By Margaux Farran
One morning in March, in the north of Paris, about 40 congregants gathered in a small white room around a pastor. They belonged to the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), one of the world’s largest Evangelical Churches. That day, the pastor had an enticing offer. “Who wants to be happy,” he asked.
Several volunteers dressed in blue uniforms brought the pastor water and projected a PowerPoint presentation on two giant TV screens. Halfway through mass, members were encouraged to donate money before the pastor blessed them. The workers pulled out a credit card machine and provided small envelopes for those who preferred to pay cash.
“Who told you to be here? It’s yourself, right, God does not force anything on anyone,” the pastor said. “People outside say that it’s brainwashing. The media, they talk negatively about us. But we walk in the path of God, and that’s why we’re happy,” he told the audience.
This type of evangelism initially attracted the Borbas, a husband and wife, to the Church. But in 2023, after 25 years of officiating for the Church in several countries, pastor Nilson and his wife Deuseni Borba sued the Church for illegal work and psychological harassment – and won. The Church was ordered to pay nearly 1 million euros of damages. (They have appealed the decision.) “If you go to mass on a random day, you might not notice that something is off. Now that we left, we see that it’s a sect,” Borba said, denouncing a form of financial and psychological control.
The Borbas are not the only ones: several former members denounce what they see as a “business of faith,” which preys on vulnerable people for profit. Miviludes, the government agency in charge of sectarian movements, has received over 60 alerts about the movement, according to an article from le Parisien. The agency is concerned about “the significant financial sacrifices that are insistently demanded of the faithful.”
“This church has a strong following in the Afro-Caribbean and Portuguese communities, and is particularly active among populations in difficulty,” Miviludes said in their 2021 annual report.
Joining the UCKG
Edir Macedo, a Catholic civil servant working for the state-run lottery, founded the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in 1977 in Rio de Janeiro. Since its inception, the Church has preached prosperity theology, a theory asserting that commitment – usually in the form of financial sacrifices – is rewarded with salvation and monetary wealth.
Borba joined the Church in 1987 when he was around 15. The Church was gaining popularity in Brazil and had already opened over 350 temples in more than 18 states. “At first, it really seemed like a normal Church,” he said.
According to its principles, the UCKG holds five meetings daily dedicated to financial success, health, family, or fighting inner demons. “Little by little, you completely give yourself to the institution. It doesn’t happen from one day to another,” he said. Borba decided to commit to the Church and became a pastor.
The tumultuous growth of the UCKG
The Church quickly developed and became a financial empire. UCKG and its leaders have previously been linked to construction companies, travel agencies, a bank, and even a private jet company.
In 1989, Macedo bought Grupo Record, one of the largest TV conglomerates in the country. In 1992, Macedo was arrested in São Paulo, accused of charlatanism, embezzlement, and witchcraft.
But UCKG kept expanding. After opening its first Church in New York in 1987, UCKG entered Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia. In France, UCKG first opened in 1992. It began in a small room in northern Paris, minutes from the Stalingrad metro station, a low-income neighborhood associated with heavy drug use.
The Church’s arrival was also met with backlash. Numerous scandals had just erupted around sectarian movements - in 1978, in Georgetown, Guyana, almost a thousand members of the People's Temple were found dead, and European Parliaments began to investigate several movements that they considered questionable. “It was after this affair that Europe began to show an interest in the question of cults,” Nathalie Luca, an anthropologist and expert on sectarian movements, wrote in her book, The Sects, “Reports were published, all referring to this dark history of suicides and murders: is Europe safe from such violence?”
The French Parliament published a list of sectarian movements in 1995, which included the UCKG. Other reports followed across Europe. A Belgian report, though controversial, was perhaps the harshest towards the Church, saying it “appears to be a true criminal association, whose sole aim is to enrich itself. It’s an extreme form of merchandising of faith.” The report noted the case of a man from Martinique who took his life after giving 40,000 francs to the Church.
The Church and the porn cinema
Strangely, it wasn’t the parliamentary reports that caused public indignation. In 1999, The UCKG bought “La Scala,” an iconic Belle-Époque turned pornographic cinema, for the equivalent of over 3 million euros. When the Church announced its purchase, small demonstrations erupted. “The demonstration somewhat resembles pre-election political instrumentalization,” wrote Libération.
Several politicians denounced the Church. “This sect abuses the weakest, so it is a danger. There is nothing to discuss, we have a promising subject, we are not going to let it go,” Tony Dreyfus, then-mayor of the 10th arrondissement, said.
Mr. Borba and his spouse were far from the mediatic chaos, officiating as missionaries in the Ivory Coast. Far from the critics, the couple started giving their lives to the Church. Borba would start his day at 5:30 in the morning and would officiate mass five times a day. In between, he would clean, talk to members, and proselytize. Ms. Borba, his wife, was expected to participate in the daily maintenance of the Church, clean, take care of the kids during mass, and do the accounting.
“This is when the first real problems came”, Borba said. His dedication knew no limit. After years of committing himself to the Church, in 2001, Borba decided to get a vasectomy. “They don’t tell you straight away: get a vasectomy. They tell you, repeatedly - it’s hard to do both; you need to focus on God. They create the illusion that a child is a burden,” he said.
Medical complications from the operation sent Borba to Brazil twice before they were eventually sent to France, in 2005, at the height of The Church’s expansion across Europe. A few years after critical media coverage, the Church changed its name to the Centre d’Accueil Universel.
