Universal Church of the Kingdom of God

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (Universal Church/UCKG), or Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus (IURD) as it is known in its country of origin Brazil, is a Neo-Pentecostal church considered to be part of the “third wave” of Brazilian Pentecostalism. This wave is often characterised by miraculous healing, “Prosperity Gospel” and “spiritual battles”—all of which are prominent in the global theology and spiritual practices of this megachurch

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Australia : local congregants and a global spiritual network

The Brazilian megachurch, the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), has a global network of branches. Its Australian headquarters is a dynamic spiritual space where ideas, people, material culture and spirits are exchanged from across the globe. This article follows the journey of a single vial of oil to illustrate the global flows that take place through the UCKG Australia. With each stop the vial accrues spiritual capital before its final destination. Drawing on two years of ethnographic research, I argue that the UCKG’s global networks allow congregants access to, and enables them to pass on, spiritual capital thus providing personal agency to overcome life difficulties via supernatural means. Through this vial’s journey, I will show how global religious practices are locally lived and highlight the local spiritual significance of globally mobile religious material culture

"Being on fire for Jesus" : faith memory and how reborn members of the Redeemed Christian Church of God make home in Ireland

Literature indicates that the diasporic journey undertaken by African Pentecostal migrants can often be remembered through the lens of their faith. This article is based on an ethnographic study conducted with Pentecostal members of three Redeemed Christian Church of God parishes (the vast majority were Nigerian migrants) in North Co. Dublin commuter towns. The aim was to explore their experiences as homemakers in Ireland. This work provided insight into how “being on fire for Jesus”, directly affected the living memory of the research participants in this fieldwork. Pentecostalism provides a lens through which to remember the migrant journey, and is intrinsic to their home-making processes in Ireland. The migrants’ making of home actively engages with a faith memory, within wider temporal, socio-cultural, economic and political spheres at international, national and community level. It is of anthropological value to explore Pentecostal memory production, so often characteristic in reborn African migrants, as a means to better comprehend the relationship between faith and the migrant experiences of making home in a post Celtic Tiger Ireland

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Australia : a church of non-Brazilian migrants

The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) is a Brazilian neo-Pentecostal megachurch. Over the past 40 years, it has established branches in over 100 countries among the economically and socially marginalised. This holds true in Australia, where congregants are disenfranchised migrants from diverse ethnic backgrounds and (former) refugees. Drawing on 2 years of ethnographic research in the UCKG’s Australian headquarters, this article explores why a Brazilian church, with a seemingly disagreeable character, attracts a multicultural migrant congregation in Australia. I argue that the UCKG is attractive to these congregants because it provides a space where its followers’ ethnicity is accepted; its cosmovision is easily translated to its congregation’s diverse spiritual sensibilities; and it offers ‘pioneering techniques’ to overcome life obstacles for those on the margins of Australian society. This work contributes to scholarly literature concerning Brazilian religiosity outside of Brazil, and the role religion plays in migrant settlement

'Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever' : faith memory, crisis and how reborn members of the redeemed Christian Church of God make home in Ireland

This chapter will examine memory articulated through the lens of Pentecostalism as a means to better comprehend the relationship between faith and the migrant experiences of making home in a post-Celtic Tiger Ireland. The diasporic journeys undertaken by many African Pentecostal migrants are often remembered through the lens of their faith. While there is a theoretically rich body of work concerning Pentecostal memory (van Dijk, 1998; Meyer, 2004; Robbins, 2004; Ugba, 2008), my intent is to extend the literature on memory and Pentecostalism towards a consideration of faith memory as a mechanism of recovery in times of crisis. Memory is the mechanism through which we remember, create and re-create our past. I argue that faith memory is the dynamic way in which memory is influenced by, in this case, Pentecostal faith. Deep spiritual meaning is ascribed to memories, informing how we understand the past, cope with the present and move towards the future. I argue that this faith memory is a particularly significant way to understand the role Pentecostal faith plays during times of crisis and recovery. I use the everyday experiences of making home in Ireland to do this

Extraordinary sacrifice and transnational spiritual capital in the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God

