Brazil

Statistics

A country renowned for its astounding natural beauty, unexplored rainforests and dazzling tropical beaches, it is home to people of remarkable energy and joy. However, Brazil also has one of the largest rich-poor gaps in the world.

History

The indigenous societies that once dominated the land were overtaken by the Portuguese settlers in 1500 who established successful trading posts along the coast.

In 1822 Brazil achieved independence from Portugal and was declared a republic in 1889; however, over the next few decades Brazil’s democracy was replaced by military rule three times.

Finally, in November 2002, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former factory worker, was elected president. When Lula, as he is known to Brazilians, took over in January 2003, he became Brazil’s first socialist president in four decades. In 2011 Dilma Rousseff became Brazil’s first woman president.
 

Current challenges

The government is under pressure to redress one of the most unfair distributions of wealth in the world. Serious social deprivation is a reality that exists side by side with strong economic growth.

In the big cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo a fifth of the population live in ‘favelas’, or slums, where economic conditions are very difficult, and drug-related violent crime is common.
 

BMS involvement in Brazil

BMS has been involved in Brazil since 1953 where personnel have been involved in church planting, leadership training, theological teaching, creating pre-schools known as PEPEs and rural development work.

Mark Greenwood, BMS’ regional team leader for South America, and his wife Suzana, work at the headquarters of the Brazilian Baptist Convention heading up the newly-created department for social action.
 

The land

Brazil is almost a continent in itself with a different landscape in every direction. The north forms the largest tropical rainforest in the world, the north-east is semi-arid scrubland, often affected by drought, the mid-west is known for its vast plains and the south and south-east are the main agricultural areas where coffee, soya beans, rice, cotton, sugar cane, corn and wheat are all grown.

Religion

The Roman Catholic Church claims allegiance from over 73 per cent of the population, however, it acknowledges that only 20 per cent attend Mass and an estimated 600,000 leave the Church annually to Evangelicals and to spiritism.

The first Brazilian Baptist church was formed in 1882 and the Brazilian Baptist Convention came into being in 1907 and grew rapidly. It has now over one million members in over 6,700 churches.