Fourteenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Brazilian megachurches have spread throughout the Lusophone world over the past thirty years. The growth of these churches in Angola, Mozambique, and Portugal reflects the increasing impact of Brazilian Christianity in these countries, but also how transnational networks established through colonialism, and maintained through a shared language, continue to operate and shape global Christianity. This study relies on qualitative research collected from the Brazilian Pentecostal megachurch, Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and Baptist megachurches, Lagoinha and Atitude, to show how transnational networks operate in the Lusophone world and the role Brazilian megachurches have in shaping Christianity in these countries. This research was conducted as part of the Global South Megachurch Project which involved a study of 18 megachurches with congregations of at least 15,000, in ten different countries throughout the Global South.