Brazil's Amazon Sees Unprecedented Revival with 14,500 Baptisms
- Milton Quintanilla Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
- Published Sep 10, 2024
Over 14,000 people reportedly were baptized in Brazil's northwest Amazon region in the first six months of this year.
"My family and I all grew up here. My grandmother, grandfather, and my parents lived and died in this house. I was born in this house, and I'm also going to die here," an 83-year-old resident of the Amazon named Ramos told CBN News.
He also shared that he'd rather live in his bamboo house for life by the river than sell it and move to another Brazilian city.
"It's so much cooler here than in the city. You cannot walk freely in the city. It's very dangerous, many cars, many people. I'm free here. I keep my windows open. The doors are always open. At my age, I've never faced danger," Ramos said.
Over half of the Amazon rainforest (60 percent) is in Northwest Brazil, which spans over 6 million square miles of South America. Approximately 30 million Amazonians presently living in the area are experiencing an unprecedented revival.
"God is everything for me. God is my father, and without Jesus, I'm nothing," Ramos, who grew up Catholic, explained.
"Those early days were definitely much, much more difficult than today," said Josué Bengtson, pastor of Belem Foursquare Church concerning evangelism in the area.
Bengtson, who has spent decades crossing the river's intricate network, started first as a missionary and then as a pastor spreading the gospel.
"Back when we started evangelizing in this region, we had just a few workers and, in some municipalities, pastors had to walk 10 to 15 km to open a congregation," Bengtson told CBN News. "Today, almost all medium-sized churches in the Amazon have a small boat."
Bengtson helped establish one of Amazon's first Foursquare churches. Nowadays, there are 3,200 Foursquare congregations alone flourishing across the region.
"In the first six months of this year, we baptized 14,500 people. Our goal for this year is to baptize over 30,000 people," he explained.
Esequiel Santo, who spent 32 years as a missionary in the jungle's interior, shared his experience in sharing the gospel.
"One of the biggest challenges was the isolation and getting used to living among the indigenous or riverside communities," Santo said. "But God was with us in the work; we saw lives being transformed, and so many people heard the gospel, and now we are seeing the fruits."
He also shared the challenges that come with sharing the Good News.
"I'm from Rio de Janeiro, and back then, since I couldn't afford a plane ticket, I had to take a 6-day bus journey to Belem. From there, I went by boat for another six days to the outskirts of the Amazon basin," Santo said. "Once I got there, it took at least 15 days by canoe, not a motorized boat, to paddle up the Solimões River and the Purus River until we reached the remote communities where we worked. Sometimes, it would take 35 days just to get to these remote areas."
José Eustaquio Alves, a leading Brazilian sociologist, noted how long-term pastors or missionaries like Santo have had a positive impact on evangelical churches.
"The Catholic Church has a lot of difficulty in training new priests, so it is very common to see Catholic Churches in the Amazon but not enough priests to lead congregations," Dr. Alves said. "A priest goes once a month or once every semester to the Amazon and is often far from the community. Evangelicals, on the other hand, quickly train pastors who integrate into the community and for a long time."
Today, small evangelical churches are popping up in remote riverside communities.
"I think that the revival that we have been waiting for here in Brazil is happening in the Amazon," Alves said.
Brazilian senator and evangelical Pastor Damares Regina Alves believes this movement to be a miracle that is reshaping spiritual practices and building a sense of community and empowerment.
"For many years, people looked at the Amazon and only saw rivers and trees. Today, people are beginning to remember that there are people living there who need to be taken care of, who need to hear the gospel, and whose lives need a transformation. The church is making this revolution happen," said Alves.
WATCH: Revival Grips Brazil's Amazon: 'We Baptized 14,500 People' | CBN News
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