Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

The history of the Faith Baptist Church begins with a prayer group launched in July 1995 by the then seminarian; Roberto Carlos Xavier and his wife Márcia Xavier. The purpose of this prayer group was to intentionally reach out to the lost people in the city. A special emphasis was put on reaching out to young people who were involved in drugs, trafficking, and prostitution as well as people involved in spiritualism and idolatry. On August 17, 1996, the Faith Baptist Church was organized through the National Baptist Convention and Pastor Roberto Carlos Xavier was ordained and named the lead pastor of the church. Pastor Roberto has been married to his wife Márcia Xavier for 34 years and has 4 children. Pastor Roberto is a theologian, businessman, and founding pastor of the Faith Baptist Church and Ministry. With Churches in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí and 2 churches in Portugal, the ministry focuses on the word of faith, leadership training and development, pastoral ministry, family ministry, and outreach and evangelism through small groups.

The work now encompasses 35 churches and more than 100 cell groups. The church also provides important spiritual coverage for dozens of churches and pastors throughout Brazil. The Faith Baptist Church continues to focus on their core vision of loving and caring for people, developing small groups that make disciples and grow people, training leaders, and planting new campuses and churches to expand the kingdom of God in Rio De Janeiro and beyond.