The annual "March for Jesus" event in Brazil
drew more than 1.5 million evangelical
Christians Monday.
In its 17th year, the event brings together
hundreds of evangelical churches in a country
that is home to the world’s largest Roman
Catholic population. Seventy-four percent of the
country describes themselves as Roman Catholic.
The march is held each year on the same day the
Catholic Church celebrates the Corpus Christi
holiday, which is not observed by evangelical
Protestants but is a national holiday in Brazil.
Participants marched 2.5 miles in San Paulo and
heard music from Christian bands and messages
from preachers and local celebrities, according
to The Associated Press.
The event was sponsored by Reborn in Christ
Church, whose leaders had recently returned
after serving a combined year’s worth of U.S.
legal punishment for attempted money smuggling.
The punishment included a prison sentence, house
arrest, and probation. Estevam Hernandes Filho
and his wife, Sonia Haddad Moraes Hernandes, had
failed to declare $56,000 in cash that they had
carried on a flight from San Paulo to Miami. The
money was hidden among a child’s backpack, a
Bible case and other bags.
The march is partly seen as a welcome home event
for Filho and Hernandes.
But participant Andrea Pazin told AP that the
march was not just about the influential
ministry couple because it takes place annually
with or without them.
“They are important to us – they founded the
church,” Pazin said. “But what is happening here
is bigger than them. It’s a celebration for
Jesus.”
Last year, more than 48,000 churches and over
850,000 homes in Brazil participated in one of
the largest evangelistic outreaches in history.
The television outreach, which featured
Brazilian soccer superstar Kaka sharing his
testimony of hope and faith in Jesus Christ, was
part of the My Hope Brazil project, a ministry
of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
During the three-day outreach last November,
local Christians invited friends and family
members to their homes to watch evangelistic
programs that would be broadcast during prime
time. Following the program, viewers of the
program were encouraged to share their personal
testimonies and invite those who gathered in
their house to accept or rededicate their lives
to Jesus Christ.
My Hope Brazil and March for Jesus are some of
the large-scale evangelical events that reflect
the movement’s strong growth in Brazil.
Evangelical Protestants have grown from nine
percent in 1990 to 15 percent, according to the
2000 census. Meanwhile, the Catholic population
has decreased from 84 percent in 1990 to 74
percent in the same period.
The increase in evangelical growth has caused
some resentment from Brazil’s Catholic Church,
which has accused evangelical Protestant
churches of seeking to convert Catholics.
