Brazil: An "Evangelized" Giant Calling for Liberating Evangelism Sherron K. George

razil, the fifth largest countryin the world, coveringhalf tive; the raised Host is part of the collective consciousness; B of South America, is home to a very religious people. crucifixes and genuflection abound; processionals on Passion More than 90 percent of the 170 million Brazilians publicly Friday and pilgrimages to shrines are covered by networknews; identify themselves as Christians of one kind or another. The and holy days and festivals are part of Brazilian folklore. Roman Catholic Church arrived in Brazil in 1500 with Pedro During the nineteenth century, independence from Portu­ Alvares Cabral, the Portuguese explorer. Protestantism entered gal, abolition of slavery, separation of church and state, and the Brazil to stay only in the middle of the nineteenth century, and rooting of Protestant mission had little effect onthehegemony of Pentecostalism came in the twentieth century. The growth, con­ the Roman Catholic Church. Throughout the twentieth century, textual developments, mutual influences, and global impact of however, Catholic Christendom's power, influence, and privi­ these three expressions of Christianity are highly significant. In lege slowly ebbed, leading the Vatican to call for a "new evange­ the image supplied by Zwinglio Dias and Joyce Hill, the three lization." The present crisis is more than a shortage of priests and streams merge into a "rich Christian brew that shapes religious reduced attendance at masses. (Although nearly 80 percent of life in Brazil."} Latin Americans have been baptized in the Roman Catholic Brazil, according to British sociologist David Martin, "is Church, some observers claim that on a typical Sunday in Brazil simultaneously the world's largest Catholic country, the scene of more people attend Protestant than Catholic services.) Pablo the largest spiritist movements-and the home of maybehalfthe Richard has gone so far as to declare the end of Catholic evangelical [Protestant] believers in Latin America.'? Brazilian Christendom," Rene Padilla asserts, "This continent is no longer, Catholicism includes conservatives aligned closely with the if it ever was, a Roman Catholic continent."? And David Stoll Vatican, progressives in solidarity with popular movements, asks, "Is Latin America turning Protestant?"8 charismaticsusing massmedia, and practitioners of folk religios­ ity centered on legendary figures such as Padre Cicero. Spiritist Protestants: Preaching the Word movements include Kardecist spiritismfrom France and numer­ ous Afro-Brazilian religions such as Umbanda, Candomble, and Because Latin American governments would not permit Protes­ Macumba. Protestants come in even more varieties, with 75 tant evangelization and building of churches, the nineteenth percent belonging to Pentecostal groups, on which much re­ century began with almost no Protestant presence. How, then, search has been focused because of their explosive growth and did Protestants gain a foothold in this Catholic continent? Ken­ pervasive presence." neth Goodpasture states, "The Protestant pattern of growth was This article, recallingthe arrivalof Catholicismfive centuries first a Bible, then a Protestant immigrant, then a church."? After ago and the later introduction of Protestantism and earlier aborted missionprojects of Frenchand DutchProtestants, Pentecostalism, presents new developments and emphases over in the opening decades of the nineteenth century Anglicans were the lasthalf of the twentieth century thathave resulted in mutual allowed to erect a church building in Rio de Janeiro for Britons, exchanges between the three expressions of Christian faith, with and a community of almost 5,000 German Lutherans settled in implications for a newkind of representative world Christianity. southern Brazil. In 1859 Ashbel Green Simonton, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, arrived in Brazil as a Presbyte­ Catholic Culture and Hegemony rianmissionary. Hediedat theageof 36, sevenyearslater,butnot before he had ordained Jose Manoel da Conceicao, a former More than a millennium after the Gospel of Jesus Christ reached Roman Catholic priest, as the first Brazilian Presbyterian minis­ Asia, Europe, and Africa, the church arrived in what we call the ter and had witnessed the establishment of the first presbytery Americas with cross and sword inhand. Luis N. Rivera's Violent and seminary of the BrazilianPresbyterianChurch. By the end of Evangelism describes the expropriation of land, holocaust of the century, Baptists, Methodists, and Episcopalians had fol­ natives, and black slavery that