In 1950, 93 percent of Brazilians identified as Catholics. But since 1991, the Catholic Church started to lose 1 percent of its followers every year.
Evangelical Christianity, once a minority faith in Brazil, is now growing at unprecedented levels. The surveys show that what was once the world’s largest Catholic nation, will be overwhelming evangelical by 2030.
Signs of this growth are everywhere—mega-churches dotting the landscape, filled with thousands of worshippers each week. That includes Andre Fernandes‘ church in São Paulo.
He said, “We are living in the fulfillment of a promise. For many decades, we have heard that Brazil would experience a wave of revival that would be exported around the world, and I believe that this is what we are experiencing at this moment.”
Marcelo Crivella, a well-known evangelical pastor turned politician, once served as mayor of Rio de Janeiro. He says that, years ago, evangelical Christians hesitated to get involved in politics—but that’s no longer the case.
More than 30% of the country’s legislators are now evangelical….that includes more than 140 deputies and more than 20 senators,
Many of them gather each Wednesday in the halls of Brazil’s Congress for worship and prayer.