Images of Brazil Article

AbstractThis article seeks to explore the role that Brazilian churchesplay in way Brazil is remembered by Brazilian migrants in theUnited Kingdom. Many researchers have indicated thesignificance of the spiritual, emotional and social supportthat churches offer to migrants. Yet for many migrants theexperience of being in the United Kingdom is one that raisestheir awareness of being Brazilian. Thus participating in aBrazilian evangelical church can become a means of affirmingone’s Brazilian identity, through the use of Portuguese inservices, eating typical Brazilian food and celebratingBrazilian dates. This article explores the way images ofBrazil are constructed in the services and sermons of fourPentecostal churches in London suggesting that there are threemain ways such images are constructed. The first nurtures thesense of “saudade” which many migrants may feel in relation toBrazil. This may often involve the construction of anidealised image of Brazil and an affirmation of a desire to beback in Brazil. However, this idealization does not validatethe decision of migrants to, at least temporarily, leaveBrazil and live overseas. Thus a second way of constructingimages of Brazil focuses on the problems and difficultieswhich may have encouraged migrants to depart from Brazil inthe first place. Finally, the emphasis may be on the churchbeing part of a globalised Pentecostal identity downplayingthe Brazilian idenrirt of the church. The article concludessuggesting that those churches which mix a sense of nostalgiafor Brazil with recognition of the motives for leaving Brazilthat will resonate better with the ambiguities experienced byBrazilian immigrants.

Daniel Clark , (BA (Hons) University of Gloucestershire, MABrunel University) is a Baptist Minister and currently

undertaking doctoral studies at the University of Wales,Trinity St. David.

Introduction

BrazilNet, one of the many free magazines that circulate amongst

Brazilian migrants in the United Kingdom once run a series

named “A Day in the Life of” which would describe the daily

routine of a Brazilian migrant. One interviewee affirms that

coming to the United Kingdom meant that “I discovered my

Brazilian identity. The saudade of Brazil, friends, family, the

sun made me wonder who I was. I started to enjoy Brazilian

singers I didn’t listen to before … I read Brazilian history

again, became interested in politics.” (Brazil Net 2011). Yet

what is this “Brazil” that many migrants discover in this

process, and what images of Brazil are developed in the

evangelical churches that many choose to attend? This article

suggests that the ambiguous relationship between

evangelicalism and Brazilian culture resonates with the

complexities many migrants face in articulate their own sense

of Brazilian identity. An investigation into the sermons of

four different churches indicates that this complexity results

in a diversity of images of Brazil being formulated with those

combining a sense of nostalgia and an appreciation of the

reasons that led migrants to leave Brazil to prevail.

Researchers in the United States have indicated the ways in

which evangelical churches have become a source of support to

Brazilian immigrants, especially where there is a belief that

Brazilian migrants are disunited or lack institutional support

(e.g. Sales 1991, Martes & Fazito 2010 and Vásquez & Ribeiro

2007). The actual level of support offered will depend on the

size and resources of churches. Larger churches may have well-

funded departments to cater for different immigrant needs. For

example, First Brazilian Baptist Church in the South of

Florida offers a wide variety of services, such as

motivational lectures, a market selling Brazilian goods and

the presence of an itinerant Brazilian consulate. In smaller

churches the support is more likely to be informal, based on

the relationships formed between members. These relationships

are significant for Brazilian retailers who benefit from

church attendance as they encounter a “captive market” for the

sale of Brazilian food and other products such as Christian

music and literature (Martes & Fazito 2010, p. 46).

As churches seek to offer support pastors are often expected

to facilitate the life of church members in the new country.

This involves mediating their relationship with the state,

especially when they have problems with immigration

authorities and assisting in issues involving accommodation

and employment. Consequently, this support leads to a greater

percentage of men attending Brazilian churches in the United

Kingdom than back in Brazil. (Bloch et al,2010).

However, care must be taken not to over-idealise the support

offered by churches, nor ignore the possible ways in which

exploitation may emerge. Assistance tends to occur within the

social networks that develop within a particular church

community rather than the Brazilian churches. Power

relationships within these social networks are rarely

symmetrical with those who have been longer in the United

Kingdom and those higher up in the church hierarchy being in a

position of strength. Káchia Téchio perceives the danger of

exploitation of migrants with little knowledge of English

within social networks in some Deus é Amor churches in the

United Kingdom. This occurs when pastors make assistance in

terms of accommodation and employment conditional on

attendance and financial giving to the church (Téchio 2009,

82).

The greater attention on the role played by churches raises

the question of what constitutes a Brazilian evangelical

church in the United Kingdom.

