The Lutheran church of Brazil, Portuguese speaking, is the first place that mission work began with LCMS missionaries in Latin America in 1900. Over 100 missionaries from LCMS served in Brasil until 1975. Today the IELB has over 2000 congregations and more than 800 pastors. Its seminary was founded in 1905 and today has over 130 students and served by a full time faculty in Canoes, Brazil. The Brazilian church also boasts the largest Lutheran university in the world with over 60 000 students and additionally some 40 plus parochial Lutheran schools. Some 27 congregations have been planted by Lutheran chaplains on her different campuses over the years. The IELB is the first daughter church of the LCMS to plant Lutheran churches overseas in Angola and Mozambique Africa. The IELB has opened a seminary and currently supports more than 90 missions planted in these countries with 11 ordained and others in studies. The IELB is in full altar and pulpit fellowship with the LCMS and has the goal of planting churches in its 500 largest cities.
Recent floods in Rio Grande do Sul, the heart of Lutheranism in Brazil, have destroyed churches, schools and homes. The unprecedented torrential rains never seen in the history of the area have resulted in catastrophic loss of life and property destruction.
“Christ for all! That is how we can define the Alliance Project. From February 28 to March 14, 2021, on a trip to the Dominican Republic, I had the great opportunity to accompany eight IELB pastors and their families in language, culture and mission training. What a challenge! What learning! More than a special moment, as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Brazil (IELB) and The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS) joined forces in this project to bring the love of Jesus to different peoples and cultures.
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