James and Heather Cochrane, formerly served for seven years with the Independent Presbyterian Church in Brazil (IPIB), one of PCI's mission partners in Brazil.
Although trained as civil engineers, James and Heather sensed God’s call to a ministry of church-planting overseas and, in 1994, were accepted by PCI as candidates for service in mission overseas.
After two years of preparation at Belfast Bible College, they moved to Brazil, where they were engaged in planting a new church in the town of Cruzeta in the Northeast of the country. In 2003, they handed over the newly established congregation to local Brazilian leadership and returned to Ireland for a period of retraining, culminating in both completing degrees in theology.
Having been accepted by PCI as a trainee for the ordained ministry, James spent the next two years studying at Union Theological College, Belfast. This was followed by a further two years gaining ministerial experience as the assistant minister in Second Comber Presbyterian Church in the Down Presbytery, culminating in ordination for James as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in Ireland prior to their departure for Portugal.
On arrival in Portugal in the summer of 2008, the family was initially busy settling the girls into school and looking for a permanent home in a suitable location, which would also be able to act as base where small groups could meet for fellowship and to learn together. After much frustration, they eventually found a suitable home, moving in during December 2008.
Initially, the Cochranes were to be involved in a church planting ministry initiated by the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Portugal (IEPP), known as the Algarve Project. However, at the end of the first year, following discussions with the IEPP, it was agreed that our partners would review the project’s strategy and the Cochranes would move on to a new sphere of service.
James and Heather are now helping to teach degree modules to students enrolled with the Portuguese Bible Institute - Instituto Bíblico Português (IBP). They are also involved in leadership training, Bible teaching and discipleship. IBP has a vision to develop a satellite Bible School for Portuguese speaking nationals and immigrants in the Algarve, a vital component of church planting endeavours in the region.
In 2011, they were greatly challenged when the director of GBU Portugal (Grupo Biblico Universitário), which is affliated to the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (IFES), spoke at their church about the need to re-initiate a work among students at the university campus in Faro. Although GBU’s work among students here began in the early 1990's, during the past four to five years the work dwindled away due to the lack of local volunteers to assist with the work. As James and Heather live close to Faro, they felt they could perhaps support this student work in some way, so along with the Director of GBU Portugal, Pastor Samuel, they are looking at how they can become more involved.
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