Meet Celso Nakamae, the New President of the Alliance of Brazil

Rev. Celso Massayuki Nakamae, elected president of the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Brazil, steps into leadership in a nation with deep spiritual roots, historic ministry presence, and growing evangelical influence.

In the heart of Brazil, a country shaped by diverse faith expressions and rich spiritual history, a humble pastor from Marília, a small town in the interior of the state of São Paulo, has been chosen to lead his national church at a pivotal time in its journey.

Celso Nakamae grew up attending church with his family in Marília, where early seeds of faith were planted. At age eleven, after his father died, he began to understand the strength of a life anchored in Christ. “My faith became personal when I was seventeen,” he said, recalling the day he chose to follow Christ with assurance.

After finishing school, work took him to Japan for five years, where he encountered the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) family of churches. That season overseas helped shape his future direction in ministry.

Upon returning to Brazil, he enrolled in the Alliance Theological Seminary (now A.W. Tozer Theological Seminary) in June 1997. After graduating in 2001, he was appointed to pastor an Alliance church in Bauru, a city in the central-western region of São Paulo state, where he has served faithfully ever since. In 2004, he married Lilian Yumi Umetsu, and together they are raising two sons, Daniel and Nathan.

His pastoral gifts led him into district leadership, and in 2024 he accepted the role of vice president of the national church. When the former president’s term concluded, Celso was elected to serve as his successor, with his term beginning in January 2026 and concluding in January 2028.

Brazil is a vast nation with 213.4 million people, long known for its deep religious heritage where Catholicism remains significant and the Protestant community continues to grow. Evangelical Christians now comprise a substantial portion of believers across the country, reflecting a spiritual landscape in which the gospel is increasingly visible in both urban centers and remote regions.

The Christian and Missionary Alliance in Brazil (ACEMBRAS) has its own history that spans several decades. Its work was initiated by a missionary from Japan who planted the first Alliance church near Brasília, the nation’s newly established capital at the time. The subsequent arrival and strong presence of missionaries from the United States and Canada paved the way for further church planting and the formal organization of the national church in 1978. In recent years, the Alliance has continued to expand its witness through church planting and deeper engagement in both local and global missions.

When asked about his leadership priorities, Celso spoke plainly: he wants to strengthen local congregations, encourage pastors, and bring churches into deeper fellowship with one another. “Less independence and more communion,” he said. These goals arise not from administrative desire but from a pastoral heart to see the church thrive across Brazil’s many regions.

His leadership comes at a moment when believers across the country are considering how to share the gospel faithfully in a spiritually diverse environment—one shaped by centuries of Catholic tradition, thriving Evangelical witness, and growing religious plurality.

The journey that began on a quiet street in Marília has now led Celso to national leadership in the Alliance church. As he steps into this new chapter, he asks us to pray for wisdom, discernment, and strength to serve pastors, churches, and communities throughout Brazil.