Millions of Brazilians March for Jesus

SÃO PAULO – Established in 1993, São Paulo’s March for Jesus is among the biggest religious events in Brazil, the country with the world’s second-largest Christian population after the United States. Each year, for 26 years, hundreds of thousands of people have gathered together in the streets of São Paulo to worship the Lord and share the Gospel.

This year the crowds have been estimated to have been in the millions.

The annual March for Jesus, sponsored by the Luis Palau Evangelistic Association, wound through three miles of São Paulo’s streets for about 12 hours on 31 May 2018, demonstrating that the Church is alive and well and that the message of the Gospel is open to everyone, not just those inside of a church building. Organizers describe the march as “a peaceful act and a conscious and exciting movement of God in our day.”

The day of praise and worship is permeated with Christian bands and singers riding on floats and culminates with a Gospel message and an invitation for those who do not know Jesus to trust Him, gain eternal life, and allow Him to redirect their lives and lead them in the way they should go.

Andrew Palau, the son of evangelist Luis Palau, spoke to the massive crowd from a large stage erected at the Praça Campo de Bagatelle Park. The park is located at the end of an eight-lane boulevard where people stretched shoulder-to-shoulder for “many city blocks.

Luis Palau was originally scheduled to be the main speaker, but his treatments for Stage IV cancer prevented him from attending. His son Andrew delivered a powerful message with a clear call to repentance and an invitation to faith in Christ. The text for his message was John 10:10 – “ The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Local churches have already begun to follow up on the “sea of hands” that responded to the invitation using the coming days to disciple those who made decisions.

According to the Palau organization, “March for Jesus continues in many countries through multiple and varied initiatives. It continues to gather the largest crowds of any organized event of its kind throughout the world.”

“The March for Jesus is an international and interdenominational event that occurs annually in several nations,” local organizers state. “In it, the church has the opportunity to show that it is not restricted to buildings, but alive and open to the whole of society.”

On another note, The Times of Israel reported that Jewish officials, including Dori Goren, Israel’s consul to Brazil, were specifically invited to attend. Goren publicly announced that he expects to see the Brazilian embassy moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He expressed thankfulness for “the important alliance between Brazilian Christians and the State of Israel.”

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