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Worship has become a point of contention even within the Assemblies of God, Brazil's largest Protestant group with more than 12 million members. Inacio says there are disagreements between those he calls neo-Pentecostals, who are more emotional in worship and use contemporary music, and Pentecostal traditionalists.

Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, and others are sorting out how to embrace spiritual renewal and a fresh focus on the work of the Holy Spirit while also maintaining their traditional identity.

"Of the 30 percent of our [Presbyterian] churches that are growing, all of them are involved in one way or the other in a renewal that involves a new experience of the Holy Spirit," reports Dinho Pereira, a Brazilian Presbyterian pastor and Christian camp director. "These churches are experiencing alive fellowship and worship, not the kind where you sit down and go to sleep and somebody kicks you when it's time to go." Some Presbyterians are afraid that Pentecostal renewal will get out of hand. "Some elders at a church where I used to pastor told me that they are afraid it will get out of control," Pereira says. "We want renewal to happen, but we don't quite know how to deal with it."

While more than 130 million Roman Catholics are organized into about 25,000 parish churches, 25 million Protestants have an estimated 160,000 congregations to choose from. Brazilian Protestants have been quick to splinter in doctrinal or leadership disputes. Developing new leaders, lay and ordained, is a perennial concern. Among Baptists in the state of São Paulo, 900 relatively new congregations are looking for ways to expand their outreach. They have traditionally worked with lower and middle-class groups. But now they are reaching out to more affluent, harder-to-reach urban residents. Such a ministry takes time, says Southern Baptist Rollins. "You don't just set up the Jesus film on the street corner like you do in a poor community and think that they'll come, because they won't," he says.

Part of the challenge is training believers for church leadership. "The Assemblies of God have a church in every neighborhood," Rollins says. "As soon as they can, they will get a man out there. He might not have much training, but he will be there trying to start a church."

Rollins says Baptists will not consider anyone a pastor without seminary training. "Consequently, we have been very slow getting people out where we need to have them."

"On the good side, many of [the new churches] open up and within a year they have up to 1,000 new members who have come to know the Lord," says Inacio. "On the bad side, many [leaders] are uneducated and know very little." He says some students who attend his Bible institute ask, "What is Matthew?" in their first New Testament class.

Others, including Presbyterian Allan Mullins, fear Brazilians may choose congregations that emphasize emotional expression rather than obedience. "Many mainline churches are losing members rapidly to Pentecostal churches," says Mullins, who has served in Christian camping in Brazil for 30 years. "It's because the Pentecostals are offering people the chance to live without any stops. There are no more rules."

Unfettered growth can also lead to lack of direction or discipline. "Many of the small Pentecostal groups are break-offs from a larger church by people who aren't willing to obey all the rules of the bishop," Mullins says. "Also, within many of these groups there is no discipline if you are involved in immorality. They think that your behavior is your business, and the church should not be involved in it."

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December 4 2000, Vol. 44, No. 14