EMQ » January–March 2020 » Volume 56 Issue 1
By Vijayesh Lal and Roberto Costa
There are approximately one hundred forty country-level alliances of evangelicals around the world. Most of these are connected to the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA). These alliances maintain knowledge of their geographic context as well as information about how God is working within it. Successful alliances serve their constituents by being a unified representative voice and by helping connect their constituents with other alliances and networks. Two examples of Evangelical alliances are the Evangelical Fellowship of India and Aliança Evangelica Brasileira (Christian Evangelical Alliance of Brazil).
Evangelical Fellowship of India
Founded in 1951, the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) is a national alliance of evangelical Christians. As a central network of evangelicals and a service organization, EFI is the custodian of the evangelical movement in India. It represents the Evangelical voice nationally and internationally, builds capacity, and promotes participation in nation building. EFI is a charter member of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), and its membership includes fifty-five Protestant denominations and related congregations (over 65,000 Churches), more than one hundred fifty church related mission agencies and organizations, and thousands of individual members. It is the most inclusive Protestant fellowship with membership from most denominations and organizations in India.
The primary calling of EFI is to serve churches, institutions, and individuals by strategic initiatives, capacity building, and forging solidarity, thus facilitates sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in word and deed. Through its various initiatives, EFI promotes and strengthens unity and unified action, renews the Church for mission and evangelism, and safeguards, shapes, and promotes the evangelical faith.
In order to build the capacity of churches, organizations, and individuals, EFI
conducts training programs, workshops, consultations, and social development
projects. We facilitate research so that our constituency is supported by
strategic information and statistics. EFI also forges solidarity by
passionately uniting people towards a common purpose.
EFI has been instrumental in laying the foundation for some key organizations in India. In 1953, we started the Union Biblical Seminary at Yavatmal. The Christian Education Department (CEEFI), which started with the Sunday school study materials, formed in 1962. That same year the Evangelical Theological Commission launched. Then in 1965 the Indian Evangelical Mission came into being. The Evangelical Trust Association of North India formed in 1968 to take care of church and mission properties.
Also in 1968, EFI decided to concentrate on one city to address the issues faced. We started Festival of Peace now known as Together initiative. Reaching out to pastors and the Christian community became necessary, so in 1970, we launched the monthly magazine AIM. In the same year we started the EFI Committee on Relief (EFICOR) to reach out to communities, especially in times of need. In 1977 the EFI Committee on Relief (EFICOR) and the mission wing of EFI, India Missions Association, began.
With the rise of religious persecution, a greater need to form a commission to focus on religious liberty issues emerged, so in 1998 we launched the Religious Liberty Commission. A legal support system needed to support churches trained and equipped to stand strong amidst persecution, so in 2003 the Christian Legal Association started. The Evangelical Financial Accountability Council (EFAC), an accreditation body began in 2006.
From its inception, EFI has been at the forefront of launching strategic and timely initiatives. We start and strengthen campaigns, movements, networks, commissions, and organizations to address specific issues facing the community and the nation. One such initiative is EFI Children at Risk (EFIC@R).
When Krishna (pseudonym) was 12 years old, his father died. A man named Pandey went to Krishna claiming that he knew of a place in Nepal where Krishna could perform rituals to revive his father. Krishna believed Pandey and went with him. When information about Krishna’s abduction reached EFIC@R, they immediately notified government officials who tightened security at the country border. It wasn’t long before the officials captured Pandey and rescued Krishna. EFIC@R’s work saved Krishna from being trafficked into prostitution.
A drug abuse awareness campaign launched under EFI’s media and advocacy initiative. Drug addiction affects many young people in the northern city of Punjab. Relapse after rehabilitation and death from overdose are both common. EFI’s campaign informed families and community leaders about the dangers of drugs and drug addiction. At village meetings and in schools, children and youth learned about ways to safeguard themselves. Community leaders and teachers noted the positive impact of the program.
Other EFI initiatives include urban transformation, leadership development, revival and prayer, microenterprise development, women, and youth. Learn more about EFI and all of its programs and initiatives online: efionline.org.
