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The Brazilian Missionary Movement Takes Off© copyright 2003, Antonio Carlos Barro, Ph.D. Why Brazil?Brazil celebrated five hundred years of its discovery in year 2000, if we may use this word. Five hundred years of Catholic domination, from the beginning until today. The cross and the sword came at the same time. One to domesticate the people and the other to domesticate their souls. Brazil, the giant in South America, a country with a continental size, with over 165 million people. People from every possible background: white, black, yellow, mixed, rich, poor, educated, illiterate, powerful landlords with immense mansions, while others are landless and consequently homeless. A land full of mystery, very religious, syncretistic, Catholic, Pentecostal, Spiritist. Brazil, the eighth economic power in the world. Brazil, a country which poses no harm to any nation in particular. The easygoing character of its people makes it possible for the Brazilians to be found all over the world. There is no agreement on how many evangelicals there are in Brazil. Some figures show 20% of the Brazilian population. However, the latest census from 1996 tells us that the evangelical population is 10.95%. If the growth of the evangelicals continue with this rate, by the year 2045 the evangelical population will be half of Brazil's population. The growth of the Protestant church has attracted the attention of the Vatican. Pope John Paul II has visited Brazil twice (1980 and 1997). What worries him and caused his visits is the growth of Pentecostalism which begins to threaten the hegemony of the Catholic Church in Brazil. Leonardo Boff, still a prominent voice within the Catholic circle, declares that "the growth of the Evangelical church is based on its own merit, due to the fact that they are more organized e closer to the Brazilian reality". The major Pentecostal denomination is the Assemblies of God with its membership of more than ten million members. Other major denominations are: The Universal Church of God’s Kingdom, Christian Congregation, Four Square Gospel and many other Pentecostal churches. Among the mainline denominations, the Baptists and Lutherans are on the top of the rank. Why Missionary?Missionary because this is the nature of the true church. Brazilian Protestantism, established in the early 19th century, was slow to undertake mission work overseas. Brazil with its vast territory has mostly been seen as a mission field. There are numerous historical reasons for the lack of indigenous missionaries: Churches were supported by foreign mission boards; when money was available it was enough only to pay a local pastor; there was no knowledge of mission fields outside Brazil; by and large, the missionaries failed to see the Brazilian churches as capable of participating of the missionary enterprise; some denominations were directed by missionaries and they did not see the need of sending missionaries from Brazil since their mission board at home was doing exactly that; and the thought, among the Brazilians, that there was so much to be done in Brazil before venturing overseas was prevalent (and to some extent still is) among Brazilian church leaders. The rise of indigenous missionary efforts started around 1911 when Presbyterians sent their first missionary to Portugal with the intent to revitalize the Portuguese Presbyterian Church. Faith Missions started to appear in the late 1960's as a result of an awakening for missions when many local churches started to have their own missions conferences. Books, articles and many lectures were given challenging the Brazilian churches to participate in mission. COMIBAM'87, the first Ibero-American mission conference ever, was also another major way of encouraging the churches to be part of the missionary enterprise. More than half of the missionary force from Brazil, which numbers around 1450, is from mainline denominations. This is interesting because 80% of the evangelicals in Brazil are from some Pentecostal tradition. It does not mean that they are working under some denominational board. The majority of them work with Faith Missions even though they raise their support among the mainline churches. Sixty-eight per cent of the missionaries are married, twenty-one per cent are single women. There are Brazilians developing all kinds of missionary work on six continents, including evangelism, theological and secular education, planting churches and medical services. Latin America receives the highest contingent of them, followed by Europe and Africa. Portugal is the country which receives most missionaries and this is understandable because of the shared Portuguese language. Why Movement?Brazil is considered, along with Korea, to become one of the principal missionary sending countries in the next decade. Training for the missionary, mainly his or her character, church’s loyalty in sending the promised support, and partnership with receiving churches are areas that need attention in the future if the Brazilian churches want to grow in their ability to participate meaningfully in the missionary task and the movement does not become and event. How are we taking off?Strong PointsWe are a very flexible people, easy to adjust to most cultures in the world due to our background of suffering and misery. We can live with one third of the resources given to missionaries from North America and Europe. Most of the Brazilian will live close to the people where they are ministering with and to. Weak PointsUnfortunately, most of the missionaries are going out without appropriated training. The urgency to tell about Christ is cutting short their time for preparation. Financial support from Brazil is very vulnerable. One or two churches out of ten have some kind of missionary vision. A prospective missionary may visit five to eigth churches in order to raise a hundred dollars. When support is promised there is no guarantee that the church will honor it when financial pressure comes to their congregation or denominational office. Due to lack of mission’s history background the Brazilian missionaries tend to repeat the same mistakes that the missionaries did in Brazil as we mentioned above. Pitfalls to AvoidWe need to avoid the use of "getting around" in order to get to the mission field. Brazilians are prone to accommodate things. For almost every situation one will find a way to get through. We need to avoid the Lone Ranger syndrome and develop partnership among the agencies, mainly those who are not under any denominational rule. We need to avoid the sentiment of urgency and send the missionaries when their financial support is totally secured and a good theological and missiological education has been given. We need to avoid the sentiment of superiority that almost every nation has in relation to other nations. How can we help with the taking off of the Brazilian Missionaries?I can say that there are 3 important things here: Raise of the Conscience LevelEvery Christian must understand that this is not our final destination. There is a Kingdom to come and a King to reign for ever. We are here to help in any possible way how to make the name of Jesus known among the nations. This is our job and if we are not helping it we need to go to a second conversion: conversion to the lost world. EducationWithout education we do more harm than good. Willingness and goodwill are not enough for a very profitable missionary work. (1) We need to educate our leaders in Brazil. Most of them are illiterate about the concept of God’s Kingdom. They are, most of the time, concerned with their local churches or their denomination. (2) We need to educate our church members. They are blind to the reality that the church exists for mission. They become angry if we talk about sending a missionary or helping a missionary financially. (3) Finally, we need to educate our missionaries. They need to slow down that eagerness to get to the mission field and learn more about what to do when they get there. PartnershipIf you would tell Calvin, Luther, Carey and John Wesley that by the year 2000 the Brazilians would go to their countries to evangelize their people, what would their reaction have been? If you would tell, Jonathan Edwards and D. L. Moody that by the year 2000 the Brazilians would go to their countries to evangelize their people, what would their reaction have been? What is your reaction? What if I say that your missionary force is decreasing every single day and ours is increasing. You may say: "This is good!". No, this is bad, because if a church stops being a missionary church, it does not have a reason to exist. Do not rely on your resources alone for future existence. Do not think that God is a prisoner of your resources. He owns the universe. He is capable of shifting things around. We are here to stay. I do not know how we are going to stay, but I trust that the Lord of harvest knows it well. ConclusionThis is the new reality that Habakkuk was talking about. I know that this is hard to believe, but this is reality from now on. The Lord is doing something new, renewing the missionary history, reviving the Church (Hab. 3:2). Article posted on May 9, 2003.Revised: May 9, 2003. |