This church was founded in the middle of the 19th century. It started on August 19, 1855, when Dr. Robert Reid Kalley and his wife Sarah opened the first Portuguese-language Sunday School in Brazil. After arriving in Brazil, Dr. Kalley invited evangelicals from the island of Madeira, who had fled to the United States, to participate in the work of evangelizing the people of this country (cf. Portugal). Three Madeirans responded to this invitation and arrived in Brazil in 1856. An Englishman, William Pitt, joined the movement, beginning a work of evangelization and colportage in Rio de Janeiro. In 1858 the Igreja Evangelica Fluminense was opened. Dr. Kalley became a friend of the Emperor of Brazil, Dom Pedro II. This facilitated the recognition of the rights of non-RCath, such as the right to a birth certificate and to burial in public cemeteries, although in separate areas. The Kalleys made a distinctive contribution in the area of hymnology through the translation and composition of hymns; they published Salmos e Hinos, which has become the traditional hymnbook and which, in its present form, is still in use in the majority of the historic Brazilian churches.
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