Aliança Cristã Evangelica Brasileira (Christian Evangelical Alliance of Brazil)
On November 30, 2010, a group of Evangelical leaders created the Christian Evangelical Alliance of Brazil. As of 2019 the Alliance included twenty denominations with about 21,000 churches, representing 3.5 million members. The Alliance has three main purposes: developing unity among Evangelical Christians, facilitating cooperation among churches, and serving as a prophetic voice in the Brazilian society at large.
These three purposes reflect our biblical foundations. Unity is the first and foremost reason that the Alliance exists. This is grounded in Jesus’s Gethsemane prayer in John 17. In verses 20 and 21 he prays that believers would live in unity like the Trinity and says that this is the true witness of Christian faith.
The Brazilian Protestant church is diverse and has been divided since its beginnings. Historically, it was established by the European and US denominations of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. They included Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, and Pentecostals. Many divisions sprung off from there; most notably the Independent Presbyterian Church. And, the divisions continue.
Today’s Evangelical church in Brazil is big and fractured. A 2010 census revealed that approximately 42.3 million people or 22.2% of Brazil’s total population are evangelical. By 2020 evangelicals are projected to surpass Roman Catholics as the largest Christian community in Brazil. Evangelicals encompass ninety-five Protestant denominations: sixty historic Protestant and thirty-five Pentecostal/neo-Pentecostal denominations. There are also many large and small independent local churches. Bringing unity to this group is difficult.
Flowing from a spirit of unity is the Alliance’s second purpose: cooperation. The Alliance seeks to help churches and para-church organizations work together in both preaching the gospel and serving people. Few currently collaborate and several ministries have developed their own strategies in different parts of the country. The Alliance seeks to provide a space where information is shared, best practices implemented, and duplication avoided. In March 2019 they held a gathering in São Paulo to foster discussion between church leaders hoping to build unity and opportunities for cooperation.
The final purpose of the Alliance is to influence society as a whole: providing a Christian perspective on moral, social, economic, and political issues. Brazilians are increasingly impacted by secularization, confusion about truth, and political polarization. This makes the Alliance’s prophetic role particularly difficult. Politically, entire denominations and organizations aligned themselves with either the left or the right. To help Christians to navigate this polarized reality, we published a booklet outlining biblical voting criteria.
The greater percentage of evangelicals in Brazil overall has enabled evangelicals to enter positions of influence. For example, in the Brazilian congress evangelicals hold ninety seats. They are regarded as one of the strongest political forces. However, these evangelical politicians struggle to position themselves as Christians in the midst of societal pressures. Another place where Christians are increasingly influential is in the corporate world. Believers in this sphere also need to be firmly grounded in scriptural principles. The Alliance strives to shine light into this darkness by bringing a fresh perspective on issues based on scriptural values for the individual, organization, government, and society. Recently, we published a booklet on the Kingdom of God with the desire to catalyze discussion of this topic.
The Alliance is small and young. Carrying out our purposes are difficult. However, we receive encouragement when we remember that a small seed yields a large tree. Learn more about the Christian Evangelical Alliance of Brazil on our website: aliancaevangelica.org.br.
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Rev. Vijayesh Lal serves as the general secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI) and the executive director for EFI’s Religious Liberty Commission. He has more than twenty years of experience advocating for church and religious freedom and started Open Doors organizations in India and Bhutan. He, his wife, Surinder Kaur, and their three children reside in Delhi, India.
Roberto Costa is a businessman, stock market investor, mechanical and agricultural engineer (MS), former World Vision International Board member and chair, former Visão Mundial do Brasil board member and president, former International Fellowship of Evangelical Students (ABU do Brasil) staff-worker. He is married to Vânia Prather, father of three (Sarah Breuel, Chantel Dauster, Cinthia Simas), and grandfather of six. Currently Roberto is an Aliança Cristã Evangélica do Brasil board member (treasurer) and Presbyterian Church of Curitiba elder.
