The Christian Congregation in Brazil (CCB) stands among the oldest and the largest Pentecostal denominations in that country. The church derives from the work of Italian-American Pentecostal missionaries, especially Louis Francescon.

In 1910, Francescon came from Chicago, via Argentina, to plant a church in a rural area in Santo Antonio da Platina, Parana state, and in São Paulo. For the first three decades, the church grew in São Paulo metropolitan area and at the agricultural frontier along the railroads in the country southeaster…