The Christian Congregation in Brazil () was founded in Brazil by the

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

missionary Luigi Francescon (1866–1964), as part of the larger Christian Congregation movement.

History

Louis Francescon came for the first time to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

from

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1910. After arriving in São Paulo, Francescon went to Santo Antonio da Plantina, Paraná. His eleven missionary trips were quite successful among fellow Italian immigrants and Brazilian nationals. The ''Christian Congregation of Brazil'' is one of the most dynamic and it is fast-growing. In 2016, the Christian Congregation in the Brazil had around 2.8 million members2000 Brazilian Census

IBGE The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (; IBGE) is the agency responsible for official collection of statistical, geographic, cartographic, geodetic and environmental information in Brazil. IBGE performs a decennial national cen ...

in 2020 and 24,272 temples (2021) in that country and more than 50,000 temples in all world and an intense missionary work abroad. In the metro area of São Paulo, the church shows its strength: there are 500,000 followers, distributed in 2,000 churches and a mother-church in the Brás district that houses a 9,800 member congregation in the Brás district. Francescon was among the early founders of the Italian-American Pentecostal church in Chicago. He had left the First Italian Presbyterian Church of Chicago because of his belief in Water

Baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

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. Later, he accepted the

doctrine Doctrine (from , meaning 'teaching, instruction') is a codification (law), codification of beliefs or a body of teacher, teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a ...

s of anointing with oil,

miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

s, and

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

baptism at the North Avenue Full Gospel Mission led by William Howard Durham. Evangelists from Chicago went to the Italian colonies in the United States planting churches mostly in the Northeast. Most of those churches were incorporated into the Christian Church of North America, with a few affiliated with the Christian Congregation in the United States.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Christian Congregation (Pentecostal) Christian organizations established in 1910 1910 establishments in Brazil Pentecostal denominations in South America Pentecostal churches in Brazil