Defining Brazilian Evangelical Churches The sheer diversity of churches within Brazil makes

understanding what is meant by the term “evangelical” in

Brazil a complex process. In the Brazilian popular press the

term is often used simply to refer to any form of non-Catholic

Christianity, making no between Pentecostals and evangelicals

and including all Episcopalians, Lutherans and Presbyterians.

At times the term may be used to include groups such as the

Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and Seventh-Day Adventists who

are usually rejected by many Brazilian evangelicals.

Comprehending Brazilian evangelicalism is also made more

difficult by the lack of any institution capable of

representing the nation’s evangelicals, as is the case of the

Evangelical Alliance in the United Kingdom, despite many

attempts to do so. One of the more prominent examples was the

development of the Brazilian Evangelical Alliance (AEVB) under

the leadership of the renown Presbyterian Pastor Caio Fábio.

However the development of the AEVB failed due to the

acrimonious relationship between Fábio and Edir Macedo the

founder of the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (Universal Church of

the Kingdom of God- IURD) with the AEVB only representing a

narrow segment of Brazilian evangelicalism, those influenced

by the Lausanne Movement stemming from the International

Evangelical Conference in 1974. Fábio’s involvement in

political and sex scandals in the late 1990s contributed to

the demise of the AEVB, with the most recent attempt at

forging evangelical unity through the Aliança Cristã Evangélica do

Brasil (Brazilian Christian Evangelical Alliance- ACEB)

suffering from the same lack of representation.

Attempts have been made to reach a clearer identification of

Brazilian evangelicals in theological, social, and political

terms, yet have failed to account for the diversity within

Brazilian evangelicalism. Theologically there is little

evidence of Brazilian evangelicals perceiving themselves as

sharing in a common Reformation heritage and attempts to

develop a theological definition often have the apologetic

purpose of denouncing new groups, such as in the former

Episcopal Bishop of Recife, Robinson Cavalcanti’s accusation

that new Pentecostal churches were really “pseudo-

pentecostals” and not genuinely evangelical. (Cavalcanti,

2008). Although historically evangelicals have tended to be

drawn from the poorer social classes and be right-wing in

political orientation they are increasingly represented in

various social classes and across the political spectrum. Thus

the term evangelical can be used to refer to a university

educated Calvinistic Presbyterian in the capital city of

Brasilia but also to an Arminian Pentecostal labourer living

in an impoverished village in the Northeast of the country.

The purpose of this article is not to judge who is a genuine

evangelical or to impose any assumptions concerning their

social composition or political orientation so it will be

necessary to settle for a more generic definition in which

evangelical churches will simply be taken to refer to all non-

Catholic, Trinitarian churches. Yet, whilst respecting the

diversity that exists it is possible to indicate two key

characteristics which shape a sense of being “evangelical.”

The first characteristic is that evangelical churches in

Brazil define themselves against the majority status of Roman

Catholicism and the privileges the Catholic Church still

enjoys. Thus informal networks of evangelical Christians

emerge in universities, colleges and at work, expressing a

rejection not only of Roman Catholic doctrine, especially

Mariology, but also of Brazilian cultural elements associated

with Catholicism, the carnival celebrations being arguably the

most noteworthy example. Similarly, there is often a strong

rejection of Afro-Brazilian religions such as Umbanda and

Candomblé, and their prominence in Brazilian culture.

Secondly, evangelical churches participate in a common

culture. For outsiders the most public example of this culture

comes in the large number of evangelical professional football

players, such as Kaká, who are often quite explicit in their

displays of religious allegiance.. It is also expressed in the

emergence of an evangelical “gospel” market, reflected in the

sale of literature, and most significantly in the consumption

of evangelical music, through CDs, DVDs, radio and television

programmes so that the same songs become popular in the

liturgy of churches across the evangelical spectrum.

Focusing more specifically on churches in the United Kingdom

the question emerges concerning what it is that makes a church

overseas a “Brazilian Church?” One definition of Brazilian

churches is that they “follow Brazilian patterns of religious

culture, conduct services in Portuguese for their members, and

are usually headed by a Brazilian priest/minister.” (Martes &

Rodriguez, 2004, 197). Although beneficial this definition

requires some refining. The term “Brazilian patterns of

religious culture” does not take into consideration the

significant differences that exist between Brazilian

evangelical churches in terms of doctrine, liturgy and social

composition of members, or the fact that they will share

features with many churches of other countries given the

globalisation of Evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity. At

the same time, it is useful to be more specific concerning the

expected membership of a Brazilian church overseas. Thus one

would define a Brazilian Church as being established by

Brazilian immigrants, who alongside their descendants

constitute the bulk of the membership.

