Guide to the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Central Brazil Mission Records

The Brazil Mission of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (PCUSA) was established by the Board of Foreign Missions in 1859. It was the second mission field opened by the PCUSA in Latin America. The structure of Presbyterian mission work in Brazil differed from that of other mission fields developed by the church throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America. While the latter evolved around permanent centralized mission stations, comparatively few such stations were established in Brazil. Because of the vast distances that had to be traveled by itinerant missionaries, the mission was subdivided in 1871 into two missions: the South Brazil Mission and the Central Brazil Mission. The latter encompassed the stations at Bahia, Cidade de Bomfim, Ponte Nova, Caetité and North Minas. The former included the stations in São Paulo, Paraná, Mato Grosso, Goiás and Santa Catarina. In 1938, the two missions were reunited as the Central Brazil Mission. The name was continued by the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA) after 1958.

The nature of the church's ministry in Brazil was evangelistic, educational and medical. Though permanent institutions were constructed in the cities, evangelistic work in the vast interior was directed by itinerant missionaries who trained evangelistic workers to continue the work they had initiated. In the South Brazil Mission, educational work centered in São Paulo where primary, intermediate, and secondary education courses were taught in the Escola Americana and higher education was provided at Mackenzie College. In the Central Brazil Mission, the Farm School of Ponte Nova offered coeducational training. The primary medical work of the Central Brazil Mission was conducted at the Ponte Nova Hospital.

In 1888, the 52 mission churches of the PCUSA and the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (PCUS) were united to form the Presbyterian Church of Brazil (Igreja Presbiteriana do Brasil or IPB). A growing divergence of opinion on matters of doctrine, policy and methods resulted in a schism in 1903, and a number of ministers, elders and communicants withdrew to establish the Independent Presbyterian Church.

The Board of Foreign Missions encouraged the transfer of mission work to the IPB. By the late 1960s, the missionary force of the Central Brazil Mission was greatly reduced from its former numbers. In 1971, the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations (COEMAR) formally dissolved the Central Brazil Mission, an action that prompted the Presbyterian Church of Brazil to end its relationship with the mission. UPCUSA missionaries continued to work in Brazil under the auspices of the Independent Presbyterian Church.