Fanini, Nilson do Amaral

▪ 1996

      At the August 1995 meeting of the Baptist World Congress meeting in Buenos Aires, Arg., the Rev. Nilson do Amaral Fanini was elected to a five-year term as president of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), a world body composed of 40 million Baptists.

      Prior to his appointment, Fanini had for 31 years been pastor of the 7,000-member First Baptist Church of Niteroi, Brazil, one of the largest evangelical churches in South America, and had served as president of the Brazilian Baptist Convention and vice president of the BWA. He had preached in 87 nations and was the first evangelist allowed to give a sermon in communist Angola and Mozambique. As president, Fanini placed his greatest emphasis on evangelism; he wanted to see the number of Baptist churches double to 300,000 during his tenure.

      Fanini also was the president of Reencontro, which, in addition to taking an active role in evangelism and the worldwide distribution of Bibles, operated 19 clinics where both medical and psychological assistance were offered free, an orphanage, a vocational training program, a food-distribution centre, and child-care agencies. The group recently distributed 120 tons of food and clothing and helped rebuild many homes for the poor. Reencontro, the largest benevolent institution in the state of Rio, functioned in a nation where an estimated 60% of the population was under the age of 28. Fanini said, "The children have a special place in my heart. It's easier to help a child than to transform a criminal in prison." In 1994 the church adopted 3,000 babies from the slums.

      Fanini preached weekly on 52 radio and 110 television stations that reached 40 million people in Brazil and six other South American countries. The Brazilian Bible League, sponsored by Fanini, provided 25 million Bibles to Brazil alone. His church had launched 28 new churches and sponsored 92 missions.

      Fanini was born on March 18, 1932, in Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil. He held a theological degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention), Fort Worth, Texas, and a law degree from the Fluminense Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. He also was a graduate of the prestigious Superior School of War, a unique privilege reserved for the nation's outstanding leaders.

      When asked about his five-year plan in the BWA, Fanini viewed its primary role as defending human rights, attacking social injustice, promoting peace, and helping those who were hungry and those with desperate needs, but he placed evangelism at the heart of the BWA.

      (NORMAN R. DE PUY)

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