were a part of the evangelization. lowed suit. In less than a centurySpain and Portugal conquered, dominated, Nevertheless, Latin America continued to be identified as a and Christianized the peoples of Latin America. This conquest Catholic continent. This perception prevailed at the 1910 World marked "the genesis of modern Christianity as a world phenom­ Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, where it was agreed notto enon."" It also inaugurated a new mission paradigm in which include Latin America on the agenda. It was argued that Latin colonialism and mission were ambivalently interdependent. America was already evangelized and therefore not to be seen as Catholic symbols and influence, imported from the Iberian a mission field. In reaction, a group of Protestant mission leaders Peninsula, have become an integral part of Brazilian culture and organized the 1916Congress onChristianWork, held in Panama, public space.tThe doors of churches throughout the country are which highlighted the need for evangelization. Noting new constantly open to receive the faithful; infant baptism is norma- religious freedoms thatwere developing in several countries, the congresshelpedlegitimizeProtestantmissionendeavorsin Latin Sherron K. George is Theological Education Consultantfor South America, America. Worldwide Ministries, Presbyterian Church (USA). Shewasa missionary for The floodgates opened, andmissionariesstreamedintoLatin twenty-three years in Brazil and more recently served as professor of mission America. Initially, however, growth was slow. In 1930 Protes­ and evangelism at Austin (Texas) Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Her tants amounted to less than 2 percent of the population of Latin article "Liberation, Contextualization, Solution, andMission-Evangelization: America, and foreign missionaries exerted control over many of New LatinAmerican Hermeneutical Keys"appeared in theOctober 2001 issue the national churches that had been founded. However, the of Interpretation.

104 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH systematic expansion of Protestantism "sharply accelerated in exploded among the poor and disenfranchised, not only in Latin the 1930s and reached hurricane force in the 1960s."lO National America but in Asia and Africa as well, is fast becoming the new Protestant churches increasingly claimed their cultural identity representative face of world Christianity. and asserted their autonomy. In contrast to the Roman Catholic Despite the mutual antagonism that often has marked rela­ emphasis on sacramental rituals, Latin Protestants emphasized tions betweenRoman Catholic, Protestant, and Pentecostal com­ the centrality of the Bible, evangelistic preaching, and planting munities, the sense of relationality that characterizes Latin cul­ new churches. Many Protestant churches in Brazil feel no need to ture has resulted in considerable religious cross-fertilization. have an evangelism committee because members of the congre­ LeonildoSilveira Compos, for example,pointsto "Pentecostalized gation actively practice evangelism with relatives, neighbors, Protestantism" and "Protestantized Pentecostalism."18 Given friends, and strangers. Congregationsbelieve that their churches exist for mission. Many congregations can point to three or more churches that have been established under their responsibility. At one point, according to Roberto Inacio, director of an Assem­ Despite mutual antagonism, blies of God Bible institute, forty new churches were opening in a sense of relationality that Rio de Janeiro every week." As a result of Protestant, and characterizes Latin culture especially Pentecostal growth, nearly 20 percent of the popula­ tion of Brazil is Protestant, giving Brazil one of the three largest has resulted in cooperation. Protestant communities in the world." Such dynamic growth is producing what Martin calls "the Latin Americanization of Protestantism."13 It is yielding, among their enormous numbers-some 70 to 80 percent of the Protes­ other things, fresh biblical interpretations, profound spiritual tant community in Latin America is Pentecostal-Pentecostals renewal, invigorating worship practices, and prophetic stances also have had a significant influence on the Roman Catholic on issues of social justice. Christiansin other regions of the world community. Focusing particularly on the situation in northeast could well pay attention. Brazil, where Pentecostal growth is "as overwhelming as a tidal wave that nothing can stop," Jose Comblin asks: "Do the Pentecostal Explosion pentecostal churches have something to teach US?"19 Comblin then points to the