Protestantism in Brazil
Encyclopedia
Protestantism in Brazil was first practiced by Huguenot
travelers in attempts to colonize the country while it was under the Portuguese
colonial rule. These attempts, however, would not persist. A French mission sent by John Calvin
was established in 1557, in one of the islands of Guanabara Bay
, where the France Antarctique
was founded. On March 10 of the same year, these Calvinists
held the first Protestant worship service in Brazil and, according to some accounts, the first in all the American continent
.
After centuries of persecution under the Portuguese colonial rule, which was successful in consolidating Catholicism
in the country, Protestant denominations saw a rapid growth in their number of followers since the last decades of the 20th century. If the number of Protestants continues to increase at the same pace it has for the past decades, by 2022 Catholics will be a minority in a country that was about 90 percent Catholic in 1980. According to a study from the Roman Catholic Church
, 600,000 of their faithful convert annually to a Protestant denomination. However, recent studies have suggested that the number of Catholics has stopped decreasing.
According to the 2000 Census, 15.4% of the Brazilian population was Protestant. A recent research conducted by the Datafolha institute
shows that 25% of Brazilians are Protestants, of which 19% are followers of Pentecostal denominations. However, the 2010 Census, which has just been completed, has yet to confirm this data.
Until the late 1970s, the majority of Brazilian Protestants belonged to one of the traditional churches – Lutherans, Presbyterians and Baptists mainly – but the Pentecostals, especially from neo-charismatic
sects linked to the prosperity doctrine
, have increased largely since then. There is also Seventh-day Adventist education
al system with over 475 elementary schools, 67 secondary schools, two colleges and a university.
Census, these are the biggest Protestant denominations in Brazil (only listed those with more than a half million members):
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
travelers in attempts to colonize the country while it was under the Portuguese
Portuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
colonial rule. These attempts, however, would not persist. A French mission sent by John Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
was established in 1557, in one of the islands of Guanabara Bay
Guanabara Bay
Guanabara Bay is an oceanic bay located in southeastern Brazil in the state of Rio de Janeiro. On its western shore lies the city of Rio de Janeiro, and on its eastern shore the cities of Niterói and São Gonçalo. Four other municipalities surround the bay's shores...
, where the France Antarctique
France Antarctique
France Antarctique was a French colony south of the Equator, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which existed between 1555 and 1567, and had control over the coast from Rio de Janeiro to Cabo Frio...
was founded. On March 10 of the same year, these Calvinists
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
held the first Protestant worship service in Brazil and, according to some accounts, the first in all the American continent
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
.
After centuries of persecution under the Portuguese colonial rule, which was successful in consolidating Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
in the country, Protestant denominations saw a rapid growth in their number of followers since the last decades of the 20th century. If the number of Protestants continues to increase at the same pace it has for the past decades, by 2022 Catholics will be a minority in a country that was about 90 percent Catholic in 1980. According to a study from the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, 600,000 of their faithful convert annually to a Protestant denomination. However, recent studies have suggested that the number of Catholics has stopped decreasing.
According to the 2000 Census, 15.4% of the Brazilian population was Protestant. A recent research conducted by the Datafolha institute
Grupo Folha
The Grupo Folha is a Brazilian conglomerate of publishing companies, including newspapers, publishing houses, print shops and so on...
shows that 25% of Brazilians are Protestants, of which 19% are followers of Pentecostal denominations. However, the 2010 Census, which has just been completed, has yet to confirm this data.
Until the late 1970s, the majority of Brazilian Protestants belonged to one of the traditional churches – Lutherans, Presbyterians and Baptists mainly – but the Pentecostals, especially from neo-charismatic
Neo-charismatic churches
Neo-charismatic churches are a category of churches in the Christian Renewal movement. The Christian renewal movement incorporates Pentecostal, Charismatic and neo-charismatic churches...
sects linked to the prosperity doctrine
Prosperity theology
Prosperity theology or gospel is a Christian religious belief whose proponents claim the Bible teaches that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians. Most teachers of prosperity theology maintain that a combination of faith, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will...
, have increased largely since then. There is also Seventh-day Adventist education
Seventh-day Adventist education
The Seventh-day Adventist educational system is the second-largest Christian school system in the world, after the Roman Catholic system ....
al system with over 475 elementary schools, 67 secondary schools, two colleges and a university.
Demography
According to 2000 IBGEIBGE
The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics or IBGE , is the agency responsible for statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil...
Census, these are the biggest Protestant denominations in Brazil (only listed those with more than a half million members):
- Assemblies of GodAssembleias de DeusThe Assembléias de Deus are a group of Pentecostal denominations in Brazil related to the Assemblies of God.- History :The Assembléias de Deus began when Daniel Berg and Gunnar Vingren, two Swedish Baptist immigrants from South Bend, Indiana had the Pentecostal experience in Chicago and departed...
(Assembléias de Deus): 8,418,140 (5.0%)
- General Convention of the Assemblies of God (Affiliated with the US Assemblies of GodAssemblies of GodThe Assemblies of God , officially the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, is a group of over 140 autonomous but loosely-associated national groupings of churches which together form the world's largest Pentecostal denomination...
