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Evangelical Church of the
Lutheran Confession in Brazil
The Igreja Evangelica de
Confissao Luterana no Brasil (IECLB) started with the arrival of the
first German immigrants in 1824, two years after Brazil's political independence from
Portugal. They settled in Southern Brazil and gathered in congregations led by teachers
and other lay people. Later, the German church sent pastors and missionaries and continued
to assist the immigrants. Beginning in 1886, four Synods were created, each one relating
separately to the "Mother Church" in Germany. After World War II, the Synods began to work
toward forming a single church. In 1968, a common constitution and the present name were
officially adopted.
As of 2004 the IECLB has 715,959 members and is the
largest Lutheran church in South America. IECLB membership was once predominantly rural
but has increasingly been drawn to the bigger cities. Its primary functions are mission,
service, education, communication and interchurch and ecumenical relations. The formation
of new congregations has been on the increase in recent years.
In 1998 a new structure was adopted. There
are now 18 synods, 471 parishes with 1810 congregations and 1162 preaching
points. There are 719 pastors, 70 catechists, 103 deacon(es), and 16
missionaries. The mission focuses on service to the excluded members of
society.
The Escola Superior de Teologia (EST) is the center for
theological education for the IECLB. It is located in Sao Leopoldo and has over 250
students and a faculty of 15. The EST has an Ecumenical Graduate Institute which offers
master's level and doctoral degrees in theology. It also has institutes for training lay
leaders for congregations, for training catechists and parochial school teachers, and for
the formation of church musicians and music teachers.
The seminary has a grant supported by the
ELCA which promotes awareness and inclusiveness of the Afro-brazilian
population and culture within the seminary program.
Ecumenical dialogue and relations are an important part of
the work of the IECLB. The National Council of Christian Churches in Brazil was formed in
partnership with the Roman Catholic Church. The churches are working to alleviate
suffering and to build a solid basis for a democratic society. The biggest challenge is
the need for agrarian reform to avoid continuing migration from the country to the cities.
Pastoral programs are trying to address the concern about migration.
The IECLB receives foreign support for some missionary
outreach programs in Northern Brazil and in urban areas, as well as diaconic services with
landless people, small farmers, indigenous peoples, street children and others. One office
provides pastoral accompaniment and legal advice, and also advocates for indigenous people
seeking to claim their rights for land in Brazil. It also works with issues related to the
militarization of indigenous territories.
In cooperation with the South to South program of
ELCA Global Mission/ELCA, the IECLB sent a missionary to assist the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
Mozambique. This is a natural pairing because both countries are Portuguese speaking. The
IECLB also shares pastors with churches in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and
Honduras. The IECLB has a companion relationship with the Lutheran Confessional Theology at the seminary in Matanzas,
Cuba, and has shared resources with them as well as written theological
materials. They also send materials in Portuguese to Angola.
The
Reconciliation Community Program, "Reconciliação," was set up to serve the great number of children and youth who
spend most of their time in the streets. It began its work in 1986 in a region south of
Sao Paulo where immigrants from northeast Brazil have settled. It was created as a
response to the problem of abandoned children -- those whose parents work and leave them
unsupervised or who left their homes seeking a way out of their struggles and sufferings.
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