High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Presbyterian Church of Brazil (Portuguese: Igreja Presbiteriana do Brasil, or IPB) is an Evangelical Protestant Christian denomination in Brazil. Part of the Reformed family of Protestantism, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the country, having an estimate 788.553 members, 3,162 ordained ministers and 4,212 churches. It is also the only Presbyterian denomination in Brazil present in all 26 States and the Federal District. It was founded by the American missionary Rev. Ashbel Green Simonton, who also oversaw the formal organization of the first congregation (Presbyterian Church of Rio de Janeiro) and the first Presbytery (Presbytery of Rio de Janeiro). Although the Presbyterian Church of Rio de Janeiro was only formally organized in January 1863, and the Brazilian church only left the jusrisdiction of the joint missions board of the American churches in 1888, when the Synod was formed, the denomination considers the date of Simonton`s arrival in Brazil, August 12, 1859, as its foundation date.