The Brazil for Christ Pentecostal Church (Portuguese Pentecostal Brasil para Cristo) is an indigenous Pentecostal denomination founded in Brazil in the 1950s.
This denomination was founded by Manoel de Mello (1929–1990), a construction worker who called himself "Missionary". Mello came to São Paulo from the semi-arid and impoverished state of Pernambuco, and in São Paulo Mello converted in the Assemblies of God, but soon accepted the Healing movement at that time named National Evangelism Crusade, today Foursquare Gospel Church in Brazil.
In 1956 Manoel de Mello started his own church, the Igreja Pentecostal Brasil para Cristo (IBPC) ("Brazil for Christ" Church). Even though he was without a formal education, Mello was an eloquent preacher, using radio to spread his message, and his program, The Voice of Brazil for Christ, lasted on the air for two decades. He held meetings of healing and miracles in public squares and soccer stadiums. The IBPC grew mostly in poor, working-class neighborhoods in east São Paulo, populated mainly by immigrants from Northeast Brazil.
The IPBC reached a nationalwide presence in Brazil, though it is timidily present in foreign lands. Small regional Pentecostal movements were added to the IPBC, but also many people left this movement to start their own denominations, like the God is Love Pentecostal Church, and the House of Blessing Church. For a period of time, the IPBC was a member of the World Council of Churches.
In 1986 Mello left the direction of his church, and died in 1990. The IBPC lost its impetus to the new charismatic movements, passed by internal problems, and lost many members to other churches, such as the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.
The "Brazil for Christ" Church has today a significant presence in Brazil, with more than 1,000 churches, and some foreign work in Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Portugal, and in the USA.
Famous quotes containing the words christ and/or church:
“Because you live, O Christ,
the spirit bird of hope is freed for flying,
our cages of despair no longer keep us closed and life-denying.
The stone has rolled away and death cannot imprison!
O sing this Easter Day, for Jesus Christ has risen!”
—Shirley Erena Murray (20th century)
“In my dreams is a country where the State is the Church and the Church the people: three in one and one in three. It is a commonwealth in which work is play and play is life: three in one and one in three. It is a temple in which the priest is the worshiper and the worshiper the worshipped: three in one and one in three. It is a godhead in which all life is human and all humanity divine: three in one and one in three.”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)