Pentecostalism is the fastest-growing Christian denomination in Brazil, with a community of believers in Pentecostal churches that has surged since the 1990s while the largest denomination, Roman Catholicism, has undergone a decline. At some points, churches were appearing as rapidly as one church per day. Pentecostalism in Brazil traces its roots to the Azusa Street Revival in 1906 in Los Angeles and, like Pentecostal movements in other countries, emphasizes a second act of grace following conversion that results in gifts of the Spirit such as glossolalia and healing. Despite a history dating only to the early 20th century, Pentecostalism became the dominant Protestant movement in Brazil by the late 20th century. Pentecostals have not formed a single unified church but comprise numerous denominations, including the Assemblies of God, Christian Congregation, Foursquare Gospel Church, Brazil for Christ, God is Love, and neo-Pentecostal groups such as the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and New Life Church. These denominations exhibit minor doctrinal and organizational differences, target diverse social groups, and employ varied methods to achieve their goals. Many smaller Pentecostal denominations emerged primarily from internal splits within these major groups. Sociologists note that such fragmentation enhances Pentecostalism's competitiveness against traditional churches. The total number of Pentecostals in Brazil is estimated at 25.37 million.
History Scholars organize the Pentecostal movement in Brazil into three types, or "waves", organized by both time periods and doctrinal shifts. There may be up to a hundred million Pentecostals in Brazil.
First wave: the Assemblies of God, 1910–1950s
The Pentecostal movement in Brazil began simultaneously in two locations, Belém and São Paulo, approximately 2,000 kilometers apart, with Europeans who converted to Pentecostalism in the United States as the first missionaries. These first Pentecostal churches emphasized gifts of the Spirit such as speaking in tongues, casting out demons, and prophesying. The movement gave rise to two major denominations: the Assemblies of God and the Christian Congregation.
In 1911, two Swedish missionaries, Gunnar Vingren and Daniel Berg, founded future Assemblies of God churches in northern Brazil, holding their first service on 13 June 1911 in Belém. Vingren and Berg, who had emigrated from Sweden to the United States in 1902 for economic reasons, encountered Pentecostalism in Chicago in 1909. Prompted by a vision and prophecy from their friend Olaf Uldin, they arrived in Belém in 1910 and joined a Baptist church, organizing prayer meetings to encourage members to seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Baptist pastor prohibited their activities, arguing that such practices were limited to the apostolic era, leading to the expulsion of 18 supporters. Vingren and Berg avoided emphasizing social mobility or formal education because of their experiences of cultural marginalization in Sweden, which led to the development of national leadership within the Assemblies of God. From Belém, Pentecostalism spread across the northeast, but its southward expansion was slow, reaching São Paulo only in 1927. By 1930, the Assemblies of God had 15,000 members and became autonomous from Sweden, with churches in nearly every state in Brazil. That year, the church's headquarters moved from Belém to Rio de Janeiro, and leadership was transferred to Brazilian nationals. Vingren returned to Sweden in 1932. Post-1934 American missionaries began to arrive, but were generally not well-accepted in the existing national network of churches and missionaries virtually ceased post-1950s.
Until 1930, the Assemblies of God faced slow growth and significant obstacles. Efforts at proselytizing were met with hostility in Brazilian society, occasionally involving physical violence instigated by local elites. Loyalty to established churches, fear of social ostracism, and nationalism – since the missionaries were foreigners – hindered progress. Initially, Brazilian nationals played secondary roles, and leadership hesitated to transfer authority to them. This issue was resolved in 1930, marking the beginning of rapid growth, which accelerated in the 1950s. The Assemblies of God became Brazil's leading Pentecostal denomination and its largest Protestant church. In the 1940s, the denomination established its own publishing house.
In 1910, an Italian man named Luigi Francescon founded a church in São Paulo which became the Christian Congregation in Brazil, a hub for Italian immigrants who comprised 48% of São Paulo state's population at the time. Francescon, who had experienced a Pentecostal awakening in Chicago in 1907, including speaking in tongues, traveled to Buenos Aires and then São Paulo following a vision. He preached at a Presbyterian church, but the pastor banned him from liturgical duties due to his Pentecostal teachings. Nevertheless, 20 members joined him to form the Christian Congregation. Initially growing among Italian immigrants, it adopted Portuguese for services in 1935. Growth has slowed since the 1940s, in part because it is primarily a rural and small-town church. The denomination avoids keeping statistics, citing an Old Testament prohibition on counting people, and opposes using literature, radio, or television for evangelism, as well as open-air evangelistic events. It lacks formal pastors, relying on elders and deacons, and sermons are unprepared, retaining an Italian-Brazilian character.
