Evangelical churches keep growing in Portugal

In the regions of Lisbon and Setúbal, church planting is especially successful, Evangelical Focus writes. Approximately 20 per cent of the Evangelical churches in the regions have been established in three years' time.

That is shown by a report from the Portuguese Evangelical Alliance. The Alliance interviewed 350 churches about the period between 2020 and 2023. Journalist Clara Raimundo, who helped to carry out the study, writes that "the overwhelming majority of respondents (80 per cent) stated that their churches are currently growing and more than half of the communities (62.5 per cent) already have plans and defined location to plant new churches in the next five years." Around 53 per cent notices that more people have been attending church services than before the Covid pandemic.

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As a result of the church's growth, the number of baptisms increases as well. Every two years, the number of baptised people constitutes about 10 to 15 per cent of the people attending, Evangelical Focus writes. All these baptisms are of adults who have made a public confession of faith.

Foreign

Most people who make confession of faith in an Evangelical church are Portuguese (73 per cent). However, in about half of the churches, 47 per cent, more than half of the attendants are foreign to Portugal. A large minority, 40 per cent, has grown up in the church; many others have a Roman Catholic background.

On the other hand, the church is not growing all over the country. Since 2020, no new churches have been established in 6 out of the ten largest municipalities in the country. Only 2.1 per cent of the Portuguese population is Evangelical Christian. On the other hand, 80 per cent of the population considers itself Roman Catholic.