Malafaia Founds Assembleia de Deus Vitória em Cristo — Launches Independent Pentecostal Platform in Rio de Janeiro

Silas Malafaia founded Assembleia de Deus Vitória em Cristo (Assembly of God Victory in Christ / ADVEC) in Rio de Janeiro, breaking from the broader Assembleias de Deus movement to establish an autonomous Pentecostal denomination. The church name — “Victory in Christ” rather than the traditional Assemblies of God brand — signals the prosperity-gospel and spiritual-warfare orientation that would distinguish Malafaia’s ministry.

Over the following two decades, Malafaia built a national media operation centered on his television program Vitória em Cristo, broadcast on RecordTV (Edir Macedo’s network). By 2024 he would reach 4.1 million Instagram followers and 1.5 million YouTube subscribers, becoming Brazil’s leading “digital pastor.” ADVEC became his institutional base for the evangelical political coalition he would later deploy for Bolsonaro’s 2018 presidential campaign.

Malafaia was also serving as vice president of CIMEB (Interdenominational Council of Evangelical Ministers of Brazil), representing approximately 8,500 ministers across nearly all Brazilian evangelical denominations — a cross-denominational reach that amplified his political influence far beyond ADVEC’s own membership.

Cross-reference: malafaia-silas — full actor profile; pentecostal-direct-transmission-universal-church-nar-paula-white — substrate note establishing Malafaia as primary Brazilian NAR-analog.