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