Whilst the main denominations in Brazil, such as the

Assemblies of God, the Baptists, the IURD and the Deus é Amor

church are represented in the United Kingdom, there are also

many independent, autonomous churches. Churches are generally

centred around charismatic leaders rather than on doctrinal

issues so that migrants have a considerable variety of

churches to choose from, ranging from small groups that meet

in people’s home to large congregations with hundreds of

members who are able to have their own building.

Yet before reflecting on the role such churches play in

constructing images of Brazil amongst migrants overseas, it is

important to reflect on the often ambiguous relationship that

has existed between Brazilian evangelical churches and wider

Brazilian culture. This, coupled with the complex identity

issues involved in being a Brazilian migrant in the United

Kingdom suggests that a diversity of images of Brazil will

emerge.

The Ambiguities of Being Brazilian, a Migrant and an

Evangelical

The relationship between attending a Brazilian evangelical

church in the United Kingdom and a sense of cultural identity

is made more complex by the fact that Roman Catholicism,

rather than evangelicalism, has long been considered the

traditional religion of Brazil. Historically, evangelicals

have faced the criticism of being foreign in origin and thus a

threat to national identity. Ricardo Mariano indicates that in

the 1980s it was common for liberation theologians to develop

conspiracy theories relating evangelical churches to the CIA

(Mariano 2002), with perhaps the clearest expression of this

perspective coming in the description of evangelicals as

“demons coming down from the North” by Décio Lopes (Lopes,

1987).

How fair is this picture of evangelicalism as a foreign

movement? Historical evangelicals, those non-Pentecostal

denominations which arrived in Brazil in the 19th century, have

their roots in the arrival of North American missionaries,

with the exception of the Lutheran churches in the Germanic

colonies in the South of Brazil. Yet, in fact, all have been

long under national leadership and independent of foreign

control, with one Brazilian, Nilson Fanini, even becoming

president of the Baptist World Alliance. Amongst Pentecostals,

Paul Freston points to three waves of institutional formation.

In the first waves in the early decades of the 20th century,

foreign immigrants led to the establishment of the Assemblies

of God and the Congregação Cristã do Brasil (CCB). Whilst Luigi

Francescon soon established national leadership of the CCB,

Swedish hegemony in the Assemblies of God remained until the

1930s with formal leadership being relinquished in 1950. In

the 1950s a second wave begun with the arrival of the

Foursquare Gospel Church, from which national leaders such as

Manoel de Melo and David Miranda emerged to found the Brasil para

Cristo and Deus é Amor churches respectively, whilst by the 1980s

North American leadership of the Foursquare Gospel church had

ceased. The third wave, emerging in the 1970s has consisted

predominantly of nationally originated churches of which the

IURD is the most well- known (Freston 1999).

Brazilian evangelicalism has developed a complex relationship

with Brazilian culture. As indicated by Haroldo Cavalcanti the

early North American Missionaries saw Catholicism as an

obstacle to Brazilian development and presented the United

States, with its Protestant faith, as the pinnacle of

civilization (Cavalcanti 2002, 425 & Cavalcanti 2005, 385).

Thus a distinctive evangelical ethos emerged, which involved

not only a rejection of the Catholic elements of Brazilian

culture, but also a rejection of stereotypical male behaviour,

such as smoking, gambling, drinking and womanizing. In

Pentecostal churches this became intensified with a strict

holiness code, especially in the Assemblies of God, CCB and

Deus é Amor churches which regulated the clothes women could

wear and restricted leisure activities to church promoted

events.

However, rather than a complete rejection of Brazil the

aspiration has often been to transform the nation. This is

suggested in the words of a popular Baptist hymn Minha Pátria para

Cristo (My country for Christ) which express the desire to see

the nation saved or to “die for Brazil”. More recently, as

evangelicalism has become consolidated within Brazilian

society there has been a greater acceptance of cultural

elements. The strict holiness code has been relaxed in many

churches, and there is a growing use of diverse musical styles

and even instruments traditionally associated with Umbanda and

Candomblé. At the same time, there has been a greater

acceptance of evangelicalism into the mainstream of Brazilian

society, with arguably one of the most symbolic expressions of

this being the creation of a musical festival for evangelical

singers by the leading Globo Television network.

Hence, the complex relationship between evangelicalism and

being Brazilian involves the tension between a love of being

Brazilian and distrust for certain aspects of Brazilian

culture. In this there are echoes of the ambiguities of the

migratory experience in which a growing awareness of being

Brazilian develops in the context of a decision to, at least

temporarily, live away from Brazil.