personal caring, the sense of personal worth, Paul Freston has delineated three waves of Pentecostalism in the spontaneous manifestations of joy in worship, and the mis­ Brazil. In 1911 two Swedish immigrants to the United States sionary outreach that empowers Pentecostal believers to share traveled to northern Brazil to work with a Baptist congregation their faith openly. In their turn, Pentecostals are learning both in Belem. Emphasizingthe baptismof the Spirit, they sparked the from non-Pentecostal Protestants and from Catholics to value founding of the largest Pentecostal movement in Brazil, the formal theological education and to develop a more systematic Assemblies of God, which today numbers more than fourteen theology. Dialogue with Pentecostals has resulted in more au­ million adult members." Concurrently, the (Pentecostal) Chris­ thentic contextualization in worship for Protestants and Catho­ tianCongregationof Brazil wasfounded in Sao Paulo and Parana lics, and Protestants have emulated Catholic base ecclesial com­ among Italian immigrants and now counts more than a million munities." and a half adult members. The fledgling movement quickly accommodated itself to Brazilian culture and leadership. Jose Roman Catholic Base Ecclesial Communities Miguez Bonino contends that the outside missionary "triggers" awakened a kind of "religious experience already latent in Latin The Second General Assembly of Latin American Bishops American popular sectors.t'" (CELAM II), held in Medellin, Colombia, in 1968, advocated the The second wave was composed of indigenous Pentecostal "preferential option for the poor" and favorably recognized the movements and churches and coincided withurbanization in the Base Ecclesial Communities(BECs}-smallgroupsfor grassroots, 1950s. One example is the Brazil for Christ Church, founded in or "popular," Bible study, prayer, consciousness-raising, and 1956by Manoel de Mello and reporting a million adultmembers political mobilization. During the 1970s and 1980s thousands of by 1995.De Mello claimed there are in Brazil "threeplaces where BECssprangupthroughoutBrazil, largely amongthe ruralpoor. the people could unburden themselves freely, without fear of Advocates characterized the BEC movement as a "new way of reprisals: at the soccer stadiums, in carnival, and in the Pentecos­ being church." Local BECs joined ranks with Bible study groups tal churches."16 and activists involved in pastoral outreach to become what In the 1970s the third wave started among the most densely Manuel Vasquez calls the popular church. In 1998 Vasquez populated urban areas, which were suffering from increasing reported that there were approximately 100,000 communities." violenceandeconomicinequalities. In 1977Edir Macedo founded It is not altogether clear whether they will continue to thrive the Universal Church of the Reign of God in Rio de Janeiro, one and contribute to renewal within the Roman Catholic commu­ of themostnoteworthychurchesof the thirdwave. Writingin the nity. Padilla writes, "The greatest crisis of Catholicism in our mid-1990s, Freston described it as "the fastest-growing, most continent today is the crisis posed by the alternative between politicallypowerful, and most controversial Protestant churchin accepting the BECs as the means through which God wants to the country."17 It presently has two million adult members in renew the church or expelling them as counterproductive to its every part of Brazil and has spread to seventy countries, includ­ ecclesiastical project."22 Contradictory positions in relation to ing the United States. liberation theology, the distance between educated theologians Pointing to the overwhelming importance of the Pentecost (often trained in foreign countries) and the poor masses, a lack of event recorded in Acts 2, Pentecostal churches stress the role of institutional definition and structural support for BECs, and the HolySpiritin conversion, healing, exorcism, evangelism, and many conservative appointments in Brazil by the Vatican have all of daily life. Indeed, the Pentecostal Christianity that has contributed to a crisis of participation and mobilization of the

