Edson Figueiredo (photo) was born in 1957 in the Brazilian city of São Paulo, where he works in management, IT and automation systems. He is married and has two children. He is the president of Grupo Espírita Manoel Bento (GEMB), a Spiritist Centre in the city of São Paulo. He also broadcasts a regular radio programme on the Spiritist network, Rádio Boa Nova, he keeps a YouTube channel and still finds the time to give talks and coordinate Spiritist study groups on social media. He speaks to us, in the following interview, about his work in the Spiritist Movement.

How did Spiritism come into your life?

Like many Spiritists who have been around for a bit longer, I must admit that I found Spiritism through pain and suffering. In 1984, when I was 27, I suffered from several illnesses and physical problems that were eventually “cured” at the Manoel Bento Spiritist Group (or GEMB).  Before getting there, I had consulted with people from African-Brazilian Spiritualist religions, who had told me my problem wasn’t of a physical but of a spiritual nature. I didn’t believe in any of that and abandoned the treatment suggested by them. But my physical problems worsened and I decided to give it another go. I went to GEMB for the first time and was treated in 8 sessions of healing and talks. I ended up getting interested in studying Spiritism and a year later I was already working as a volunteer in the healing sessions and making small presentations. I joined the board of directors in 1987 and was elected president in 1990.

What are the main challenges faced by someone who leads a Spiritist Centre in a big city like São Paulo?

I think the main challenges are being able to attract new members and to develop them to become members of the “board of directors.” Also, it is important to keep a balanced and harmonious atmosphere, both from a physical and spiritual perspective, especially in a Spiritist Group that continues to grow every year. We have more than 600 volunteers with us working in many areas. Another big challenge is to persuade volunteers who’ve been here for longer to accept the newcomers and vice versa. After all, people who’ve been around for longer have ingrained habits. Many of them joined the Spiritist Centre before systemised study groups were in place. When the new ones join, they’ve already studied Spiritism for at least five years and are full of new ideas. It is important to integrate them, but that’s not an easy task. It demands from all the parts involved a good deal of conscience, good will, detachment, patience, respect to the Spiritist Centre and the cause, as well as lots of training. Another challenge is to prepare the Spiritist Centre for the future, by implementing a decentralised and inclusive management style. The directors responsible for different areas need to be given autonomy to decide. The days when a Spiritist Centre was managed by a president and his Spiritual Guide are over. In a globalised world, we can’t manage in a centralising and self-centred manner, where the person in charge cannot be questioned.

It is clear that managing a Spiritist Centre with 600 volunteers, with more and more joining every year, is a very demanding task. How do you deal with the financial side of things? How do you manage to raise funds to keep the Grupo Espírita Manoel Bento going ahead in full steam?

The financial management of a Spiritist Centre isn’t indeed easy at all, especially as we don’t charge for our services and don’t demand a compulsory contribution from anyone. In our case, we went even further. We have decided to ban lotteries and raffles, which makes it more difficult to raise funds. We also refuse to keep continuously asking for donations. Out of the 600 volunteers we have and 1,164 people attending courses, only about 300 people contribute donate money every month as members. So how do we do it? First of all, we control our spending, without compromising, of course, the activities we offer. And we raise money in other ways: monthly donations from members; spontaneous donations; income form sales in our canteen and book shop; small fund raising events held every two months (tea afternoons, theatre plays etc.) and two big annual fund raising events. With all that, we manage to keep savings that cover us for three months.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

I would like to take thank you for this opportunity to share my ideas and to say that even though I am the current president of GEMB, I am not its owner. That means that not everything I think that should be done in the Group ends up going ahead. One of the most difficult aspects of leading any project our organisation is to continue to respect the opinion of others and to accept the decisions taken by the majority. It is also very important that we don’t attribute to the Spirits decisions involving the daily management of the Spiritist Centre, as that is a clear responsibility of us, incarnates. Unfortunately, that is a mistake made by many directors and presidents of Spiritist Centres.