Part of the Reformed family of Protestantism, it is the second oldest Presbyterian denomination in the country, had an estimated 74.224 members, 693 ordained ministers and 510 churches in 2009.

Álvaro Reis, pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Rio de Janeiro, who, in 1899, founded O Puritano, where he often debated Pereira's more exalted views.

[3] In March 1902, Pereira published a five-point Platform, adapted from a speech he delivered in the Seminary in 1900, demanding: The latter point being a direct reaction to the missionaries' policy of indirect evangelisation of children through Mackenzie College (currently, Mackenzie Presbyterian University) and other non-confessional schools, which was cause for great attrition between Pereira and the American schoolmasters, Horace M. Lane and William A.

[5] In July 1903, during the Synod's Ordinary Meeting, when Pereira's overture on Freemasonry was defeated for the second time, and after a heated debate, he, along with another six ministers and eleven ruling elders, left the building and went on foot to the First Church, where a service was being held.

Tradition has it that, when his party arrived to the church, during a moment of intercessory prayer, one of them began singing Daniel W. Whittle's gospel song "Banner of the Cross" and was enthusiastically joined by colleagues and then by the entire congregation.