July 2002 105 popular church within progressive Catholicism. The Vatican's nary near Quito, Ecuador. The emphasis was on theological silencing of Leonardo Boff signals the fears of church authorities reflection and holistic mission of evangelization and social ac­ whenconfronted withradicallynewbiblicalinterpretations seen tion, especially withthe unreached and the disenfranchised. Jose through the lens of the poor. Miguez-Bonino (who claims to have been tagged over the years Like the BECs, Pentecostalism appeals to the poor; it is "a conservative, a revolutionary, a Barthian, a liberal, a catholic, impacting Catholicism internally through the Catholic charis­ a moderate, and a liberationist" but prefers to call himself an matic renewal. Phillip Berryman estimates that no more than 10 eoangelicov? and David Ramirez, a Church of God (Pentecostal) percent of parishes in Latin America utilize the base-community theologian, were two of the plenary speakers. Ramirez said, "If model, while more than 180 of Brazil's 230 dioceses have charis­ the Word represents the historic evangelical churches and the matic renewal teams involving between3.5 and 5 million Catho­ Spirit the Pentecostal/charismatic churches, thenthis is the hour lics in this "Church within the Church.'?" to jointhemto permitthepowergeneratedin the encounterof the Word and Spirit to bring life to the church."?" Evangelism and Social Awareness FTL demonstrates that even though Protestantism in Latin America is diverse and divided into many groups, it supports a During the 1960s Protestant studentand ecumenicalmovements holistic mission thatavoids polarizationbetweenevangelization articulatedcommitmentto social responsibility, condemnedpros­ and social action. Taking the message of the reign of God seri­ elytizing of practicing Catholics, and spoke out against political ously demands sharing of an evangelistic faith, while taking the repression. Most Protestant churches, however, acquiesced to context of poverty and injustice seriously demands social action. the harsh measures of military regimes, which resulted in polar­ This is the message of Latin American Christians to the global ization between conservative churches and ecumenical bodies. church, a message, incidentally, that is echoed by African Chris­ In 1969, thinking to counteract what they considered to be tians, who insist on the holism of mission and life. inappropriate social involvement on the part of the ecumenical movement, evangelical agencies from the United States spon­ Response to Personal and Social Evil sored the First Latin American Conference on Evangelism (Conferencia Latino Americana de Evangelismo-CLADE I). As Stoll suggests that after years of otherworldly escapist spiritual­ David Stoll commented, "CLADE I was not a complete success ity and a "mystical accommodation to the status quo" that for its NorthAmericanorganizers." Latins"discovered thatthey alienated them from political involvement, today's Pentecostals were all tired of North Americans telling them how to think," so could well provide the basis for social reform. Stoll notes that they issued "a call for evangelicals to meet their social responsi­ Catholic liberation theology originated with "religious profes­ bilities, by contextualizing their faith in the Latin American sionalswithprofessionalinterests." Liberationtheologianssome­ context of oppression."24 times succumbed to "the risk of failing to speak to the actual In 1970Latin Americanevangelical theologians founded the needs of the poor, as opposed to idealized versions of those Latin American Theological Fraternity (FTL). Committed to needs."?" being both biblical and distinctively Latin American, they de­ In order to understand the growth and enormous appeal of clared their intention "to pursue social issues without abandon­ Pentecostalism, it is necessary to examine more closely the pre­ ing evangelism, deal withoppressive structureswithoutendors­ carious life conditions of the urban poor. On one hand, develop­ ing violence, and bring left- and right-wing Protestants back ment, modernization, privatization, and neoliberal capitalism have placed Brazil on the cutting edge of telecommunications and digital technology. On the other hand, as Vasquez observes, Protestants support a "Poorpeoplehavehadto contendwithworseninglife conditions and the deepening of social inequalities/"" Modernity's rational holistic mission that avoids understanding of history and human agency provides a frame­ polarizing of social action work for liberation and Reformed theology, but it has little to offer the powerless. and evangelization. In a research project in Brazil focused on the question, What is the response, or responses, of Pentecostalism to the suffering

