Brazil

The country of Brazil occupies one-half of both the land surface and population of South America. It is the world’s fifth largest country in both area and population.

Brazil is a very religious country; about 90% of the population declared some sort of religious affiliation in the most recent census. It’s also very religiously diverse. While nearly 70% are Roman Catholic, there are also many who are affiliated with Protestant denominations, including Pentecostals, Methodists, Baptists and Episcopalians. Spiritism and other Afro-Brazilian cults are also growing in popularity; it’s estimated that nearly one-third or more Brazilians visit Spiritist priests or guides, happily practicing Catholicism and Spiritism together.

CMF has been working in Brazil since 1957, and all ministries are now overseen by Brazilian ministers and lay leaders. Although we do not have missionaries on the field, there is an ongoing church-planting ministry through a CMF-led partnership of Brazilian and American churches. Brazilian businessman Carlos Franco oversees the partnership in the field and serves as president of CMF Brazil. One new church was established in the last year and another is beginning to get underway in 2012.

A new outreach is also developing in a poverty-stricken region in northeast Brazil, where joblessness, drug abuse and the underage sex trade is prevalent. A large part of the strategy for this area involves training members of local churches in Community Health Evangelism (CHE) principles to mobilize them to address these pressing issues.