Statutory Inquiry into the UCKG HelpCentre
Statutory Inquiry into the UCKG HelpCentre
The Issue
The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG, Universal Church) is a neo-pentecostal mega church started in Brazil in 1977 by billionaire business man Edir Macedo. They have a number of branches globally and here in the uk, over 30 branches.
In 2021 I decided to speak out publicly about my own experiences with this church. From the emotional/psychological abuse, to the financial exploitation and free child labour.
I was made to isolate myself from everyone who did not attend the church, including family. Education was made to be of less importance as the most important thing had to be the church. I was coerced into getting married at the age of 19.
Not long after I decided that I wanted to leave the UCKG community and reclaim myself. I made an escape plan and left, triggering immediate ostracization, as UCKG doctrine dictates.
I re-integrated back into society, after having lost so much sense of reality at the hands of the UCKG. They do not believe that mental health is a serious medical condition, but a mere symptom of demonic possession.
A massive part of the UCKG’s ideology is exorcisms, which they call ‘deliverance’ or ‘strong prayers’. They inflict these often violent prayers on societies most of vulnerable, with no regard to safeguarding. They subject often young people to these exorcisms even though they claim they do not.
The UCKG had its first major scandal in the UK back in 2002 when they were in the middle of the tragic case of 8 year old Victoria Climbié.
She was actually taken to the UCKG by her aunt and eventual murderer after UCKG pastor (now bishop) advised Victoria’s aunt that he thought she was possessed by an evil spirit. Rather than the pastor reporting Victoria’s visible poor well-fail to authorities, they offered to ‘pray’ for her. That pastor is now a bishop of the UCKG.
They preach that you will be cursed and destined for calamity if you did not pay the very first 10% of all your gross income to the church (tithe).
They do not support volunteers, not even a pittance. But expect plenty free labour, even relying on members to provide cleaning products, stock their food-banks and fund projects within the church. Despite the church taking in on average over £14 Million a year according to the Charity Commission.
As an assistant, you were expected to attend church multiple times a week, and buy uniform to wear when on duty. My uniform at the time cost over £300 when I was just 15 years old.
In 2021 after I decided to share my experiences, I decided to start live sessions with a friend who is also a survivor of the UCKG via Instagram to reach a bigger audience. We knew we wasn’t the only ones.
After a few weeks, I was amazed to find that people from all over the uk started to reach out to me and share their own experiences with the UCKG.
To date, I’ve heard stories of sexual abuse, coercive control, financial exploitation, physical abuse and mental abuse. I’ve heard from people who were simply left traumatised by the UCKG.
I’ve had current members and survivors reach out to me from all over the world. Reminding me that this church is a global problem.
As the #survivinguniversal platform grew, It developed from Instagram to TikTok, where the page went viral, with hundreds of people taking to the comments to share their horrific experiences of being in the UCKG.
Within the movement, I have been advocating on the behalf of current members, survivors and their families towards justice and healing.
This movement has been reported in the press…
I have been assisting survivors in making police reports and accessing mental health services as well has supporting survivors to make reports to the charity commissioner. Hundreds of people have come forward to complain about this church.
How they were roped in, love bombed before being used and abused, then gaslit. Since calling out the church publicly, the UCKG’s response to the allegations has continued to be very dismissive to say the lease.
The churches leaders poke fun at survivors stories, and calls us all sinners and liars. They have not personally reached out to myself or any survivors to offer an apology or explanation.
I am aware that there is currently little to no legal precedent in regards to faith abuse in the uk of this magnitude. The Charity Commissioner needs to take action now to stop this organisations dangerous works.
Therefor, we are calling for the Charity Commissioner to launch a Statutory Inquiry into the UCKG HelpCentre.
This organization uses coercion to manipulate societies most vulnerable into doing things they otherwise would never do. This ranges from making them give large financial offerings, to dropping out of education to volunteer in the church full time.
They use their charity status to extort members and the public into giving them money under the pretense that they use this money to support the community. There is no transparency to show where this money actually goes and what it is used for.
Myself and the other survivors recall many times when we were youths, we were ordered to stand on the streets fundraising, in the cold for hours, with no real sense of what we were being made to raise funds for. If we didn’t volunteer to fundraise, we would be ridiculed, humiliated and even punished.