of the poor? Richard Shaull and Waldo Cesar discovered 1/a new together again."> While embracing much from liberation theol­ interpretive paradigm of Christianity and its emergence among ogy and historical Protestantism, they were critical of both and the poor of the Third World." After conducting a lengthy series opted for a paradigm of contextualization. of interviews, they became convinced that Pentecostalism pro­ The late Orlando Costas, a founding member of FTL, criti­ vides specific blessings and daily solutions to concrete problems cized conservative theologies produced in the North (especially related to health, food, money, and family relationships. Salva­ the church growth movement). Viewing the United States as a tion is a miraculous solution. It is "in the experience of merging new Macedonianmissionfield to be evangelizedby ThirdWorld in one gesture the transcendent with the immanent" that "per­ Christians, Costas promoted a theology of contextual evangeli­ haps the greatest miracle of the Pentecostal proposal of faith is zation." FTL leaders Rene Padilla and Samuel Escobar were engraved: survival in the midst of the marginality of life.'?' The instrumental in the inclusion of social responsibility and gifts of the Spirit provide a democratic leveling, a sense of contextualization issues in the program of the 1974 Lausanne dignity, andempowerment. Personalevangelism propels Pente­ Congress on World Evangelization. costals into the world, where they occupy a new public political FTL convoked CLADE II (1979), III (1992), and IV (2000). space as they engage those suffering social and economic prob­ More than 1,300 Christians from Protestant and Pentecostal lems. churches in every Latin American country attended CLADE IV, The Pentecostal worldview is more closely related to that of held September 3-8, 2000, at the South American Biblical Semi­ the biblical writers (and to almost all of the world's cultures)than

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IlVisit US 0 N~T ~ . - '"' .. --. '"' -\,. '"' r · w ~W . b iol ;~~du it is to the worldview of Western culture. Shaull summarizes: ing of the gospel andbecome a pointof reference for the theologi­ Pentecostals "see the world and human life infested with de­ cal building of the community.">' mons. At the same time, they firmly believe that their lives and If "mission-evangelization" is "the principle which defines their world are in the hands of God, who acts to overcome these Latin American Protestantism," today's task is to articulate a demonic forces .... With all the threats of demonic forces around "new mission theology" elaborated from a Trinitarian perspec­ them, they experience something even greater: the presence and tive, reflecting the fact that the self-giving and other-receiving power of the Spirit."32Pentecostal Christians live every moment God acts relationally "in the totality of creation" through the of their daily lives in the realm of the Spirit, in constant depen­ sending of the Son and the Spirit. God includes humankind as dence on God to "give us this day our daily bread" and to coactors and partnersin the "missionarydialogue" of theTrinity, "deliver us from evil." In their worship they experience the in which "the evangelizing mission is not an external act carried powerful reality of God's presence; it fills them with joy and out by the church but is 'the visible face' of the mission of the hope. triune God."35 This "material principle" can be taken one step further to New Global Mission Base and Theology expand the dialogue beyond Protestants and Pentecostals to include also Roman Catholics, who are doing much creative Latin American Protestant and Pentecostal enthusiasm is cross­ missiology in Latin America." In New Evangelization: Perspective ing new frontiers. In 1987 the first Ibero-American Missionary oftheOppressed, LeonardoBoffinsistsonmovingfrom a theology Congress (COMIBAM I) was held in Sao Paulo, Brazil. This of"colonialevangelization" to one of "liberativeevangelization" watershed gathering of 3,000 Christians from Latin America and in which God "always arrives before the missionary." The radi­ other Portuguese- and Spanish-speaking countries (1,000 from cal relationality of the Trinity is paradigmatic of the way cultures Brazil) perhaps surpassed Edinburgh 1910in energy. When Luis should relate to one another in mission as the Gospel is assimi­ Bush declared in the opening plenary address, "Today Latin lated and the church is evangelized through interaction with Americawillleavetheranksof themissionfield, to become a'salt Christians from other cultures." shaker' of missionaries," a new reality was recognized. Latin Examples of how the latter happens include the dialectical America has become part of the global non-Western mission­ mutual listening, learning, and evangelization that is taking sending base. place in Latin America. Boff contends, "The Roman Catholic At the Frontier 2000 Mission Conference of the Presbyterian Church has much to learn from the Protestant churches where Church (USA) in