, Springfield, MO): 3.6 million. - National Convention of the Assemblies of God (A.k.a. Madureira Ministry of the Assemblies of God): 2.5 million.
- Other independent Assemblies of God, such as Bethesda Assemblies of God: 1.9 million
- Baptists: 3,162,691 (1.9%)
- Brazilian Baptist ConventionBrazilian Baptist ConventionThe Brazilian Baptist Convention or Convenção Batista Brasileira is the oldest Baptist group in Brazil. The first Baptist missionary in Brazil appears to have been Thomas Jefferson Bowen, who served there for the Southern Baptist Convention from 1859 to 1861. A group of Southerners from the United...
(Affiliated to US Southern Baptists and BWA body member): 1.4 million adherents - National Baptist ConventionNational Baptist Convention, BrazilThe National Convention started with a group with 52 Bapstist churches in Brazil, gone together in 1965, that accept the pentecostal doctrine of gifts of Holy Spirit em your liturgy....
(Charismatics Baptists and BWA body member): 1 million. - Independent Baptist Convention (Scandinavian Baptists): 400,000.
- Other Baptists: 300,000
- Christian Congregation of BrazilChristian Congregation of BrazilThe Christian Congregation in Brazil is an evangelical denomination founded in that country by the Italian-American missionary Luigi Francescon .-History:...
(Italian-Brazilian Pentecostals): 2.6 million (1.5%) - AdventistAdventistAdventism is a Christian movement which began in the 19th century, in the context of the Second Great Awakening revival in the United States. The name refers to belief in the imminent Second Coming of Jesus Christ. It was started by William Miller, whose followers became known as Millerites...
s: 1.8 million (1.0%)
- Christian Congregation of Brazil
- Seventh-day Adventist ChurchSeventh-day Adventist ChurchThe Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
: 1.6 million - Promise Adventist Church (Brazilian Pentecostal Adventists): 150,000
- Seventh Day Adventist Reform MovementSeventh Day Adventist Reform MovementThe Seventh Day Adventist Reform Movement is a Protestant Christian denomination, part of the Sabbatarian adventist movement, and formed as the result of a schism within the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Europe during World War I over the position its leadership took on proper Sabbath observance...
: 50,000 - Other Adventists: 100,000
- Foursquare Gospel ChurchInternational Church of the Foursquare GospelThe International Church of the Foursquare Gospel, commonly referred to as the Foursquare Church, is an evangelical Pentecostal Christian denomination. As of 2000 it had a worldwide membership of over 8,000,000, with almost 60,000 churches in 144 countries. In 2006, membership in the United States...
(Classic Pentocostals in US, but second-wave Pentecostals in Brazil): 1,318,805 (0.8%) - Lutherans: 1 million (0.6%)
- Foursquare Gospel Church
- Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confission
- Evangelical Lutheran Church of BrazilEvangelical Lutheran Church of BrazilThe Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil, or Igreja Evangélica Luterana do Brasil , was founded in 1904 in Rio Grande do Sul, a southern state in Brazil. The IELB is a conservative, confessional Lutheran Synod that holds the Book of Concord. It started as a mission of the Lutheran Church -...
- Other Lutherans
- Reformed churchesReformed churchesThe Reformed churches are a group of Protestant denominations characterized by Calvinist doctrines. They are descended from the Swiss Reformation inaugurated by Huldrych Zwingli but developed more coherently by Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger and especially John Calvin...
: 1 million (0.6%)
- Reformed churches
- Presbyterian Church of Brazil: 450,000
- Independent Presbyterian Church: 300,000
- Congregationalists: 100,000
- Other Calvinists:150,000
- International Church of God's GraceInternational Church of God's GraceThe International Church of God’s Grace is a Brazilian evangelical church founded by Romildo Ribeiro Soares in 1980, at Rua Lauro Neiva, in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Romildo had made his own name soon after splitting with fellow Christian leader, Edir Macedo...
(Igreja Internacional da Graça de Deus): 500,000 Neo-Pentecostal Movement - Methodists: 340,963 (0.201%)
- International Church of God's Grace
- Methodist Church of Brazil (Affiliated to US United Methodist ChurchUnited Methodist ChurchThe United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...
): 200,000 - Wesleyan Methodist Church (Brazilian Pentecostal Methodists): 100,000
- Other Methodists: 40,000
External links
- Brazilian Evangelical Rally Draws 3 Million - beliefnet.com
- Pope Visits Brazil, Church Loses Ground - ABC NewsABC NewsABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
- Catholic Church Losing Followers in Droves - Inter Press ServiceInter Press ServiceInter Press Service is a global news agency. Its main focus is the production of independent news and analysis about events and processes affecting economic, social and political development....
- Rising Protestant tide sweeps Catholic Brazil - ReutersReutersReuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
- Protestants making inroads in Brazil, world's most populous Catholic country - WWRN
- Census reveals more Protestants in Brazil - latinamericanstudies.org
- Adventist Television Dramatically Expands Under New License - Adventist News Network
- Brazilians embrace Protestant faiths - BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
- Pope heads to Brazil where church losing ground - USA TodayUSA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
- Pragmatic Protestants Winning Converts in Brazil - The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...