In 2011, the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil marks 50 years of continuous mission among the indigenous peoples of Brazil.
A book, A Bridge Between Worlds, will be published this year that details the gathered experience and knowledge of the 50 years of mission among the indigenous, 28 of which were coordinated by the Council of Mission Among the Indigenous (COMIN), according to the council.
In March, 1961, two missionary works began, one among the Rikbaktsa, in Mato Grosso, and the other among the Kaingang, in Toldo Guarita, in the northwest of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, the evangelical church said.
The latter has completed 50 years of uninterrupted service. The other seven areas of mission work (in the Amazon region and in the south of Brazil), were created over the last 30 years.
The evangelical Lutheran church’s mission is reconciliation among and with the indigenous people. The challenge, the church said, is overcoming conflicts of interests and of rights that historically have placed minorities against minorities, including the indigenous minorities and small farmers, blacks, and others.
The challenge is to promote, with an attitude of dialogue, intercultural respect and the building of relationships of justice and of peace on behalf of a multiethnic and multicultural society, it said.
The church said it has received a lot of recognition for its reconciling position and courage, from both government and community organizations in Brazil, as well as from sister churches overseas. Public and private schools, universities, civil and religious entities look to the consultantship and competence of the council for their formation in ethnic-cultural diversity, it said.