Migration may be responsible for the development of a greater

sense of national identity, especially as prior to migration

regional identity may have been stronger. That is, prior to

migration migrants may have defined themselves in terms of

being from a particular state or region and emphasised how

they were different from those from other states. It is with

migration that many will have a stronger sense of being

Brazilian, defining themselves as different from the other

nationalities with which they interact. However, strictly

speaking, this Brazilian identity is not discovered but

constructed through an individual’s interaction with fellow

Brazilians and people from other countries. According to

Fleischer, the emergence of a sense of Brazilian identity

overseas involves a selective process in which they choose

those aspects of Brazilian culture that allow them to

distinguish themselves from other nationalities, but also

those Brazilians who have not chosen to migrate (Fleischer

2001).

Igor Machado affirms that this sense of Brazilian identity

emerges in the context of the promotion of Brazil as a

“tropical paradise” by travel agencies and the Brazilian

government. A consequence of this is that “exotic” stereotypes

of Brazilians as being extroverted, fun-loving and sensual.

For Machado, whose research is among Brazilian migrants in

Portugal, these stereotypes are important in the labour market

as many are employed in the leisure and entertainment

industry. Machado uses the term “centrality game” to describe

how Brazilians will compete among themselves for better

employment by claiming to conform to this projected image of

being Brazilian (Machado 2004a; Machado 2004b).

Machado’s analysis is mainly pessimistic, seeing many migrants

trapped in this “centrality game” due to market constraints.

This pessimism has been challenged by Simone Frangella,

especially concerning the extent to which it can be applied in

the United Kingdom. Whilst Frangella accepts that exotic

stereotypes exist, she affirms that the cultural diversity

within London and the very different backgrounds of Brazilian

migrants permit a sense of Brazilian identity to be developed

in a different way (Frangella, 2012). Therefore, some migrants

may eschew exotic stereotypes and prefer to emphasise their

reputation for being hard workers, whilst others may choose to

emphasise their European ancestry. In developing a reputation

for hard work and a Europeanised identity a role may be played

by the “myth of the country hick” (Klimpell, 2009, 35). This

is the belief, against all available evidence, that most

Brazilian migrants are poor and semi-educated, and thus

contrasted negatively to the migrant themselves, who are also

encouraged by the belief that they are better off than most

fellow Brazilians.

Therefore, the ambiguities of the migratory experience lead to

diverse ways of developing a sense of Brazilian identity.

Churches can, therefore, play a role in permitting migrants to

develop an alternative sense in comparison to the images

projected by the Brazilian government and sectors of the

Brazilian media. Thus, the tension present in Brazilian

churches back in Brazil between affirming one’s love for

Brazil whilst rejecting aspects of Brazilian culture is played

out overseas in a way that allows migrants to portray

themselves as responsible, hard-working and law abiding. In

churches where there is a strong discourse of spiritual

warfare this may lead to a process that “admits/includes

elements considered negative of Brazilian identity as part of

the demonization to be combated, advocating for oneself (good

Brazilians) a new/other identity.” (Téchio, 2009, 82).

Participation in Church a Means of Affirming Brazilian

IdentityChurches contribute towards a different understanding of what

it is to be Brazilian by the way that they, in part, help

fulfil a desire for community amongst migrants. For those who

were already churchgoers in Brazil, joining a church in the

United Kingdom provides a sense of familiarity and helps to

cope with the disorientation often caused by migration. In

research amongst Latin American Pentecostals in the United

States Vásquez indicates the important role of the

authoritative and charismatic role played by the church pastor

in providing this sense of familiarity (Vasquez, 1999, 631).

This is reflected in the United Kingdom in the way that many

churches are known among Brazilians by the name of their

pastor.

Therefore Brazilian churches provide migrants with a “home

away from home” where a sense of being back in Brazil can be

created. Often, the Brazilian flag will be prominent in church

services, something which is not so common in Brazil, at times

surrounded by the British flag and those of other

nationalities. This desire to encounter a “little Brazil”

means that many Brazilians practice their religions with

Brazilian congregations, even in places such as Portugal where

language would not be a main factor. For example, Sales

indicates the experience of Roman Catholic parishes in the

United States where there was an influx of Brazilians in

communities which already had mass in Portuguese required a

separate Brazilian mass (Sales, 2005, 44-45).

