Reborn in Christ is among a growing number of evangelical churches in Brazil
that are finding ways to connect with younger people to swell their
ranks. From fight nights to reggae music to video games and on-site
tattoo parlors, the churches have helped make evangelicalism the
fastest-growing spiritual movement in Brazil.
…The night of the Extreme Fight, dozens of teenagers and young adults
hovered around the church. In the front room, booths sold hot dogs and
pizza, and young people lined up in one corner to get religious-theme
tattoos like “I Belong to Jesus.” In the main room, there were video
games, a D.J. spinning a mix of hip-hop and funk, and a projection
screen showing a DVD of the Harlem Globetrotters.
Though most
came for the main event, the Extreme Fight, they lingered. After four
fights and Pastor Maffei’s sermon, members paired up. One placed his
hand over the other’s forehead and spoke of Jesus Christ; the other
closed his eyes tightly.
Here is more.
this is an example of my primary complaint about contemporary evangelical christianity. it’s interesting to see that it’s happening elsewhere in the world, as well.
somewhere in the 1980′s, a jesus freak got the idea that if you just attached christianity to every single cultural trend, you could eliminate the vastness of space between contemporary culture and the religious establishment. whereas a traditional theme of protestantism is separateness from the evils of the world, now a prospective convert is not required to give up anything; there is no personal sacrifice. a person would not have to choose between enjoying the trends of pop culture and enjoying the fellowship of church.
i first noticed it in the late-80′s christian hair metal bands like stryper. this continued into the 90′s when the christian ska and hardcore scenes went berzerk. to this day in detroit, the christian straight edge punks are spoken about in hushed tones as the baddest dudes at the club and definitely not to be messed with.
it is no surprise to see mall culture refashioned within the sanctuary. in brazil, reggae is as easily interchangeable with the current american trends of emo/indie influenced contemporary christian music. black urban congregations are shedding gospel in favor of jesus-rap.
i personally think the christian versions of these trends are typically poorly done and without lasting merit. i find it to be far more insidious than the typical street corner proselytizing. it downplays the specificity of dogma and resists the traditional discussions of fire and brimstone in favor of emotional drivel. it relies on emotional displays as a means of demonstrating a level of belief, replacing the age old acts of contrition and supplication as a means of demonstrating faith.
if you take weed and jah out of reggae, what is left? if you take sex and drugs out of rock and roll, what is left? the answer is an uninteresting, valueless version of the socratic form.
there’s markets in everything – religious denominations included.
a D.J. spinning a mix of hip-hop and funk
my guess is they are referring to baile funk, a popular form of music in the favelas. this is just a guess, but i imagine that these parties are a lot more fun than the vapid sort of christian rock n roll that is blasted at american evangelical events.
Razib: very correct your assumption. There is no “litterature” attached to most of these sects, and most of their pwoer comes from TV, radio stations and churches very well localized – especially in favelas and places where traditional churches do not choose to have buildings. I mean, Renascer Em Cristo and Universal basically get any warehouse, old commerce building, old cinemas and transform it into a temple in matter of days. Payoff is high, as you can see.
PJ: no, it is definitely not baile funk. It’s black music, slow mellow funk, if you like. Even though there are already some evangelical groups for “pancadão” (that kind of funk you thought of), it is definitely not the case of Reborn in Christ (which is focused in middle class families).
By the way, the “owner” of that church were arrested for fraud, embezzelment and laundering.
@ razib: i think you are very wrong. the evangelical movement has spent many years and many, many millions of dollars pushing their message into latin america. look at the billy graham missions in the 70′s and 80′s. look at more contemporary evangelists like benny hinn and others. on smaller scales, thousands of american youths go on shorter mission trips every year to latin america. my sister spent several weeks in the dominican republic in 2004 building a church and school. look deeper and you see organizations like compassion internationl acting in a capacity like the sally struthers ogranization, but also promising to deliver a proselyitizing message along with medical care, school, and food. this all has had a very strong impact on the spread of religious practice amongst many disaffected and oppressed people across spanish speaking north and south america.
they know that the long-held association between latin governments and the catholic church has created a situation where the poor and oppressed are turning away from traditional institutions in favor of contemporary evangelical teaching. why? because it breaks with the traditional social order. latin america’s caste system is less rigid than india’s but there is a slight comparison based in their shared colonial histories. many indians, especially those from the lower castes find that they no longer feel bound by their caste restrictions when they reject hinduism and become christians. i believe that latinos find much the same to be true when the break from catholicism.
bible based american protestantism is becoming a thing of the past. the antiestablishment tendency within the american movement has created this dynamic where the assumed relationship between a worshipper and god is so strong and direct that the feelings generated by the act of worship is often considered to trump the traditional protestant dogma.
as a matter of religious practice, you will find that belief in the act of speaking in tongues, healing, belief in prophecy, etc. are very prevalent in both contemporary american evangelicalism and in the latino pentecostal movement. a focus on end-times prophetic fulfillment and gathering sheep to the shepherd are also similar themes between the american and latino movements. the latter point providing the impetus to develop these newer pop culture based ways of attracting young people to church.
Sam: you are mixing different things. American missionaries do have a participation in religion in Latin America, but it is very, very small compared to neopentecostal churches. Most of what you point out is valid in small rural areas, and mostly in Spanish-speaking countries. Definitely not in Brazil, which is massively urban and where US churches never got around in a decent scale.
Churches like Universal and Reborn in Christ are money-making media conglomerates in which not the church, but “owners” get rich by schemes of laundry, illegal offshore activities and dummy companies.
“Bad Christian rap worse than Kanye West”? Hmmm, not obvious.
Also, I’m wondering why religious shysters are more hated than other types (especially by non-believers), like for example politicians and Hollywood type shysters. Shouldn’t shysters be hated for the degree they have followers and the damage they do, not the mode they use to obtain them?
“as a matter of religious practice, you will find that belief in the act of speaking in tongues, healing, belief in prophecy, etc. are very prevalent in both contemporary american evangelicalism….”
Of course they exist, but I’ve been attending protestant churches for 20 years and have never seen one instance of these. Not one. I view the independence as a good trend.
Tyler is a pro-religion non-believer and I’m an anti-religion believer. I’d like to see a bloggingheads on that.
The rise of the evangelical churches in Brazil shows that mr Weber got it wrong. The catholic church has a anti-market discourse that is in conflict with the material aspirations of the lower (and lower-middle) classes in Brazil. The evangelical churches have filled that gap.
Peter: considering this is São Paulo, it is not really surprising, since there are more whites than blacks and mulatos in here proportionally to “older” towns like Rio and the coast of the Northeast. And Renascer em Cristo doesn’t go to the poor: they are very much middle class oriented, especially the noveaux riches and the uprising lower middle class. Whereas Universal is focused on the poorest segments of the population, but still tries to reach out to small business owners and the like.
@ Jimi- reread my posts, it seems that your reading comprehension needs some improvement. nowhere did i assert that i am a christian. in fact, i am a recovering christian trending toward secular humanism as a guiding philosophy. good job though, on not seeing the forest for the trees and picking out a single statement out of many paragraphs for the focus of your rebuttal. you must be confusing my account of my sister’s missionary trip for my own beliefs. if you want to take another run, go for it.
it’s undeniable that contemporary pentecostalism has american roots. it’s also undeniable that different localities have developed their own brands once american pentecostal missionaries created a new pentecostal protestant vocabulary into the religous discourse of the third world. americans planted the seeds via missionary organizations.
Tyler is a pro-religion non-believer and I’m an anti-religion believer. I’d like to see a bloggingheads on that.
That I’d watch.
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