San Diego in September 2000, Oswaldo Prado, love of the word of God is concerned. It has much to learn from a prominent Brazilian pastor and missiologist, delivered a ple­ the Orthodox churches where attention to the liturgy and the nary address, "Is the Third World First?"33 In his introduction he symbolic life of faith is concerned. Fromthe Pentecostal churches quoted Samuel Escobar from the recent CLADE IV in Ecuador: it can learn inculturation in popular culture, and creativity in the "The Holy Spirit has raised up in Latin America a new mission­ organization of its various services and ministries."38 ary awakening. Missionary practice of the past has been aug­ In a similarveinReformed theologianRichard Shaullwrites, mented by a growing readiness of Latin American Christians to "If the movement of the Spirit in our time calls for a new assume the responsibility of the Church, in obedience to the theological paradigm, then the development of it becomes the Word of God. In recentyears, the numberof opportunities for the responsibility and calling of all of us. No religious community, training and sending of missionaries to other continents and Pentecostal, traditional Protestant, or Roman Catholic, can claim contexts has increased." Prado then affirmed: "This statement ownership of it. ... Each of these communities will be able to sumsup, in a few briefwords, thatwhichwe are experiencing on make its own unique contribution, but only as it learns from and our Latin American continent, especially since the decade of the is changed by the others. I would wager that those of us who are 1980s: A missionary awakening never before seen in the history not Pentecostal willbe prepared to make our contribution to this of the Reformed Church in Latin America, resulting in hundreds end as we are transformed through our interaction with them.'?" and hundreds of young people and couples offering themselves The movement of the Spirit through a liberating contextual for the mission fields of those peoples unreachedby the Gospel." evangelization among Pentecostals, Protestants, and Roman Prado reported that more than 2,000 Brazilian missionaries Catholics in Brazil is similar to what is happening in other have been sent to other countries and that the Independent countries of Latin America, and in Africa and Asia as well. Presbyterian Church of Brazil has established three centers for Because of the impressive growthresultingfrom this evangeliza­ missionary training. In addition, he noted that two centers for tion, the demographic center of the church has shifted to the scholarly missionstudies are being inaugurated, where students SouthernHemisphere. Togetherwiththis shift, a new"represen­ will engage in reflection, preparation, and research for mission. tative" global Christianity is being defined and articulated by Pradodeclaredthatwhatwasonce a missionary-receivingchurch non-Western Christians, most of whom are poor and Pentecos­ has been replaced by a continent of Latin missionaries "sent to tal. This different perspective will surelybringmany unexpected the mission fields, notonlyin Brazil, butto other cultures around consequences for those of the old representative Western Chris­ the world." tianity, including upside-down scriptural interpretations, radi­ The transformation of base and direction in global mission cal unlearning, self-emptying, disturbing challenges, surprising today is also bringing about a transformation of mission theol­ partnerships, mission-in-reverse, renewal, new evangelization, ogy. The final chapter of Jose Miguez Bonino's Faces of Latin continuing conversion, mutual transformation, and hope. It is American Protestantism is entitled "InSearch of Unity: Mission as the beginning of a new era of global Christianity, the post­ the Material Principle of a LatinAmerican ProtestantTheology." Westernpost-Christendomera, where the universal Gospel of the By "materialprinciple" Miguez means"a theological orientation kingdom of God finds expression in each particular context as which ... will give coherence and consistency to the understand­ God's redemptive mission goes forth.