Churches thus become a place where Brazilians can deal with

the sense of saudade, which Farrell explains in terms of a

feeling of sadness caused by distance from a loved object, a

feeling which has the positive effect of making a person more

sensitive and closer to their Brazilian roots (Farrell 2006,

235). For many migrants feeling saudade of Brazil is a key

aspect of being a Brazilian so that a migrant who no longer

feels this way is in danger of losing their Brazilian

identity. The process of dealing with this sense of sorrow is

described in Portuguese as matando saudade (killing saudade),

yet even when killed, saudade never disappears. Rather killing

saudade involves removing the bitterness of missing Brazil,

whilst at the same time intensifying the sweetness of memories

of Brazil.

Therefore, as they recreate the sense of being in Brazil,

churches allow the deeply cathartic experience of killing

saudade to take place. This may happen during church services

when well-known hymns are song, especially when famous worship

groups and singers are invited to come to London. It also

takes place through the celebration of typical Brazilian

dates, so that Mother’s day and Father’s day are celebrated in

May and August respectively as in Brazil, rather than

following the British dates. Such events may become a reason

to eat typical Brazilian foods such as feijoada but even regular

church services are often followed by a canteen in which

typical Brazilian savouries (salgadinhos) are available for

purchase. However, arguably the main way through which

Brazilian churches allow migrants to deal with saudade is by

providing an environment where Portuguese, rather than

English, is the dominant language. As such, it provides the

opportunity for members to interact and socialise in ways that

they are familiar with, allowing many migrants the chance to

really feel that they are being themselves. Therefore, the use

of Portuguese is often a key factor for migrants to choose a

particular church, especially for parents who are concerned

that their children will lose their Brazilian heritage once

they enter the British educational system.

Yet the Brazil one feels saudade of is rarely the “real” Brazil

but what Angelo Ishi defines as a “symbolic reference”, an

imaginary Brazil created by the migrants themselves (Ishi

2003, 90). It is the Brazil of great natural beauty and almost

unlimited natural resources, whose people are friendly and

full of joy. Yet if it is considered a paradise, it is a

paradise from which the migrants have been cast out due to

economic difficulties, lack of opportunity and political

corruption, whose people lose some of their natural solidarity

when travelling overseas. Nonetheless it is a paradise to

which they wish to return, no longer as victims but as

victors. Therefore, as churches help migrants deal with saudade

it is helpful to investigate the different symbolic images

that are developed of Brazil in different churches.

Four Sites To better understand the images of Brazil developed in

Brazilian evangelical churches a series of sermons in four

different churches was analysed. This is not to deny that

other, alternative images may also develop during social

events, informal meetings or even routine conversations.

However, investigating the preaching that takes place in the

church allows a greater awareness of the different ways in

which the leadership seeks to develop images of Brazil for its

members across the four congregations, which are briefly

described below.

London Revival Church (LRC)

As is the case of many Brazilian churches in the United

Kingdom LRC is not affiliated to any denomination, and its

identity is closely linked to the biography of its senior

Pastor, Pastor Paulo Roberto and his wife, Pastora Sonia.

Pastor Paulo Roberto has been a pastor in both the Assemblies

of God Madureira Ministry, one of the largest schisms from the

main Assemblies of God in Brazil, and the more recent Renascer

em Cristo church in Brazil. Consequently, although the church

receives members from many different denominational

backgrounds in Brazil, it is predominantly Pentecostal in

style without emphasising a strict dress code. Pastor Paulo’s

previous experience out of Brazil involved being a missionary

in Mexico and Argentina and he arrived with his family in

London in 1995. Initially he became a pastor at the late

Bishop Enoch Pereira’s Pão Vivo Church in Ladbroke Grove, West

London, but left in 1998 in one of the many splits that have

taken place in the Pão Vivo Church. However, Pastor Paulo

remained in Ladbroke Grove setting up LRC which meets in a

Wesleyan church on Wednesday and Sunday evenings. Whilst

meetings initially took place in the basement, the church

moved into the main sanctuary in 2010. In recent years LRC has

sought to branch out and founded congregations in Hounslow,

West London (2005) and in Guilford, Surrey (2009) but these

are still reliant on the main church due to their low

attendance.

Igreja Assembléia de Deus Londres Ministério Wesley Alves

(London Assemblies of God Wesley Alves Ministry/ IADLWA)

The website of the IADLWA narrates the development of the

church in terms of a spectacular growth from very humble

beginnings. Therefore its origins are traced back to a group

of three people meeting in July of 2000 in Bayswater, London.

