Brazil July 2010 (3)

Presbyterian churches in Brazil are divided in two larger branches, and some minor ones.

The first Presbyterian missionary to come to Brazil was Ashbell Green Simonton. A Princeton alumnus, he arrived in Rio de Janeiro in August 12, 1859. In a few years he founded churches in Rio, São Paulo and Campinas, organizing a presbytery. He and his wife died still young, of tropical diseases that plagued the country.
Mainstream Igreja Presbiteriana do Brasil (founded 1859) has over 3,200 churches and an estimated membership around 600,000 all over the country. IPB owns Mackenzie Presbyterian Institute, a traditional and respected university in São Paulo. Mackenzie is also a network of schools in major Brazilian cities where students are taught Creationism and how to combat Darwinism and the theses of evolutionism. IPB leaders sustain an orthodox, conservative puritan theological position, rejecting ecumenism, feminism and other practices seen as contrary to orthodoxy. In 2006 IPB quit the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC).

The first Presbyterian church in Rio (built in 1862) is called The Presbyterian Cathedral, and features a Notre Dame-style façade.


Igreja Presbiteriana Independente (IPI) split from IPB in 1903, after a controversy over the role of US missionaries in IPB and about the admission of Free Masons as members. Most churches are located in central and South of Brazil, especially São Paulo and Paraná states. An evangelical pluralist church, its theologians hold positions from conservative to progressist. IPI is a correspondent church to PC-USA and a WARC and WCC member.

In 20th century doctrinal discussions led to creation of IPC (Conservadora) and IPR (Renovada), this one due to adoption of charismatic practices.

The newest branch of Presbyterianism in Brazil is IPU – Igreja Presbiteriana Unida, which appeared in 1978 after a long period of repression against pastors and officers in IPB in the ‘60s and 70’s. Common charges were: theological liberalism, ecumenism and leftist ideas (namely, communism). The new church didn't come from the seccession of a major church, but as the gathering of local communities sharing a common heritage.
Several Presbyterian communities were closed or expelled from IPU, and pastors dismissed, especially for disagreement with the church’s support of the military dictatorship. At least one youth leader was killed by the military, and many had to leave the country. Most of them were contemporaries of Richard Shaull, mentor of a generation of theology students in Latin America. IPU now numbers fifty local communities. A WARC and WCC member, it is the only Reformed church in ecumenical CONIC, the National Council of Christian Churches in Brazil. IPU is also a correspondent church to PC-USA.