During the Great Depression in the 1930s, declining demand for Brazil's agricultural exports prompted industrialization. Industrial centers emerged in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, attracting migrants from across Brazil and driving urbanization. By 1970, 25% of Brazil's population lived in nine industrialized, densely populated regions. This industrial revolution paralleled the rise of Pentecostalism, which flourished in urban areas but remained limited in rural, agricultural regions. Sociologists suggest that urban migrants, free from rural social pressures and "feudal loyalty", were more open to changing their faith. The social upheaval encouraged migrants to seek new communities for identity, with Pentecostal churches providing one such option.This factor also influenced Chile, where C. L. D'Epinay observed that Pentecostalism appealed to rural migrants in cities due to changes in traditional social systems ().
Despite the emergence of new denominations over a century, the Assemblies of God remained the largest Pentecostal denomination in the early 21st century. According to IBGE censuses, the Assemblies of God had 8.4 million adult members in 2000 and 12.3 million in 2010. Prolades reported 15,676,692 members in 116,000 congregations in 2010. Church data and the Brazilian Evangelical Association (AEVB) estimated 22.5 million members in 2011.
Second wave: the Foursquare gospel, 1954–1980s
The epicenter of the second wave of Brazilian Pentecostalism was São Paulo, beginning in the 1950s. It differed from the first wave in its emphasis on healing as a gift of the Holy Spirit and its use of mass media to reach even greater parts of the Brazilian populace. Until the 1950s, the Assemblies of God and Christian Congregation were Brazil's only significant Pentecostal groups.
A former actor named Harold Williams helped start a Brazilian extension of Aimee Semple McPherson's L.A.-based Foursquare Gospel church in 1954. It would eventually be called the IEQ, after several restructures from the National Evangelization Crusade to the Crusade Church to IEQ. Williams conducted tent revivals in São Paulo, preached divine healing, and utilized media, attracting many Pentecostal pastors. Perhaps because of its association with the Foursquare church, 35% of the IEQ's pastors are women, making it unique among the historical Brazilian churches. By 1988, the church would become totally separate from the Los Angeles church. It also began experiencing significant growth in the 1980s and experienced significant growth, becoming one of the fastest-growing churches in Brazil. The denomination has a distinctly American character but showed greater tolerance for local customs than earlier groups.
Brazil for Christ (BPC) was founded in 1955 and was the first major Pentecostal church to be founded by a Brazilian. Manoel de Mello began as a preacher in the National Evangelization Crusade, but quickly left it to form his own church, modeled after the Chile for Christ church, after accusations of charlatanism. De Melo purchased radio airtime on major stations and, as an effective speaker, drew crowds of up to 100,000 during evangelistic campaigns. By 1963, he established 1,100 congregations and built a 25,000-seat temple in São Paulo. The BPC quickly became a staple in São Paulo religious life, even getting involved in politics (which most Pentecostal churches at that time left alone). It joined the World Council of Churches in 1969, the third Pentecostal group to do so after two Chilean denominations in 1961. By the 1980s, however, the church's influence had diminished greatly.
American preacher Robert McAlister initially worked with both the Assemblies of God and the Foursquare Gospel Church. His popular radio program led to the founding of the New Life Church in Rio de Janeiro in 1960. Uniquely, this denomination reaches the middle class, challenging sociologists' view that Pentecostalism primarily serves the working masses. In the 1960s, Pentecostalism began influencing traditional Protestant churches.
The God Is Love church (IPDA) belongs to the second wave, with its founding in 1962 by David Miranda, Manoel de Melo's brother-in-law, and use of the radio to reach large numbers of (mostly poor) Brazilians, but it precedes the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in its reclamation of Catholic rituals and its attacks on religious beliefs based in Afro-Brazilian traditions like candomblé and umbanda. It faced strong competition from the Universal Church after 1977 and is known for constructing large temples.
The second wave coincided with urbanization, modernization, nationalism, and mass communication.
Third wave: The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God
The third wave of Pentecostalism is sometimes referred to as neo-Pentecostalism or post-Pentecostalism, and is generally associated with the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD). For this and several other churches like the International Grace of God Church, Rebirth in Christ established in 1986, and Evangelical Community Heal Our Earth founded in 1976, the focus moved to curing, prosperity, and spiritual warfare against the evil spirits which are believed to populate the world. In 2000, the Bola de Neve church emerged, lacking formal theology or liturgy and emphasizing work, surfing, and skateboarding. Its chapels feature surfboard imagery instead of crosses, yet it strictly enforces premarital chastity and prohibits drugs and alcohol. The church leverages media and spectacle, reflecting the rise of religious marketing in Brazil at the turn of the 21st century.
The IURD, commonly known as the Universal Church, was founded in Rio de Janeiro in 1977 by Edir Macedo. Founded during a military dictatorship and economic recession, it appealed to residents of cities like Rio de Janeiro hoping for an economic miracle. In 1989, Macedo and the IURD purchased TV Record for $52 million, at the time the Brazil's fifth-largest TV network, aiding in its evangelism. It has about one and a half million members, mainly located in Rio, São Paulo, and Bahia. The church also engages in publishing, producing the national newspaper Folha Universal with a circulation of 2.5 million, and owns a network of radio stations.