The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) was formed in 1977, in Brazil. It owes its origins to a successful evangelistic programme conducted by Bishop Robert McAlister, a Canadian missionary in the Pentecostal tradition.
Edir Macedo - who went on to find the UCKG - was one of the early converts. With the blessing of Bishop McAlister, he started to hold services under a small park shelter in Rio de Janeiro. His passion was to reach out to neady, less privileged people who were often excluded by established religions. As Pastor Macedos services grew in popularity, he used cinemas and local halls to accommodate growing congregations, attracting people from the streets to the expanding movement. Shortly afterwards the UCKG officially opened its first church inside a funeral parlour.
More church openings followed and the movement expanded nationally across Brazil. Today there are approximately 8,000 churches in Brazil, with the headquarters in Rio de Janeiro holding up to 12,000 people at a time.
Following an exploratory visit to the USA, the UCKG was established in New York in 1986. Today there are churches in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Miami, Los Angeles and many other US cities. UCKG then developed its presence in Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Paraguay, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile, Guatemala and Ecuador. There are also churches in Jamaica, Trinidad and Guyana.
In Europe, it established congregations in Portugal, Spain, UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Russia, Latvia, Sweden, Ukraine, Romania and others. In Africa churches were formed in Angola, South Africa, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Kenya, Lesotho, Gabon, Côte dIvoire, Malawi, Uganda, Botswana and other countries. In Asia, churches exist in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Philippines and Japan (where the first 24-hour church is based).
In Oceania, the UCKG is established in Australia since July 2006 and in Fiji since 2012. Here in New Zealand, the UCKG has been established since January 2005.
The UCKG Ministry is present in over 100 countries and still expanding.
statement of faith
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We believe that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born by the Virgin Mary and is true God and true Man.
We believe that God created man in His own image; that man sinned and thereby incurred the penalty of death, physical and spiritual; that all human beings inherit a sinful nature which causes actual transgression involving personal guilt.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, a substitutional sacrifice according to the Scriptures and that all who believe in Him are justified on the grounds of His shed blood.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus, His ascension into heaven and His present life as our High Priest and Advocate.
We believe in the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.
We believe that those who repent of their sins, receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and hold fast to Him are born again by the Holy Spirit and become children of God.
We believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, empowering believers for service, with accompanying supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit and in fellowship with the Holy Spirit.
We believe in the divinely ordained ministries of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher.
We believe in the resurrection of the just and the unjust, the eternal blessings of the redeemed, and the eternal banishment of those who have rejected salvation.
We believe that the one true Church consists of all those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit; that the local church on earth should take its character from this conception of the spiritual Church and therefore new birth and personal confession of the Christ are essential for church membership.