Brazil and Avenida
Santos Dumont in
Santana, stages of the São Paulo event.'' In order to gather faithful from various
Christian denominations, the March for Jesus is organized by the Church Reborn in Christ, Brazil (with the participation of other
Neo-Pentecostal groups), the event brings to the street the churches, which march behind electric trios. With the participation of several states of Brazil, caravans (name designated to groups of travelers, pilgrims) from various places gather. The caravans meet at a certain point and go "marching" to the place where a stage is located for eventual shows, as occurred in
São Paulo on May 31, 2018. In 1993, the March For Jesus arrived in Brazil through
Estevam Hernandes, one of the founders of the
Church Reborn in Christ. This year, the March For Jesus was held in more than 100 cities in various regions of Brazil. Six years later, about 10 million people from approximately 200 countries marched to celebrate the name of
Jesus Christ. People of various religions, ages and ethnicities took to the streets of countries such as England, France, Germany, Italy, Northern Ireland, Egypt, Israel, USA, Canada, Russia, Cuba, Finland, Japan, Mozambique, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Chile. In 2013, the event was held for the first time in the Holy Land, Israel. The March for Jesus has been part of Brazil's official calendar since September 2009, when Federal Law 12,025 was sanctioned by Former President
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In 2015, the event was attended by approximately 340,000 people.
São Paulo The first Brazilian event, held in São Paulo in 1993, took about 350,000 people to the streets of the
city center, bound for the
Anhangabaú Valley, with
gospel performances and collection of clothing taking place. Since then, the event has been held in other regions of the city, most of them located in the North Zone of São Paulo. Gathering crowds every year, a milestone of 1 million evangelicals participating was reached in 2000. In 2007, after an agreement was signed between the Public Prosecutor's Office of São Paulo and the government of Mayor Gilberto Kassab (DEM), there was a restriction on holding events on the Avenue, which, from that date, would host only three events per year. The decision, made due to complaints from the population living in the
Campo de Bagatelle Square region, caused the discontent of the members of the
Reborn in Christ Church, organizer of the March in São Paulo. Thus, in 2010, the 18th March for Jesus took place in the North Zone of the city. The faithful met at Tiradentes subway station, located on Line 1-Azul, and traveled 4 km until they reached the final point: Campo de Bagatelle Squarein Santana. There, the more than 2 million participants accompanied musical performances by French singer Chris Durán and artists such as
Soraya Moraes, Renascer Praise, DJ Alpiste, FLG Quartet, Touch the Altar and Brother Lazarus. The Military Police (MP) said that 2 million people participated in the event. In the following events, the same site was maintained. In 2011, the MP confirmed 1.5 million participants, a number that fell to 335,000 in 2012, according to a survey conducted by the newspaper
Folha de S. Paulo. In the following years, the number of participants varied — according to the Military Police, 800,000 people participated in 2013 and 200,000 in 2014; in 2015, the PM counted 340,000, but in 2016 did not disclose the number of participants and the organization of the event estimated that 3 million people attended. The 2017 edition celebrated 25 years of March for Jesus. Since 1993, March for Jesus has been held annually in hundreds of cities in all states of Brazil, including the
Federal District. ==References==