For just over a decade the Australian headquarters of the Brazilian megachurch The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) has provided spiritual solutions to end the daily suffering of its congregants. Situated in a Sydney working-class suburb, many of the UCKG’s migrant congregants suffer ailments of urban poverty, in particular familial breakdown, substance abuse, physical illness and mental health issues. These are further compounded by the socio-economic and residential precarity of their migration experiences. Twice a year a campaign of extraordinary sacrifice takes place across UCKG global networks. These campaigns are for those who have “impossible cases” – problems that seem to have no solutions. Drawing on two years of fieldwork with the UCKG, this chapter focuses on the 2016 “Mt. Sinai” Campaign of Faith. For congregants the sacrifice was extraordinary in terms of its size but most importantly its spiritual potency. At the end of the campaign, UCKG Bishops and Pastors from across the world gathered together to make the arduous journey up to the top of Mt. Sinai, in Egypt. There they presented the prayer requests of their congregants on the sacred “natural altar” of God. In this chapter, I argue that through the transnational network of the UCKG, congregants are able to imbue their sacrificial offerings with increased spiritual capital to better call the attention of God. This chapter will contribute a discussion of sacrifice in the UCKG that highlights the importance to local congregants of spiritual capital that flows via the UCKG’s global networks

Navigating stasis and mobility : the journey of anointing oil

How do material objects accrue spiritual capital? In this podcast episode, Dr. Kathleen Openshaw shares a poignant story from a member of the Australia branch of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. As we hear about the global journey of a vial of anointing oil, she explains how we invest objects with significance and connect them to sacred spaces. Especially for the migrant community of UCKG members in Australia, these connections work to collapse the false binary between stasis and mobility that seems so stark in our present moment

Religion

Would you consider yourself to be religious or spiritual? Perhaps, you believe yourself to be simultaneously both? Or instead, are you a hardline atheist who finds your sense of awe in the wonders of science? Do you think religiosity is a personal issue or one that should inform government policy? Are the religious practices of your grandparents outdated and incompatible with your contemporary social world? Are parts of the world becoming more or less religious? Certainly, these are some of the many questions that sociologists of religion set out to answer

[In Press] 'Middle-class' Africans in Australia : choosing Hillsong as a global home

Much of the literature on Pentecostal-charismatic Christianity (Pc/C) and African diasporas in the Global North has focused upon African-Majority or -Initiated churches that are either branches of African churches or were created in the diaspora. This focus often frames the appeal of Pc/C to African migrants in terms of: a) its emphasis upon the ‘Prosperity Gospel’ offering a path not only to salvation, but also to earthly riches; b) its opportunities for achieving status among church hierarchies, which is attractive to socially marginalised groups, and; c) the practical assistance it provides to support settlement. However, African diasporas have diverse histories of migration, and settlement experiences. This article considers the appeal of Pc/C to a group of professional African migrants in Australia, who self-identify as ‘middle-class’. It argues that professional African migrants have consciously favoured the Australian megachurch Hillsong over Australia’s African-Initiated churches. They have done so in pursuit of a process of an imagined class-mobility, and as a result, their choice of church can be understood as largely strategic

African Expressions of Christianity in Australia

African Expressions of Christianity in Australia was commissioned by the African Australian Advocacy Centre (AAAC), a grassroots organisation that represents African communities in Australia in the areas of advocacy, research and policy. The purpose of the report is to highlight the complex relationship between African expressions of Christianity and settlement in Australia, and to proffer evidence-based recommendations aimed at government, not-for profit organisations and other settlement support services. These recommendations support productive engagements and partnerships with churches given that they are important social centres for the vast majority of people of African heritage who identify as Christian living in Australia. This report is based on research that was conducted between March 2020 and June 2023 as part of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project DP190102911 entitled ‘The African Diaspora and Pentecostalism in Australia.’ This project aims to understand African migrant settlement in Australia through the lens of Christianity. The project has conducted research in the form of participant observation, interviews, and focus groups with Christians of African heritage in Greater Western Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. We also interviewed members of grassroot settlement and advocacy organisations that serve people of African heritage