Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians took to the streets of Sao Paolo, Brazil, for "the largest Christian event in the world" yesterday.
March for Jesus attracts evangelical protestant Christians from across the largely Catholic nation. It has been run for 24 years by The Reborn in Christ Church, Sao Paolo.
The crowd of Christians follow trucks equipped with speakers for three miles across Sao Paulo to a downtown location where there are stages playing worship music late into the night.
"We can say that March for Jesus is an event for the family! It's the biggest popular manifestation on world! It's the people of God's party," said Bishop Fernada Hernandes Rasmussen at the event. We have to celebrate that we have freedom to show our faith! March day is an opened skies day. Is living the happiness, that is Christ salvation in us!"
It has been described as "the largest Christian event in the world" by its organisers. The event was live streamed on Brazilian Gospel television channel Rede Gospel.
The exact number of participants remains unknown, but the Reborn Church of Christ said it expected more than the previous year, when police said almost 350,000 people attended.
The first March For Jesus happened in London in 1987 and it has since been celebrated in various countries globally.
Brazil is the world's largest Catholic nation. However, 22 per cent of Brazilians identify themselves as evangelical today, up from five per cent in 1970, according to the Washington Post.
Evangelical Christians are an increasingly powerful force in Brazil politically, according to the Post. With many pastors working in remote areas and in slums, they have an influence that the mainstream government does not.
The new Brazilian president, Michel Temer, is a Christian who has actively sought out evangelical support. He has made a video appealing for evangelicals to pray for him. He chose an evangelical pastor who does not believe in evolution as his science minister before making him trade minister instead, while he has also appointed an evangelical pastor as the new labour minister.
"A lot of Brazilians outside of major cities are fairly conservative morally, and the evangelical agenda resonates with them," Andrew Chesnut, a Latin America expert and professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University told the Washington Post.
