Mar 17: Brazil
Brazil
Federative Republic of Brazil
Latin America
See Prayer Information
Geography
Area: 8,511,965 sq kmOne-half of the land surface and population of South America. The world’s fifth largest country in both area and population.
Population: 195,423,252 Annual Growth: 0.99%
Capital: Brasilia
Urbanites: 86.5%
HDI Rank: 75 of 182 (UN Human Development Reports 2009)
Peoples
Peoples: 315 (18% unreached) All peoplesUnreached Peoples Prayer Card
Official language: Portuguese Languages:193 All languages
Religion
Largest Religion: Christian| Religion | Pop % | Ann Gr | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christians | 178,616,852 | 91.40 | 1.1 |
| Evangelicals | 51,334,091 | 26.3 | 1.7 |
Answer to Prayer
Large-scale events celebrating Jesus – such as the Global Day of Prayer, the March for Jesus, the National Council of Indigenous Pastors and Leaders and other such rallies – are recording unprecedented numbers. These proclaim Christ to the nation, but they also build a much greater sense of unity within the striking breadth of Christian expression in Brazil. Less numerous but just as significant was the Meeting of Indigenous Amazonian People which drew together 47 ethnic groups for reconciliation, fellowship, training and commitment to evangelize the rest of the region.For an additional 3 Answers to Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
Challenge for Prayer
The emergence of evangelicals in Brazil has been dramatic. Yet despite the growth – from 2.9% in 1960 to 26.3% in 2010 – there are many prayer needs:a) Numerical rather than spiritual growth is the emphasis of too many groups, to the point of dishonest inflation of numbers and disregard for discipleship. As a result, churches have “multiplied”, but congregations are filled with immature, unfed spiritual infants whose faith is overly based on emotionalism, petty legalism and the personality of leaders. Such zeal without maturity leads to spiritual error, nominalism, widespread church-hopping without commitment to a particular church and large-scale backsliding.
b) Prosperity theology has shaped much of Pentecostalism in Brazil, with those on top of the pyramid enjoying celebrity status and lifestyles – as well as financial scandals – while millions of poor hold out for a miracle of healing or financial blessing. Pray for a right balance between expectation of blessing and daily sanctification.
c) Leadership models are sorely lacking, as witnessed by the scandals and moral failures of some high-profile leaders characterized more by their wealth, power and lack of accountability than their humility and faithfulness. The celebrity bishop model is unsustainable, and there needs to be new ways of shaping and growing leaders who will be well suited for bringing discipleship and societal impact to Brazil’s evangelicals.
d) Effective appropriate training is a key to addressing the above issues. Rapid growth, especially among Pentecostals, has generated a dearth of trained leaders. With over 200,000 evangelical congregations, traditional education models are inadequate to meet the need. Many are making pastoral training a top priority now; Baptists, Presbyterians and Foursquare are examples of such groups developing new seminaries, TEE programmes and in-service training opportunities. AoG has over 17,000 students on 420 extension campuses, but even this is not enough to meet the need. Pray for wise and creative solutions to this challenge.
e) Unity. Evangelical denominations have mushroomed in the last 20 years as new groups form with almost every theological disagreement or inter-personal conflict. There could be over 4,000 distinct evangelical groups. The success mentality based on numbers and income can induce rivalry and jealousy. Pray for the Evangelical Association of Brazil to be a means of fostering lasting unity, fellowship and prayerful cooperation.
For an additional 11 Challenges for Prayer see Operation World book, CD-ROM, or DVD-ROM.
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