Luke Simone has been part of our Welcome Church family for over 30 years, although you may not have seen him around very much recently! Why? He was a finance lawyer in London and New York before God called him to work among the least and the lost in Brazil.
Casa Cruzeiro
The work Luke started in a Favela (a slum) in Rio has steadily progressed from the first act of simply opening the doors of his living room almost a decade ago. When the neighbour’s rooftop could no longer support the number of people who were coming for prayer and to hear a simple Bible story, he and a friend established “Casa Cruzeiro” – a community centre and school grounded in the gospel and located at the highest point of the Rio slum that has become his home.
Luke and the small team now serve up to 200 children and teenagers (and their wider families) each week, offering a safe and welcoming space for vulnerable, marginalised and disenfranchised youth in a neighbourhood fractured by gang violence and poverty.
Why is this needed?
Many of the young people in the Favela leave school illiterate or struggle with even the most basic principles of maths and Portuguese. The school they’ve established in the heart of the community now has over 70 students (aged 5 to 75) providing essential tuition to the poorest, who are often failed by the school system. The teachers also provide counseling to the younger children who frequently show signs of trauma through abuse in their homes or the loss of family members due to gang violence.
As the young people leave school, the team gives additional support and career counseling for the next steps, together with an opportunity to offer places on pre-vocational courses, providing simple and practical steps that enable those they work with to be able to eventually provide for themselves and their families.
Alongside all this is the gospel, and they’ve had the incredible joy of seeing young people give their lives to Christ, get baptised and be discipled – no small thing in the Favela.
What does it look like to be on mission far from home?
Living in the Favela is not without risks. Gun violence and drugs are among the many day to day issues, alongside poverty, abuse and neglect. Despite all this, as Christopher shared in his preach last Sunday (quoting Paul from 1 Thessalonians):
“We were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thess 2v8)
Luke and the team’s overriding goal is to love and serve their neighbours, without an agenda, by sharing their everyday lives. They are aiming to live out the call of Christ day by day and to shine the light of Jesus in the darkness that is all around.
The work in this slum is very much a marathon rather than a sprint, but they are seeing lives impacted by the power of God with a goal of community-wide transformation – a break in the cycle of violence and brokenness faced by those on the margins. What Luke and the others have established is a “community within a community,” where disciples are made, relationships are strengthened and dignity is restored.
Welcome Church is on this mission too
Welcome Church takes mission (both at home and abroad!) very seriously. Luke doesn’t do this work alone!
As a church we have been, and we remain, very much part of Luke’s sending, with groups praying and raising financial support for the ongoing needs.
How YOU can get involved:
If you want to know more about this, or you’d like to to support Luke in this mission to Brazil there are several ways to do that:
1. Get the newsletter: If you want to receive a regular newsletter from Luke, please use this link to send an e-mail to let him know – he will add you to the list.
2. Join the prayer group: There is a prayer group from Welcome Church who meet to pray for Luke and Casa Cruzeiro regularly. If you want to join them, please also use this link to send an e-mail and let him know – details will then be sent.
3. Give Financially: as a church we give to Luke each month out of our regular giving, HOWEVER there are a number of people who have wanted to give directly (in addition to their normal giving to Welcome Church) – and this has made all the difference. If you’d like to give directly to this work (either a one off gift or a regular monthly amount) you can do that by giving it to Welcome Church, and letting us know it’s for Luke Simone. We can then claim Gift Aid on your gift (if applicable) and pass both the gift and any Gift Aid on to Luke.
Find out more
You can see more of Luke’s story by clicking here for a great video, but if you’d like to meet the man in person, he will be around this Sunday, at both the 9am and 11am meetings. I’ll be interviewing him briefly about his experiences in Rio and he’ll also be around to chat in person.
Here are some great photos from Casa Cruzeiro too:
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