Nilson Fanini asked for a transfer and divides Baptists from Rio de Janeiro

Edelberto Behs, RIO DE JANEIRO, Brasil, June 13, 2005

One of the most emblematic pastors of the Evangelical Brazilian World, 73-year old Nilson do Taxi Heathrow Airport Amaral Fanini asked the First Baptist Church of Niteroi, that he has led for 41 years, for his transfer to the Baptist Church on the Island of Conceicao.

 “We are not going to place any obstacles for transfers,” said the current president of the First Baptist Church of Niteroi, Delio Lima de Amaral, although he admitted that similar requests from 152 faithful constitute a division in the congregation.

The strife can be explained by problems of an administrative-financial order: suspect accounts, debts of a million reales (close to $408,000) of the Baptist Theological Seminary of Niteroi and a problem involving 1,670,000 reales (around $700,000), money coming from tithing and donations to build the Baptist Cathedral in land provided by the municipality of Niteroi.

With the authorization of Pastor Fanini, the money destined to build the cathedral was deposited in an account belonging to people who were illegally dedicated to buying and selling dollars. “He did not consult the board. If he had done so we would not have this damage,” said Amaral, who assumed the presidency last March after Fanini asked to be separated for alleged health reasons.

 “Pastor Fanini trusted people too much,” handing over large amounts of money and without guarantees,” said Amaral. The new president complained about Fanini’s lack of transparency in the management of the congregation’s accounts.

Regarding the serious allegations, ALC tried to communicate with Fanini on June 1, but through the secretary of the organization “Reencontro – Social and Educational Works,” the pastor said he would only talk “next week.” New attempts on June 6 and June 8 did not yield any results.

According to influential Evangelical magazine Eclesia, there is no evidence that Fanini had acted in bad faith. The loss of 1,670,000 reales, according to Eclesia, was only discovered by the pastor himself with the help of Ademir Pimentel, member of the Church.

The assembly held February 3 determined that the debt regarding the Cathedral Project should be pardoned and this decision made part of the Church membership indignant, who opted to denounce the case before the judicial branch.

The First Baptist Church of Niteroi convened a new assembly for the end of April, but did not manage to bring together half of the members as stipulated in the statutes in order to have a quorum in order to address the issue of the debt. “We must bring together more than 4,000 which does not correspond to our list of members,” said Amaral.

The congregation is currently reviewing the number of members and a possible statutory reform. The decision to pardon the debt is on hold until the trial.

With the accounts under the magnifying glass, other uncomfortable data for Pastor Fanini has appeared. For example, the Church has been paying four different life insurance polices for Fanini, one of them worth 500,000 reales (around $205,000).

Fanini asked the Church to grant him a monthly retirement stipend of 14,400 reales ($5,900) which he earned as a n active pastor in the Church. However, the congregation has frozen the pastor’s request for benefits, including the pension. 

The Verification Commission of the Church accounts confirmed that it also spent considerable sums in travel, per diem and food attention, all covered by the “Cathedral expenses.” In the past three years, said expenses reached 75,000 reales, according to the magazine Eclesia.

The Church board decided to verify the Church’s accounts in the past five years. “It is a great deal of work,” said Amaral.

Numbers from the Baptist Seminary of Niterio currently under the leadership of Pastor Nilson do Amaral Fanini, who substituted Fanini in the position, are also worrying. Up until recently, the Seminary, which now has a deficit, had a reserve or approximately $123,000 in a bank account, said Amaral.

The unrest in the First Baptist Church of Niteroi dates back to October 2004, when an Internal Audit Commission asked Pastor Fanini, then president of the Congregation, to clarify the situation regarding the use of the funds and the business that has been carried out. The commission did not obtain any responses.

The Church is now going through major difficulties, “but it is alive and we must balance ourselves, with the help of the Lord,” said Amaral. It still has regular worship services. Optimistic, Amaral hopes that the Church will shortly recover from all its problems. 

The Church was founded May 1, 1982. In 41 years of ministry, Fanini baptized 11,000 people, created an organization Church structure that brought together 13 auxiliary ministries, including the NGO Reecontro, which last year distributed 20 tons of food.

Fanini, who was president of the World Baptist Seminary, held crusades in 109 countries. He founded the theological seminary which has trained more than 600 pastors and religious educators who work in different parts of Brazil. He is a member of the Council of former presidents of the World Baptist Council, a consultative body for the international organization that congregates more than 100 million Baptist around the world.