It is 30 years since the Communist regime forced Fabiano to leave his home country of Mozambique with nothing. He was already serving the church there and was recognised by the African Inland Mission as a potential leader. They were his only contact on his arrival in Britain, knowing no English.
He immediately entered Moorlands College in Hampshire – learning Greek and English. Subsequently he obtained a degree at London Bible College and in 1988 married Suzana, who had emigrated from Mozambique to Portugal.
Diverted to Lisbon
Their heart was always for Mozambique, but owing to politics and also medical issues the family settled in Lisbon, with the role of teaching in the Portuguese Bible Institute (PBI), which offered a Bachelor’s degree in Theology. PBI had been founded in 1974 by American missionaries in a village close to Lisbon. Fabiano was subsequently ‘adopted’ by the European Christian Mission with a role of church planting. There are now many small evangelical churches in Portugal.
Even before the current European financial disaster, the economic situation was not good in Portugal and did not allow students to come to Lisbon to study, even with the low fees charged. So ‘extension courses’ were introduced, and for some years there have been several weekly evening classes (8.00–11.00pm) from Porto in the north to Algarve in the south, meaning long-distance travel for PBI lecturers.
Some graduates from these classes have become pastors and helped run extension courses themselves. To advance the standing of PBI, Fabiano returned to the UK from 2005–2007 to gain a PhD in Theology.
Five years ago, Fabiano and Suzana were at a crossroads. He was full-time director of PBI, travelling to lecture at extension courses and preaching most weekends. He had been a director for ECM Portugal for its initial 16 years and had also helped set up a church plant in the Park of the Nations, a fashionable estate on reclaimed land beside the river Tagus.
New vision
Now he had a vision for a wider teaching ministry. Pastors in Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) countries did not have their own facility of a Masters degree, so they tended to leave their native country to study elsewhere, never to return. To try to stop this haemorrhage, and encouraged by John Stott to do for Lusophone countries what he had done for English-speaking countries, Fabiano started focusing on the need for a Master’s Degree in Theology in Lusophone countries – but how to fit this in? It was decided to relinquish his role with ECM Portugal (although his support is still chan-neled through them). He has continued as director of PBI, but delegates most of the lecturing. Graduates from PBI now do the majority of the extension classes.
By 2012, Fabiano was concentrating on launching a Master’s degree in Applied Biblical Interpretation (MABI), a correspondence course with occasional weeks of intensive lectures. This course has received validation by the North West University in South Africa. It has involved visiting the seven Lusophone countries, but mainly Brazil, Mozambique and Angola, to initiate support and the introduction of this course, which is now established and going encouragingly.
For workers in churches
It was also recognised that there was the need for an easier course from which some may advance to the original BA course. Fabiano is now writing modules for this new course, particularly for the mobile schools in Portugal. This course consists of 16 modules each taking nine weeks spread over four years. It is less academic and more accessible for lay workers in the churches. It started in Portugal in September 2013. Fabiano is pressured to keep up the preparation in advance of the presentation. This has to be a priority as it will be a great asset to the small congregations in rural areas as well.
Over the last five years the pressures on Fabiano and Suzana have increased in many ways, rather than decreased. However the training programmes are bearing fruit. There are godly younger people with sound biblical understanding able to take responsibility – lecturing in PBI and pastoring church plants and preaching/leading small congregations and ministries There are now a number of evangelical congregations in Lisbon, all very small, allied to different denominations.
In need of encouragement
The new young pastor of Park of the Nations, Moises, needs spiritual encouragement, as they consider a new church plant in a poorer area of Lisbon. However Fabiano is having to reduce his own leadership role and will not be taking on an active role in this venture.
As a Portuguese national, and permanent resident, it is easy to think of Fabiano as supported adequately in his own country. In fact his support base is minimal as fund raising for his personal needs has been extremely low on his priorities. Also, most supporters are his original British contacts. The economic situation in Portugal is very difficult despite the vast expenditure by the EU on infrastructure. Finance has always been a problem. Despite this, thankfully Fabiano’s own children have found jobs and they are both active in their churches. Suzana works on the financial administration of PBI, the church, and ECM.
Please pray for them as a family, for Portugal and the Portuguese world. This is a strategic work for the establishment of faithful congregations that has grown beyond its own resources but is not beyond the resources of our God.
