Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil

Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil
Classification	Protestant
Orientation	Calvinist; Mainline; Charismatic and Evangelical minorities
Polity	Presbyterian
Associations	World Communion of Reformed Churches,
Region	Brazil
Founder	Rev. Eduardo Carlos Pereira
Origin	July 31st, 1903 São Paulo
Separated from	Presbyterian Church of Brazil
Separations	Conservative Presbyterian Church in Brazil; Renewed Presbyterian Church in Brazil
Congregations	546 (2012)
Members	85,108 (2012)

The Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (in Portuguese: Igreja Presbiteriana Independente do Brasil, IPIB) is a Mainline Protestant Christian denomination in Brazil. Part of the Reformed family of Protestantism, it is the second oldest Presbyterian denomination in the country, had an estimated 74.224 members, 693 ordained ministers and 510 churches in 2009. In 2012 the church had more than 85,000 members and 546 congregations. It was founded by Brazilian minister Rev. Eduardo Carlos Pereira and a group of six other ministers and their churches, who split from the Presbyterian Church of Brazil over a number of political and ecclesiastical controversies.

The causes which led to the creation of the Independent Presbyterian Church go back to the final years of the 19th century. The number of Brazilian ministers in activity in the Presbyterian Church of Brazil was rising since the foundation of the Seminary, and these native ministers began resenting the influence of the missionaries from both American churches, which was still largely felt even after the Brazilian Synod was constituted in 1888.

In 1893, Rev. Eduardo Carlos Pereira, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of São Paulo, founded a newspaper, O Estandarte, in which he advocated his views for a truly national, independent church. He met opposition in Rev. Álvaro Reis, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Rio de Janeiro, who, in 1899, founded O Puritano, where he often debated Pereira's more exalted views.

In March 1902, Pereira published a five-point Platform, adapted from a speech he delivered in the Seminary in 1900, demanding:

The latter point being a direct reaction to the missionaries' policy of indirect evangelisation of children through Mackenzie College (currently, Mackenzie Presbyterian University) and other non-confessional schools, which was cause for great attrition between Pereira and the American schoolmasters, Horace M. Lane and William A. Waddel.

...
Wikipedia