108 INTERNATIONAL BULLETIN OF MISSIONARY RESEARCH Notes 1. Zwinglio M. Dias and Joyce Hill, Brazil: A Gracious People in a Spirit, p. 92. Heartless System (New York: Friendship Press, 1997), p. 45. 19. Jose Comblin, "Brazil: Base Communities in the Northeast," in New 2. David Martin, Tongues of Fire: TheExplosion of Protestantism in Latin Face of theChurch in LatinAmerica, ed. Guillermo Cook (Maryknoll, America (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1990), p. 72. N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1994), p. 217. 3. A decade ago Martin saw Catholicbase communities and Umbanda 20. Guillermo Cook, The Expectation of the Poor: Latin American Base as the only serious rivals of Pentecostalism. He suggested that Ecclesial Communities inProtestant Perspective (Maryknoll, N.Y.:Orbis Pentecostalism is "a form of base community plus the therapeutic Books, 1985). recourse to the Spirit found in Umbanda" (ibid., p. 60). 21. Manuel A. Vasquez, The Brazilian Popular Church and the Crisis of 4. Luis N. Rivera, A Violent Evangelism: ThePolitical and Religious Con­ Modernity (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1998), pp. 46, 58. questoftheAmericas (Louisville: WestminsterJohnKnox, 1990),p. 21. 22. Padilla, "The Future of Christianity in Latin America," p. 110. 5. Adrian Hastings has written, "The Christianity of South America 23. Phillip Berryman, Religion in the Megacity: Catholic and Protestant was, primarily, a precise transportation of the Catholicism of the PortraitsfromLatinAmerica (Maryknoll, N.Y.:OrbisBooks, 1996),pp. Iberian Peninsula." A World History of Christianity (Grand Rapids: 63,82. Eerdmans, 1999), p. 328. 24. Stoll, Is LatinAmerica Turning Protestant? p. 131. 6. Pablo Richard, Death of Christendoms, Birth of the Church: Historical 25. Ibid. Analysis and Theological Interpretation of the Church in Latin America 26. Orlando Costas, TheChurch andIts Mission: A Shattering Critiquefrom (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1987). theThirdWorld(Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1974). Also see Christ 7. C. Rene Padilla, "The Future of Christianity in Latin America: OutsidetheGate: MissionBeyond Christendom (Maryknoll, N.Y.:Orbis Missiological Perspectives and Challenges," International Bulletinof Books, 1982) and Liberating News: A Theology of Contextual Missionary Research 23, no. 3 (july 1999): 106. Evangelization (Grand Rapid: Eerdmans, 1989). 8. David Stoll, Is LatinAmerica Turning Protestant? (Berkeley: Univ. of 27. Miguez Bonino, Faces of Latin AmericanProtestantism, pp. vii, viii. California Press, 1990). 28. LatinAmericaMissionNewsService, "A Milestonein LatinAmerican 9. H. McKennie Goodpasture, Cross andSword: An Eyewitness Historyof Evangelism and Cooperation: Fourth Congress on Evangelism," Christianity in LatinAmerica (Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1989), p. [email protected], September 12, 2000. 183. 29. Stoll, Is LatinAmerica Turning Protestant? p. 312. 10. Martin, Tongues of Fire, p. 49. 30. Vasquez, Brazilian Popular Church, p. 231. 11. Ken MacHarg, "Brazil's Surging Spirituality," Christianity Today, 31. Richard Shaull and Waldo Cesar, Pentecostalism and theFutureof the December 4,2000, p. 70. Christian Churches (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), pp. 14, xiii, 36. 12. The WorldChristian Encyclopedia, 2d ed., gives figures of 64.5 million 32. Ibid., p. 162. for the United States, 30.4 million for Germany, and 30.2 million for 33. Oswaldo Prado, "Is The Third World First?" (unpublished paper Brazil. presentedin San Diego, California,September16,2000).The following 13. Martin, Tongues of Fire, p. 282. quotations are from this paper. 14. Membership statistics in this section are taken from WorldChristian 34. Miguez Bonino, Faces of LatinAmerican Protestantism, p. 131. Encyclopedia, 2d ed. 35. Ibid., pp. 132-41. 15. Jose Miguez Bonino, Faces of Latin American Protestantism (Grand 36. Jose Comblin, Segundo Galilea, et al., A missiio a partirda America Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), p. 56. Latina (Mission from Latin America) (Sao Paulo: Paulinas, 1983). 16. Benjamin F. Gutierrez, "The Pentecostal Challenge to Historic 37. Leonardo Boff,New Evangelization: Good NewstothePoor (Maryknoll, Churchesin LatinAmerica," inlnthePower oftheSpirit: ThePentecostal N.Y.: Orbis Books, 1991), p. 37. It is interesting that the subtitle in Challenge to Historic Churches in Latin America, ed. Benjamin F. Portuguese, Perspectiva dos oprimidos, literally means "Perspective of Gutierrez and Dennis A. Smith (Drexel Hill, Pa.: Skipjack Press, the oppressed." For Boff, the oppressed are the subjects of their own 1996) (hereafter Power of the Spirit), p. 9. liberation, and their perspectiveprovidesa key for the transformation 17. Paul Freston, "Between Pentecostalism and the Crisis of of oppressors. Denominationalism," in Power of the Spirit, p. 197. 38. Ibid., p. 47. 18. Leonildo Silveira Campos, "Why Historic Churches Are Declining 39. ShaullandCesar, Pentecostalism andtheFutureoftheChristian Churches, and Pentecostal Churches Are Growing in Brazil," in Power of the p.120.

July 2002 109