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Brazil

Brazilian General Conference
Nikkei Annual Conference

  • Population: 195,423,252 (86.5% urban)
  • Major Cities: São Paulo (20 million), Rio de Janeiro (12 million), Belo Horizonte (5.9 million)
  • Evangelical Christians: 26.3%
  • FM Work Opened: 1928
  • Organized FM Churches: 104
  • FMC Membership: 15,314
  • Ordained Ministers: 153
  • Ministerial Candidates: 32
  • Bishop (Brazilian General Conference): José Ildo Swartelle de Mello
  • Nikkei Annual Conference Superintendent: Marcelo Takara
  • Ecclesiastical Accountability
    Brazilian General Conference: Free Methodist World Conference
    Nikkei Annual Conference: FMC-USA through Bishop David Roller

Origins

In 1928 Daniel Nishizumi, a Free Methodist minister, traveled from Japan to Brazil at his own expense to do missionary work among the Japanese living there. He was followed by other Japanese laymen and ministers in an influx of Japanese immigration. The first FM church was organized in 1936.

Ten years later the first board-appointed missionaries arrived, Misses Lucile Damon and Helen Voller. They, and those that followed, worked with both the Japanese and the Brazilians. A seminary was built in Mairipora and later relocated in 1965 in the city of São Paulo. Because of the differences in language and culture, the churches separated into two conferences in 1966: the Nikkei (or Japanese) and the Brazilian.

Present Ministries

Brazil, and particularly the Saõ Paulo metro area, is home to the largest Japanese community outside of Japan – 1.5 million. The Nikkei Conference has 2,330 members and 30 churches.

The Brazilian FMC has seen significant growth in recent years. In 2003 the Brazilian conference became a provisional general conference and elected their first suffragan bishop, José Ildo Swartelle de Mello. In August 2004, the Brazilian Provisional General Conference reorganized with five annual conferences. This conference was recognized as a general conference in November 2007.

Outreach

The Brazilian Free Methodist Church has sent missionaries to Portugal, Italy, Japan, Hungary, a creative access country, East Timor (Indonesia), Equatorial Guinea, Venezuela, and the Suruwahá tribe in the Amazon Rainforest. Furthermore, the general conference oversees a mission district in Angola.