In the midst of the challenges brought on by the pandemic, Central Church of the Nazarene of Boa Vista / RR, Brazil, reignited its Sopão da Vida (Soup of Life) ministry. Led by Leonardo Catão and his wife, Flávia Rosas, the church worked hard to continue serving the community during the pandemic because of the great need around them. 

“Due to the pandemic, we were practically paralyzed, working more with the distribution of food baskets, clothes, shoes, personal hygiene material, and more,” Leonardo said. “So God touched our hearts so that we could go back to doing what we were doing before, with the project Soup of Life (Sopão da Vida). We felt in our hearts that we should start in front of the hospitals.“

Currently, Soup of Life is held once every two weeks. During the visits to hospitals, 100 pre-packaged meals are distributed. If there are leftovers, the team continues to distribute the food to the homeless people in the surrounding area. In addition to the physical food, a prayer tent is set up, and the people who wish to receive prayer enter one at a time to receive a prayer and a message of hope. 

All the ingredients used for the soup are donated by the local community and by the team of volunteers, who help cook, clean, set up, distribute, and evangelize.

While the volunteers believed the project was necessary, they were also concerned about safety and conducted a survey of minimum safety protocols so that they could work in the midst of the pandemic. The safety protocols benefit both the ministry team and those who receive the soup of life.

“This is our church reaching out to those in need and being the answer during tough days,” Leonardo said.

--Church of the Nazarene South America