This small start is then contrasted to the growth of the

church into a large congregation, claiming to be the largest

Portuguese language ministry in Europe, being one of the first

Brazilian churches to own their own property, a three-story

building in Brent. This building is a source of great pride

and pictures of the expensive renovation project and the

various facilities the church offers are present on the

website.

As it names suggests the church is centred on its charismatic

senior minister Wesley Alves. Also a former minister of the

Assemblies of God Madureira Ministry in Brazil, Pastor Wesley

Alves also worked at the World Revival Church in Boston, USA,

a Brazilian church founded and led by Pastor Oriel de Jesus.

IADLWA was initially started with support from the World

Revival Church before Pastor Wesley Alves terminated the

agreement. The church has sought to plant many other

congregations in the United Kingdom but has faced the issue of

many of these churches choosing to break away. Nonetheless in

2012 there were still congregations remaining in Bristol,

Morden, Lewisham and Seven Sisters, North London.

Igreja Unção e Vida (Anointing and Life Church)/International

House of Prayer (IHOP) London.

One interesting feature of the Igreja Unção e Vida, established and

led by pastors Élcio Lodos and Cilas Kaufmann is that it is

one of the few cases of a Brazilian church that has

successfully become a multi-cultural church. Its initial roots

were within Kensington Temple, a multi-cultural Pentecostal

church in London, where it was a Portuguese ministry within

that church’s cell church structure. Although Unção e Vida

retains its links with Kensington Temple a greater autonomy

was available when the church was able to take over the lease

of a property in Harlesden, West London, which had formerly

been a pub-hotel. The church transformed the pub into a

restaurant, Amber Grill, which specialises in Brazilian-style

barbecues, houses church members in what were the former hotel

rooms and carries out its church meetings in what was a

nightclub. With the freedom of having its own property the

church was able to set up an International House of Prayer

ministry, which has ties with Michael Bickle’s International

House of Prayer in Kansas, USA. The church’s aim is to run

prayer rooms and meetings continuously throughout the week. As

a consequence of this new ministry many non-Brazilians have

been attracted to the church so that in 2011 the congregation

of a hundred and twenty included fifty persons who did not

speak Portuguese.

Link Church

Link Church also refers to its humble beginnings, describing

itself as starting in the kitchen of Pastor André Mira’s house

with ten people in October 2002. However it has not

experienced the same numerical growth as IADLWA and currently

consists of a congregation of approximately fifty members.

Although Pastor André Mira’s background is in the Renascer em

Cristo Church in Brazil, where he was for a time guitarist of

Katzbarneá, a rock band popular among evangelicals in the

1990s, in the United Kingdom he has explored Baptist

connections. Link Church meets on Saturdays at Sudbury Baptist

Church in London, and is a member both of the Brazilian

National Baptist Convention and of the London Baptist

Association whilst Pastor André shares his time between Link

Church and Barking Baptist Church where he is also a minister.

Images of BrazilDuring most sermons it was evident that preachers assumed that

their listeners were aware of important elements of Brazilian

culture. Therefore rather than explain aspects of Brazilian

culture, preachers were more likely to clarify regional

characteristics to congregations composed of people from

various different states in Brazil. References to trips made

to Brazil by pastors and other church members were common, as

was reference to news from Brazil accessed through the

Internet and programmes shown on the Globo and Record

International television networks. Unsurprisingly, Brazil is

constantly referred to as “our country”, yet the way in which

images of Brazil were formed were quite different across the

churches.

As mentioned above, migrants face the ambiguity of holding

both a deep attachment to Brazil, whilst at the same time

choosing to live away from it. This presents a challenge to

preachers concerning the extent to which they develop positive

images of Brazil, reflecting their congregation’s love for

their home country, or adopt a critical approach, affirming

their members’ decision to migrate. Consequently, the images

of Brazil constructed in the different churches can be seen

along a spectrum moving from the idealisation of Brazil, more

prevalent at London Revival Church, to the more critical

images emerging at IADLWA and Link church and finally the

downplaying of a Brazilian identity which occurs at Unção e Vida.

Brazil Idealised: London Revival ChurchOne of the reasons why Brazil is idealised in the images

constructed at London Revival Church is the fast, recent

growth of evangelicalism in Brazil. In many ways, the church

sees itself as on the periphery of this growth, so that Pastor

Paulo laments that he no longer carries out anywhere near the

same number of baptisms as he did in Brazil. One way to

overcome this sense of isolation is to increase the ties that

the church has with Brazil, so that often preachers and

musical groups from Brazil come to the church and on one

occasion prayer requests made at London Revival Church were

sent back to a church in Brazil as part of a prayer campaign.

