Movement in God’s presence
A safe space where the women can come together, express themselves and encounter God’s presence through dance.
Revive have partnered with the local church, Igreja Anglicana Agua Viva (Living Waters Anglican Church) in the community of Aguazinha to deliver some prevention work in the area. Sarah Brito Medeiros is a Mission Partner with CMS and she is a trained Dance Movement Therapist (DMT) and Dance Ministry Leader. While doing her training at CMS in 2019, God inspired Sarah to fuse DMT with Dance Ministry to form a new healing dance ministry.
In September 2022, Sarah started Dança Agua Viva in the church building opposite Living Waters Church. The dance studio there was completely transformed after making repairs to the roof, rewiring the electrical circuits, and putting in new lighting and a new bathroom. Thanks to some individual donations we were able to put air-conditioning in the studio – a huge blessing when doing exercise in the heat of the day – and buy a mat floor which is safer to dance on than the hard tiles.
There is a group of 15 women from the Aguazinha community who are part of Dança Agua Viva and they come to one or two sessions a week on a Monday or Thursday afternoons. It is a safe space where the women can come together, express themselves and encounter God’s presence through dance.
The women at Dança Água Viva are growing in being vulnerable with God and each other. Many of the women struggle with anxiety and God is ministering His peace to them. There is also a sense of strength in us being together and supporting each other in the battles we all face. We enjoy moving together, and we take it in turns to minister to each other using the flags, soaking in God’s presence and receiving His love and peace.
Having a therapeutic space for the women to express themselves and meet with God is so important for their spiritual and emotional growth. The women, strengthened by their involvement in the group, then in turn affect their families and the community where they live.