Borba and his wife arrived in Lyon on tourist visas and no official contract. The Church gave them an indemnity, in cash, ranging from 1000 to 1800 euros per month. “Sure, the Church pays your rent, puts a car at your disposal. But when you look at it, it's a way of making us prisoners, dependent,” said Borba.
In 2010, following a police control, Borba wrote another pastor about their precarious status: “I was also revolted by this situation…We arrive in a place, we put our heart into it to bless the people, then we have to leave, like fugitives without being able to continue the work we'd like to be able to do.” In another email, he wrote: “Sometimes even to go out to evangelize, making visits is difficult, we are obliged to go with a worker, or sometimes to ask them to make the visit to avoid being arrested by the police. Not to mention the fact that when we are arrested, we have to lie so that the church doesn't get into trouble.”
The Borbas stayed in France without documentation until 2011, but they were far from alone in this situation. They allege that three other couples arrived in the same conditions.
“It’s a company"
Rachael Reign, joined the Church when she was around 13 years old, in the UK. “I was just invited on a random Sunday. I was on my way to do some shopping,” she said, when she was approached by members of the Church to join a youth event. “I had nothing better to do that day, so I just went in. It was a typical youth service, there was some singing, dancing…Then, they would say, ‘Hey, we’re having another event on Wednesday,’ so I came on Wednesday, then they would say, ‘You should come on Monday’.”
Before she knew it, Reign was a devotee. “They really have ways to keep you hooked, and attached, and dependent on them. When I was in Church, they used to isolate me from everyone. They would tell me: ‘The devil is going to try to use your family, to say bad things about the Church.’ I was terrified of the Church,” she said.
To show their faith, members are encouraged to make financial donations, usually in the form of tithe: Churchgoers should give 10% of their income to the institution.“We have to see this as a company”, said Borba. He explained that the Church encourages financial sacrifices, as a way to achieve both salvation and financial gain. Every week, the pastor had a new financial objective to fulfill. “If you make 30 000 euros one month, the following month, you will have to make more”.
The Church also organizes several campaigns to collect more money, like the Campaign for Israel. “The campaign is presented as an opportunity to change people’s lives”, said Borba.
Faithful are asked to put money in red envelopes, and pray for something - for a new job, for their health to improve, for their relation with their family to get better. A group of priests supposedly take the envelope to Israel to pray on it there.
“At this moment, the Church doubles, sometimes triples their revenues”.
“It didn’t take long for them, when I was 13, to introduce me to tithe,” said Reign. “They would say the devouring spirit will descend upon your life. Your tithe is life or death.”
When she was 20, Reign sold all of her clothes. “I put the money in the envelope, and I just remember feeling sick. I felt physically sick - I knew it was stupid, I knew it was wrong, you don’t need to buy your blessing.”
Reign spent over 7 years in the UCKG before she left, and in 2022, created a movement, Surviving a UCKG. “I’ve never looked back,” she said. “For the first time, I could listen to Rihanna, I could listen to Beyoncé - because that was completely out of the question in the Church.” Former members started coming forward against the financial hold of the Church. Over 30 former members testified of financial and psychological abuse in the Guardian.
Adam, a former member of the Church in France, attended Church in Stalingrad with his mother from 10 to 14. Adam, whose name has been changed for privacy reasons, and his family participated in the Campaign for Israel. “This was a complicated time for my family - my mom was working in the market”. But during the Campaign for Israel, all of her revenues would go to the Church. Children were not exempt from the practice. “Workers told me: you can participate, too. You sell your PlayStation and then give the money to the Church. I even told my friends about this,” said Adam.
According to the financial statement of the Church, the institution collected over 14 million euros in 2022 in France. Part of this goes to the functioning of the Church, such as renting the room or paying speakers.
But more than 1.1 million euros was also given to Grupo Record, the TV conglomerate owned by Edir Macedo. According to Forbes’ 2024 ranking, Edir Macedo’s fortune is now estimated at around 2 billion dollars.
Leaving the UCKG
After 25 years of service, the Borbas left the Church, with no money or back-up plan. Many of their friends cut ties with them. “Everyone turned their back on us, and we were left with nothing,” said Borba.
The Borbases met with a social worker, who alerted them to the severity of their situation. They decided to sue the Church, and the court recognized that the Borbas had been psychologically harassed, and forced to work illegally in France. UCKG was ordered to pay almost 1 million euros of damages, although they appealed the decision.
It’s not the first time that pastors have challenged the Church on its abuses: reports have already denounced the practice of forced vasectomies in South Africa and Angola. Shortly after, in January 2024, several Brazilian pastors sued the Church, and UCKG was ordered to pay over $18,000 in damages.
In a press release, the Church refuted the accusations. They claimed that between 2019 and 2023, several cases were brought to court concerning forced vasectomy, and the court ruled in their favor in over 65 cases.
Contacted by Sciences Po, the Church has not replied to requests for comments. They have previously denied allegations of abuses.
The Borbas, for their part, are now free from the hold of the Church. Mr. Borba followed a formation in IT, while Ms. Borba found a job in social work. “Today, I realize it’s a sect,” Borba said. “We feel so much happier now, free. Many people are afraid to leave, they think they won’t make it. Today, we can say it’s not true.”
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