This idealisation of Brazil has been facilitated by the fast

economic growth of the first decade of the twenty-first

century and the numerous positive news items on Brazil in the

British press. This leads Pastor Paulo to declare,

We can see great miracles in Brazil... InternationalPolitics has turned towards Brazil...they have got theireye on Brazil...Brazil is being considered the countrywhich is able to feed the world and take the world out ofstarvation....Before the world was only worried about theAmazon. Now the world has seen that the Amazon is verysmall compared to the other things that Brazil can do.Brazil is self-sufficient in petrol, self-sufficient inenergy and is able to export energy to the whole world.They have got their eyes on the technology.

The issue of saudade is significant and features prominently in

sermons. However, Pastor Paulo Roberto is able to emphasise

the fact that the growth in the number of Brazilians in

London, and the parallel expansion of Brazilian shops, has

made it easier to deal with saudade than when he first came to

the United Kingdom,

“Happily today we have beans, we have Brazilian meat ...we have okra, we have everything here today but 13-14years ago we had none of this here, I arrived washingsweet beans... I took away that flavour of sweet tomatosauce and afterwards prepared garlic and onions, I addedseasoning just to eat some beans like Brazil, verydifficult.”

Nonetheless, despite the possibility of recreating aspects of

Brazilian life in the United Kingdom, there is a strong

expression of a desire to be in Brazil, with the weather, the

food, and the many beautiful beaches being wistfully

remembered. In what might seem a risky statement, considering

that some of his members may be contemplating returning to

Brazil, Pastor Paulo Roberto even goes as far as to include

himself amongst the many in the church who would rather be

living in Brazil. However, whilst returning to Brazil always

remains a possibility, this desire is kept in check by

declaring that members should only return to Brazil when God

declares that it is time. This is exemplified in the words of

one member to the church during her final service before

returning to Brazil with her husband, “for us the best from

God is back in Brazil... for you the best from God is to

remain and you will reap the best from God here in this land.”

Although the images of Brazil developed in Link Church are

predominantly negative, Pastor André Mira also reflects this

belief that the time to return to Brazil will come once the

mission God has for him in the United Kingdom is concluded.

Hence, he declares publicly his love for Brazil and is able to

express the hope that many things will improve, such as the

end of the terrible violence in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil Criticised: Link Church and IADLWA

Despite developing a predominantly idealised perspective of

Brazil, the many problems that the country faces are not

ignored at London Revival Church. Consequently, Pastor Paulo

Roberto warns against reliance on “the Brazilian system.” In a

rare critical reflection on Brazilian history Pastor Paulo

Roberto challenges the myth of Brazil as a country of racial

harmony which welcomes people from many nations, reminding his

listeners of the negative legacy of slavery and claiming that

many irregular migrants receive severe treatment in Brazil.

At Link Church, Pastor André Mira’s tentative optimism for the

future of Brazil is mitigated by his premillennial eschatology

which affirms that the world will become a worse place to live

in, including the decline of the Christian church, until the

global rule of the anti-Christ is manifest. Consequently,

Brazil will not be immune from an increase in disasters across

the world, so that events such as the floods which killed

hundreds in Rio de Janeiro in 2011 will become more common.

For Pastor Mira Brazilian culture has a strong tendency

towards immorality, which he sees expressed in the pictures

many Brazilians, including Christians, share on the social

networking site Orkut. In part this is due to a cultural

preference for becoming rich quickly, so that Brazilians are

described as sacrificing learning and education, and he claims

that they only read, in average, two books a year.

Pastor Mira does not share the same optimism that is present

in London Revival Church concerning the growth of

evangelicalism in Brazil. He describes the Brazilian

evangelical church as failing to produce Christians able to

contribute to making Brazil a more just society for few

genuinely live out biblical principles and the majority “wear

the mask of a deceitful Christianity.” Rather than improvement

in recent years Pastor Mira believes that in many ways things

have become worse as contemporary evangelicals have become

less interested in Bible study and prayer when compared to

previous generations.

At IADLWA the criticism of Brazilian society is even more

negative, describing the country as a land of much urban

violence, poverty, and where it is difficult to prosper

economically. In part this may reflect the personal biography

of Pastor Wesley Alves, who describes himself as someone who

grew up in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, being raised by a

single mother and facing much economical difficulty.

This negative image of Brazil emerges especially in a series

of sermons preached in the aftermath of the banking crises in

Western countries which resulted in economic recession in the

United Kingdom and Europe, at a time when the Brazilian

economy was continuing to grow. From the sermons it becomes

evident that many church members were questioning whether the

time had not come to leave the United Kingdom and return to

Brazil. In response, Pastor Wesley Alves seeks to persuade

them that this is a bad idea, claiming that if “it is

difficult here, imagine back there.”

