A special police station:
São Paulo police chief donates food
and the New Testament

Deputy police chief Dr Wanderley Afonso da Costa Júnior is the driving force behind the Christian outreach work of his police station. Sao Paulo, Brazil. Photo: BS Brazil (BRA02PC-4)

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — The 73rd Police Station in the Jaçana area of São Paulo is bringing God’s Word to the local community in a number of special ways. Even outside its door, the presence of God is made known through an illuminated sign proclaiming, ‘In God We Trust’. The Christian witness continues inside the station in the form of daily services and a weekly mass.

When Dr Wanderley Afonso da Costa Júnior joined the station as deputy police chief, this outreach work had a very strong impact on him. At that time, he had no strong religious beliefs, but he soon became curious about why the station’s evangelicals always seemed so joyful. He discovered that their joy stemmed from the Word of God, and was prompted to join the local Assemblies of God congregation.

Dr Afonso da Costa Júnior has in turn become one of the driving forces behind the station’s outreach work. His particular ministry is to give rice, beans and a pocket-sized copy of the New Testament to everybody who makes an incident report while he is on duty.

Combine

He was inspired to introduce this initiative when he realised that simply spreading the Word of God was not sufficient. For him, it was important to “combine the Word of God – spiritual food – with rice and beans – physical food and symbolic of Brazilian culture” in order to really reach out to needy people locally.

After initially funding the work himself, he now receives food donations from friends and local businesses totalling around 400 kilos each month, and is supplied with copies of the New Testament by the Bible Society of Brazil.

People react to the gifts, he says, with a mixture of surprise and joy. Most importantly, the gifts act as an initial point of contact, allowing him to speak words of comfort and hope. In the case of people who feel that they do not need the food, he encourages them to take it anyway and share it with others, thus “multiplying the act.”

For Dr Afonso da Costa Júnior, the main motivation for his ministry is the desire to share with others the joy he discovered in the Word of God: “Through the teaching of Jesus, I try to convey the same joy to everyone I come into contact with.”

A longer version of this article appeared in A Biblia No Brasil, July-September 2002. (WR 372/11 - 11.02)