Márcio is the head of OM in Brazil. He was encouraged by the visit to Logos Hope in 2019, when more than half a million people visited the ship and heard about Jesus. "We are already thinking about whether Logos Hope could come every year," he explains. "At one of our meetings, a person suddenly came to the meeting and said, 'We need a boat in Brazil.' I immediately said to her, 'Okay, Amazon Hope. We're doing an Amazon Hope here!' However, we didn't have the means to even think about a boat, as it's very expensive. So the thought fell asleep again."

When OM's annual Global Challenge Conference was held in Brazil in 2023, the team invited Lawrence Tong, the director of OM International, to attend. "When we sat together at breakfast, he said: 'I have a dream that we have five ships around the world,'" Márcio recalls. "I said, 'Okay, we only need two more now.' And Lawrence said, 'No, we need three because we have two,' and I just said, 'Doulos Hope, Logos Hope, and Amazon Hope.' He immediately said to me, 'Ok, go to the Amazon and try to figure out what's going on and what we can do!'"

Getting Started

This first voyage took place in the summer of 2024, using a ship owned and operated by the Bible Society of Brazil. From the city of Belém, at the gateway to the lower Amazon region, the boat visited the island of Marajó. As it was a fact-finding trip, the team wanted to visit three different towns and villages on their five-day trip to see what kind of work would be most effective in those areas and what kind of people they would meet.

One ethnic group they met were the Quilombola, descendants of African slaves who now have their own community and culture in the Amazon. They are one of six ethnic groups that live there and have had little contact with the gospel so far.

"In some of the places we visited, people have a low quality of life," says Márcio. "Marajó is the most difficult area in all of Brazil, with the lowest HDI* in the country. The hardships we encountered there were truly considerable, and the light of Jesus is not to be seen. The people there do not know how to use the existing natural resources, they have no funds, but there are many drugs, prostitution, child prostitution and also human trafficking. We visited them, offered food, literature, dental care, and other professional services—and shared the gospel with many of them."

In a village, they showed the film Facing the Giants. The team then explained what it means to follow Jesus and urged people to come forward if they wanted to know more. "When I extended the invitation, more than 40 people came forward and made the decision to accept Jesus Christ," Márcio says enthusiastically. "And the village is not an easy place. It is a very difficult area with idolatry and dark religions at the heart of the community. It was incredible!"

Planning for the future

The next trip was in November 2024 and further trips are planned for July 2025, right after the Global Challenge Conference, and for August 2025, where there is room for 35 participants. Márcio hopes that 25 of these positions will be filled by people from overseas and the rest by Brazilians. Since the journey is limited to six hours and Portuguese is the main language, translators are not needed for the local employees – only for the foreign employees English-Portuguese translators are needed.

"There are some places we would like to visit," explains Márcio. "For this we would have to make a two-day journey on the river and communication in these places would also be difficult for us. Of course, we can look for translators, even in case we find people deep in the jungle. Maybe we'll also discover natives in the Amazon rainforest and we want to reach them too."

The long-term plan for this project is that the Amazon Hope is constantly on the move – just like the 'big' OM ships Logos Hope and Doulos Hope. Half of the staff is to consist of full-time employees, the other half of short-term participants. "The Amazon Hope is not just a ship, it is a complete work for the vast Amazon region," Márcio affirms. "God will use ships, God will use boats, God will use planes and cars, whatever God wants to use. For example, we have already been offered by a community to use their seaplane to help. We also want to buy two small motorboats, each of which can accommodate 24 people, so we can go on trips that last two or three hours, maybe longer. Each trip will cost the equivalent of between 17,000 and 20,000 euros. But a ship would cost a lot more, so let's start small."

Fruitful partnerships

To support the ongoing work, a new team has been formed in Belém. A partnership has also been established with the above-mentioned church (Church of God), one of the largest denominations in Brazil, which shares the dream of working in the Amazon. The community has offered support, tools and staff who go to the areas visited by the river work and live there to continue the work started there.

Pray for the provision of finances for the project and for people who will embrace the vision and get involved.
Pray for guidance for the project leaders to make the right decisions so that good results are achieved.
Pray for the new team in Belém that God will send good workers so that their numbers and work will grow.
Pray for the six unreached ethnic groups that this ministry hopes to reach, that they will be open to the message of the gospel.

*Human Development Index