Assembly of God Bethlehem Ministry

Assembly of God Bethlehem Ministry
Location 4000 N Federal Hwy Lighthouse Point FL, 33064
Country U.S.A.
Denomination Pentecostal
Website www.adbelem.com
History
Founded January 15, 1994 [1]
Founder(s) Severino Pedro da Silva
Clergy
Senior pastor(s) Joel Freire Costa

The Assembly of God Bethlehem Ministry is a Pentecostal organization within the Brazilian Assembleias de Deus. It is a Ministerio, a non-territorial episcopal polity-organization with subordinate churches and congregations in different parts of Brazil and the World [2]

Organization

In the Brazilian Assembleias de Deus each Ministerio is a directed by a mother-church under a pastor-president (also called bishop or apostle in various Ministerio) with affiliated congregations and preaching points. The mother-church receive tithes and manages the funds of the affiliated local churches, as well as assign pastors for the local congregations. There is a strong influence of pastoral leadership on the decision-taking process, and the members only rubber stamp the Ministerio decisions.

Among the major ministérios stands the Assembly of God Bethlehem Ministry, which has about 2,200 churches concentrated in the south-central Brazil. In 2008, Ministério do Belém was chaired by Pastor José Wellington Bezerra da Costa, who succeeded Pastor Cicero Canuto de Lima, who also had chaired the CGADB.

History

The Belém ministério is a misnomer, since it is headquartered not in Belém do Pará, but in the Belenzinho neighborhood in São Paulo city. This ministério began as a local schism of an Italian Pentecostal church in 1928. This novel church succeeded in attracting migrants, especially from the poverty and drought-stricken Northeast Brazil. With time, the Ministério do Belém grew not only in membership, but also in influence within the politics of the General Convention of the Assemblies of God of Brazil. As a consequence, two of Ministério Belém pastor-president also were chair to the General Convention.

Since January 6, 1980, Assemblies of God Bethlehem Ministry responded spiritually for more than 2,000 churches and congregations formed in São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul, and abroad the United States, South America, Europe and Africa.

In 1994, Assembly of God Bethlehem Ministry in USA was founded by Severino Pedro da Silva in the United States. The Ministry has been expanding with over 50 congregations in North America, Europe, Australia, and Africa.

Assembly of God Bethlehem Ministry-USA

The ministério do Belém operates in the US since the mid-1990s. The ministério do Belém has its North American headquarters in Lighthouse Point, FL, USA. The Assembly of God Bethlehem Ministry-USA has assimilated the former Portuguese-speaking District of the Assemblies of God into its ministério structure. The churches affiliated with the Bethlehem Ministry-USA do not have internal autonomy as their American counterpart, as all the church propriety and decisions are in the hands of the pastor-president.

Joel F. Costa, son of José Wellington Bezerra da Costa, directs the minsitério do Belém in the USA and many other countries on behalf of his father.[3]

Different from other Assemblies of God in the USA, the Bethlehem Ministry does not ordain or accept women into pastoral office.

JW Bible college

Main article: JW Bible College

The JW Bible College [4] is a non-profit corporation registered in the State of Florida in the United States, operating since 1998.

Bethlehem Broadcasting Network

Bethlehem Broadcasting Network (BBN) - broadcasts live services on their website. BBN also has on-demand services.

People

See also

External links

References

  1. ↑ Ano 83, Numero 1.539, August 2013 – Mensageiro da Paz (2013)
  2. ↑ Chesnut, R. Andrew. Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1997.
  3. ↑ "." About Assembly of God
  4. ↑ "." About JW Bible College