From Megachurch to Metachurch

Building on thirty years accompanying the church’s growth, this book is the first to treat the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG) as a global organization and the first to balance the devotional and ritual life of the church with its impact on politics and the media. Based in Brazil, the UCKG claims to have 17,000 bishops and pastors, 12,300 places of worship and 10 million followers in 135 countries. Within a lifetime of fifty years it has become a model for neo-Pentecostalism worldwide epitomized by its mammoth ‘Temple of Solomon’ in São Paulo. Drawing on ethnographic research in 13 countries from Brazil and Spanish America to Europe, North America and Israel, David Lehmann demonstrates how the church’s practices, and those of Pentecostalism in general, are reshaping contemporary concepts of ritual and the supernatural. It further argues that the Church’s use of social media to spread its teachings, and its leader Edir Macedo’s extensive political, business and mediatic interests, have paved the way to a fusion of religious and secular domains. The church’s bishops, pastors and assistants mobilize their followers by age and gender and channel their commitment into activities ranging from fundraising to seniors’ gatherings to prison and hospital visiting. Gender emerges repeatedly as a central theme, expressed in the phenomenon of the childless pastoral couple, gendered self-improvement networks, the church’s messaging on relationships, ‘love therapy’ and even the provision of dating apps for the faithful. Exceeding previous work in scope and theoretical range, this book opens completely new perspectives on Pentecostalism worldwide.