Naomi Keefe

Naomi's mission work

Naomi is working with the Presbyterian Church of Brazil. Since the start of 2012, Naomi has been working alongside the Peixinhos congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPB) and more recently with the IPB congregation of Beberibe.

Naomi is involved in empowering the local church to start to question what it is that God has called them to do amongst their communities in sharing the Good News of Jesus. Encouraging, training and facilitating them in this process of beginning to think for themselves and prayerfully work out what God has called them to do together, is not only challenging, but is also a long-term process. She is also involved in the production of contextualised, evangelistic and discipleship material particularly for illiterate and functionally illiterate families.

Naomi comments, “Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:27 addresses the local believers and describes them as follows, ‘Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.’ The work I am involved with in Brazil is very much based on the theology behind this verse. God has called and equipped the local believers with the specific task of bringing glory and honour to his name in both the building up of the local believers and in reaching out to the lost with the good news of Jesus. Hence it is the local believers who are the body, and it is God who has appointed each one with differing gifts. I offer training and specific teaching material designed for working alongside poor communities. I am not the one doing the outreach, setting up the programme or running the project, as I am not a body-part of the local church. I am not a member of the local body, but rather have been sent out to help the local body work better, particularly in relation to reaching out to the poor communities with the Good News of Jesus in a biblical, culturally and contextually appropriate form.”

Naomi’s work can be best summed up as church-based and Bible-based community development and evangelistic outreach with the local body parts being involved in various outreaches including; reading room activities, Coffee with God Bible studies, Good News Club activities, football evangelism, film days, family visits, street evangelism presentations, nursing home visits/evangelism, etc.

All the various strategies and activities have the purpose of equipping and encouraging the local congregations to be the witnesses in their communities that God in Acts 1:8 has commanded them to be.  As Naomi comments “my prayer is that together we will continue to see children, young people and adults around us each day as Jesus Himself sees them “harassed and helpless without a shepherd”; “lost souls” for whom Jesus came “to seek and to save” and that we will have the same obedience to the “Heavenly Vision” as the apostle Paul.”

From 2005 to 2011, Naomi worked alongside the IPB congregation of Casa Caiada and local churches within the neighbourhood of Aguazinha, seeking to help these poor and marginalised people by sharing the gospel with them.

Before going to Brazil, Naomi was a Biology teacher at Hunterhouse College in Belfast. She spent two years (2000-02) as a volunteer in mission in the Valley of the Lord Orphanage in Recife, Brazil. She also has a Masters’ degree in Theology from Queens University Belfast (UTC) with specific emphasis on how best to work with children at risk in Brazil. Naomi´s home congregation is Sloan Street Presbyterian Church, Lisburn.

Latest Report November 2026

The Good News Club children, teenagers from ‘iFood with God’ and all the volunteers have received new t shirts which has been useful in identifying ourselves better within the community.

The ‘Coffee with God’ Bible study has changed to a Saturday afternoon together with the ‘iFood with God’ study for the teenagers. None of the activities within the community of Peixinhos are happening now in the evenings due to contextual situations happening within the community. 

The Reading Room has now opened up again several days during the week also in the afternoon. 

Reading in the Park has been very encouraging this past month in Beberibe community, with 20 plus children coming along each week. Around 10 children who come along have enthusiastically taken up a new challenge of daily devotional activities. It is hoped that the children will complete these Bible Studies and hand them in to the volunteers to mark every couple of weeks. It was lovely to see the enthusiasm of some of the parents who bring their children regularly along to Reading in the Park, to be involved in this extra activity which the children complete at home in their own time.

Christmas street evangelism events are being prepared although in Peixinhos this year we hope to have the presentation in the afternoon. 

We are excited both in Peixinhos and Beberibe to use our large Christmas wreath to explain the eternal love of God, which has no beginning nor ending, just like our wreath in the shape of a circle.

Workshops of making Christmas wreaths are planned in the community coming up to Christmas, where we hope to share further the true meaning of Christmas and God’s infinite love for each of us, which can’t be measured.

Prayer Points

• Give thanks for the children who have taken up the daily devotional challenge, that God would bring many of them and their families to himself.
• Pray for plans and preparation for Christmas evangelistic events within the communities.
• Pray for the teenagers in Beberibe as they look at what the Bible says about sex, love and relationships.
• Continue to pray for wisdom and safety for the volunteers in both Beberibe and Peixinhos communities in all the various evangelistic activities.