Jan & Elisabeth Anema

Portuguese people crave attention and appreciation. We hope they will find true love with Jesus.

In 1987 Jan and Elisabeth Anema left their dairy farm in the Netherlands in order to set up a business in Portugal. After a few years they began a farm in Lavre, in the region of Alentejo.

For the Anemas, their organic dairy and cheese farm is also a place to find peace and to reflect, and it offers many possibilities for serving people in Portugal. Agricultural processes and nature are beautiful starting off points for explaining principles from the Bible.

For many years Jan and Elisabeth have been involved with helping ex-drug addicts. They are now focussing more on prevention; for example, on programs for young people and families. Besides this they participate in organizing summer camps for children and teenagers from poorer districts of Lisbon. By their lifestyle they try to open people’s eyes so that they can be brought closer to God.

Elisabeth is involved in pastoral counselling. She counsels people herself and also trains others in counselling – a skill which is underdeveloped in many Portuguese evangelical churches. Elisabeth is also responsible for the pastoral care of ECM workers in Portugal.

The Anemas also support Victor and Bia Biscaia, a Portuguese couple, in their church planting project in Mora. Mora is a town forty kilometres away with a population of three thousand inhabitants. The church plant is at the phase where a group now comes together at the Biscaias’ home on Sundays.