The core of Pastor Wesley Alves’ argument is that members

should trust in God to make them prosperous in the United

Kingdom for even in recession, the possibilities here are

still better than in Brazil. Hence, he states that,

A brother said to me “With twenty pounds I go to thesupermarket and only come back with a small plastic bag.And with children... you have to have at least tenbags”... so I said to him “When you are back in Brazil andwhen you need to leave the supermarket with the ten bagsyou will discover that the money you needed to buy the tenbags here, won’t go anywhere towards buying the ten bagsthere. You will look around and realise you haven’t boughtanything.

Whilst he accepts that members face much stress in their lives

in the United Kingdom, Pastor Wesley seeks to remind them of

the struggles that they faced back in Brazil and the reasons

they had for migrating.

It’s funny how the remedy for stress of these people isonly Brazil, there is no other. Go to Scotland and take amonth off. You’ve worked too much you’re tired, but you’vegot much money. Hagar wanted to snob her blessing. Butwhat life is this? Here I live in a small apartment, hereI live in a bedroom, here I don’t even live, and Ivegetate. And back there? What was it like? When youdidn’t have anything? When you were unemployed? What wasit like?

In fact, Pastor Wesley goes as far as to criticise those who

opt to take extended holidays in Brazil from deviating from

the objectives that God has placed in their lives. He condemns

those who receive European citizenship and decide to return to

Brazil affirming that,

They leave everything behind, there are people who even goas far as to leave all their things in a storage theytravel back to Brazil, stay a long time, come back andstart all over again. This is something crabs do... mybrother, I won’t go back not even for momentum, no way, Ihave a target, I have an objective, I know where God hasplaced me.

Although, Pastor Wesley accepts the possibility that God may

determine a time for migrants to return to Brazil, his

portrayal of Brazil is the most negative in all the churches.

Although Pastor Wesley’s experience of poverty shapes this

portrait it is also a distinct possibility that the high

investment in owning a large church building, including taking

out a large mortgage, means that IADLWA is particularly

vulnerable if many of its members decide to return at the same

time, and encourages an aggressive condemnation of such a

decision.

Brazil Downplayed: Unção e Vida Church

Brazil is not the only country with which migrants have

transnational connections. For example, London Revival Church

has a close association with a congregation in Italy, supports

missionaries running an orphanage in Nepal, and members have

relatives in countries such as Spain and Portugal. Similarly,

at IADLWA Pastor Wesley’s experiences in the United States

appear regularly in sermons. .

At Unção e Vida Church this possibility of forming international

connections is explored so as to downplay the church’s

Brazilian identity without resorting to a strong attack on

Brazilian culture. Brazil is not presented as a centre from

which revival will come to Europe and members are warned not

to look upon Brazil as a source of spiritual support as

It is no use calling your mother in Brazil who is superspiritual and fasts for you … you need to carry your owncross … it is not your grandmother who is back there inBrazil and prays for you … it is not your pastor here oryour pastor in Brazil … it is no use placing all yourchurch in Brazil to pray for you … you need to carry yourown cross.

Therefore, Unção e Vida Church sees itself as being part of a

Global Pentecostal Movement rather than a specifically

Brazilian institution. For Pastor Élcio Lodos the development

of a house of prayer is part of an international project,

across many cities of Europe, seeking to change the spiritual

situation of the continent, but is unrelated to any national

identity. Ties with Brazil are therefore less significant than

the link with Michael Bickle’s House of Prayer in Kansas City.

For example, sermons often refer to literature produced at the

North American House of prayer and videos from Kansas City are

also played during church services.

However, the Unção e Vida Church is unlikely to appeal to the

bulk of Brazilian migrants. The high levels of commitment do

not fit comfortably with the busyness of migrant life, nor

does the increasingly less significant role played by the

Portuguese language. This can be discerned in the transition

of the church towards becoming a multicultural congregation.

ConclusionWhilst there is a diversity of images of Brazil developed

within Brazilian evangelical churches, two main themes can be

discerned. On the one hand, there is an idealization of Brazil

and an affirmation of the feeling of saudade¸ whilst on the

other there is a criticism of the difficulties in Brazil which

encouraged many migrants to come to the United Kingdom.

Arguably, it is those churches which mix a sense of nostalgia

for Brazil with recognition of the motives for leaving Brazil

that will resonate better with the ambiguities experienced by

Brazilian immigrants.

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