From one archipelago to another, a Portuguese global missionary partner is employing the same church-planting skills in islands separated by thousands of miles.
“Because why would I wait?”
IMB missionary Bethany Sharp leads a session during a missions training school in Lisbon. The school trains and equips missionaries for cross-cultural missions service. IMB Photo
Portuguese believer Rebeca Couto asked herself this question before deciding to immediately use the ministry tools she acquired through a missions training school led by International Mission Board missionaries Jonathan and Bethany Sharp and their teammates.
Rebeca is preparing to move to Japan to serve as a global missionary partner (GMP).
Rebeca is from Terceira, an island that’s part of the Azores Islands, an autonomous region of Portugal. Bethany said it is one of the least evangelized areas of Western Europe.
“I can’t imagine going to Japan and being effective without the training I just went through,” Rebeca told Bethany. “I feel light years ahead of where I was. I now know what to do.”
Participants from two groups of a missions training school hosted by IMB missionaries pose for a photo during an afternoon they spent putting into practice what they learned in morning sessions. IMB Photos
The emergence of Immersion
The kind of training Rebecca experienced is a result of true collaboration across continents and started with Brazilian Baptists.
Brazil has emerged as a major missionary sending force, second only to the United States in sending evangelical missionaries. Many Brazilians have come to Europe, but it is often not easy.
A Brazilian sending agency, Junta de Missões Mundiais (JMM), recently reached out to IMB leaders about opportunities for partnership in Europe, expressing difficulties that many Brazilian missionaries face, including the lack of teams to join and a lack of missionary training for the European context.
The result is the Immersion Mission School, an IMB/JMM partnership that has helped bring encouragement and renewal to missionaries on the field.
In April 2025, the Sharps and their teammates, who are Brazilian GMPs, hosted their first church-planting and missions training. Most of the participants were Brazilians already living in Europe. Two were in Brazil considering a call to missions, and one was from Colombia.
The Sharps and their teammates hosted a second training last October, and this training was trilingual. Missionaries from the Middle East, Portugal and Spain joined the fall group. These missionaries serve in Spain, the Balkans, Portugal and Finland.
The month prior to arriving in Spain, the missionaries took classes online to prepare. Once arriving in Lisbon, the missionaries spent the time learning about the biblical role of missionaries. After classes in the morning, participants went into the community to put into practice what they learned. The missionaries also worshiped with a house church.
As part of the mission school, they developed a 21-day mission plan, and after the month-long training in Lisbon, the participants embarked on the three-week practicum. During the three weeks, they continued to meet online for encouragement, problem-solving and to pray and review case studies. They also started a WhatsApp group where they continue to encourage one another.
Top left: IMB missionary Jonathan Sharp, far left, listens as a participant shares during a missions training school session. Top right: Missions training school participants pause for a photo. The missionaries came to the training, hosted by IMB missionaries and global missionary partners, to become equipped in the missionary task. Bottom left: Missions training school attendees participate in a Bible study. Bottom right: Missions school participants and global missionary partners share a meal after a day of classes. IMB Photos
In the October training, the missionaries had 232 gospel conversations, and six people accepted Christ over the course of 10 outings, with 118 people being open to hearing more.
For the three-week practicum, Rebeca went home and immediately set to work.
On her island of 60,000 people, there are three small evangelical churches with a combined attendance of 200. Rebeca invited members of the churches to come together for evangelism training. She’s hosted two training sessions, and 20 people attended. Rebeca taught them how to tell their story, share the gospel and pray. They are going on biweekly prayer walks to a part of the island that is 30 minutes from the closest evangelical church. During their prayer walks, they’ve already found two people interested in participating in a discovery Bible study.
“I’m only here until May, so how am I investing in people and passing it on and catching the vision and giving them the tools and equipping them, so that my island will be reached as I go out to Japan?” Rebeca told Bethany.
Bethany said, as someone who served in Portugal for 13 years, it was exciting to see the island that has been unreached for so long be engaged with the gospel because someone from the island attended their training.
After returning to their countries of service, missionaries reported baptisms and new Bible study groups started, and several of the missionaries, like Rebeca, hosted evangelism trainings.
Missions training school participants pause for a photo. The missionaries came to the training, hosted by IMB missionaries and global missionary partners, to become equipped in the missionary task. IMB Photo
Coming into the Immersion Mission School, some of the missionaries shared how stuck they felt. Many told Bethany and Jonathan they felt completely alone, were discouraged and felt like quitting. Now, they have tools and are seeing their ministry energized with new contacts.
“It’s been a night and day difference for some of them,” Bethany said.
One of the GMPs who attended felt ready to move into an area where there are no evangelical churches. Before moving, he hosted an evangelism training, and the attendees saw great success when they took the gospel to the streets.
Bethany said their dream was to use the Immersion Mission School to expose people to missions as well as recruit and train GMPs. This has been successful, with one GMP who is moving soon to Italy; Rebeca, who is moving to Japan; and a couple who are in the process of serving as GMPs in Spain.
In April, the next round of missionaries will begin their online training, which focuses on cultural, emotional, spiritual and ministry preparation, before heading to Lisbon.
A missions training school participant shares with a woman she met during an afternoon visit, putting into practice what she learned during the morning sessions. IMB Photo
The primary goal of the mission school is training and equipping, but Bethany said they hope the missionaries can pave the way for a new church plant in Lisbon in the neighborhood where they will be staying. The neighborhood has no evangelical churches. The missionaries will be partnering with a Portuguese church during their evangelism visits in the community.
Bethany asks for prayer as they finalize the participant list for the upcoming training. She requests prayer for the missionaries to see fruit and multiply the church. Pray also the missionaries will be physically, emotionally and spiritually ready to embark on their missions school training.
Do you feel called to support the Sharps and their training? Find out more about their ministry.