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Portugal -
(Europe) Information about Portugal
Portugal was hardly touched by the Reformation; thus in subsequent centuries only a few individuals affirmed Reformed convictions. João Ferreira de Almeida (1628-1698), who became acquainted with the Reformed message in Java and was ordained pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church, translated the Bible into Portuguese (1688). The first Reformed community was founded on May 8, 1845, in Funchal (Madeira) by a Scottish medical doctor, Robert Reid Kalley. Soon persecution began; most members of the community emigrated and found refuge in Brazil, Trinidad, and the United States. Some of them, among them Antonio de Matos, returned to Portugal later, and in 1871 the first Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Lisbon was founded. Slowly the Presb work expanded. Missionaries from both Brazil and the United States played a significant role in strengthening the movement. Churches
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