We were told to tell the pubic that we were fundraising for our youth group. Which was odd, because us as members of the youth group never benefited from this money. We had to fund trips and events from our own pockets. So where does this money go?
As former members, we were subjected to horrific psychological abuse and constant threats.
We were subjected to physical abuse during their exorcisms. We were groomed within the church to isolate ourselves from the outside world, including family. We were controlled and made to disclose the most intimate details of our lives to church leadership.
There is also some survivors who suffered sexual abuse within the church, to which leadership would sweep it under the rug. It felt like we were in a prison.
A place like this, that refuses to take any accountability for their atrocities should not have unlimited access to vulnerable people and be able to earn millions off the backs of these often poor communities.
We say enough is enough. After a number of compaints were made to the Charity Commissioner, we are disgusted by their response, which was to essentially give the trustees of the UCKG a talking to. But how effective can that possibly be? When firstly, those trustees consist of pastors and pastors wives of the church, and secondly, when we are dealing with the most serious of allegations?
To show other corrupt and harmful organizations that they simply cannot hide behind charity status, we call on the Charity Commissioner to launch a Statutory Inquiry into the UCKG immediately.
We demand transparency, accountability and justice.
For far too long the UCKG has been making a mockery of the charity sector, abusing people it claims to help. Lessons need to be learnt and justice needs to be had.
Thank you for your time. To follow the movement, please follow us on
Instagram and TikTok:
@survivinguniversaluk
Twitter @Suuk
Rachael,
Founder of Surviving Universal UK
408
The Issue
The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG, Universal Church) is a neo-pentecostal mega church started in Brazil in 1977 by billionaire business man Edir Macedo. They have a number of branches globally and here in the uk, over 30 branches.
In 2021 I decided to speak out publicly about my own experiences with this church. From the emotional/psychological abuse, to the financial exploitation and free child labour.
I was made to isolate myself from everyone who did not attend the church, including family. Education was made to be of less importance as the most important thing had to be the church. I was coerced into getting married at the age of 19.
Not long after I decided that I wanted to leave the UCKG community and reclaim myself. I made an escape plan and left, triggering immediate ostracization, as UCKG doctrine dictates.
I re-integrated back into society, after having lost so much sense of reality at the hands of the UCKG. They do not believe that mental health is a serious medical condition, but a mere symptom of demonic possession.
A massive part of the UCKG’s ideology is exorcisms, which they call ‘deliverance’ or ‘strong prayers’. They inflict these often violent prayers on societies most of vulnerable, with no regard to safeguarding. They subject often young people to these exorcisms even though they claim they do not.
The UCKG had its first major scandal in the UK back in 2002 when they were in the middle of the tragic case of 8 year old Victoria Climbié.
She was actually taken to the UCKG by her aunt and eventual murderer after UCKG pastor (now bishop) advised Victoria’s aunt that he thought she was possessed by an evil spirit. Rather than the pastor reporting Victoria’s visible poor well-fail to authorities, they offered to ‘pray’ for her. That pastor is now a bishop of the UCKG.
They preach that you will be cursed and destined for calamity if you did not pay the very first 10% of all your gross income to the church (tithe).
They do not support volunteers, not even a pittance. But expect plenty free labour, even relying on members to provide cleaning products, stock their food-banks and fund projects within the church. Despite the church taking in on average over £14 Million a year according to the Charity Commission.
As an assistant, you were expected to attend church multiple times a week, and buy uniform to wear when on duty. My uniform at the time cost over £300 when I was just 15 years old.
In 2021 after I decided to share my experiences, I decided to start live sessions with a friend who is also a survivor of the UCKG via Instagram to reach a bigger audience. We knew we wasn’t the only ones.
After a few weeks, I was amazed to find that people from all over the uk started to reach out to me and share their own experiences with the UCKG.
To date, I’ve heard stories of sexual abuse, coercive control, financial exploitation, physical abuse and mental abuse. I’ve heard from people who were simply left traumatised by the UCKG.
I’ve had current members and survivors reach out to me from all over the world. Reminding me that this church is a global problem.
As the #survivinguniversal platform grew, It developed from Instagram to TikTok, where the page went viral, with hundreds of people taking to the comments to share their horrific experiences of being in the UCKG.
Within the movement, I have been advocating on the behalf of current members, survivors and their families towards justice and healing.
This movement has been reported in the press…
I have been assisting survivors in making police reports and accessing mental health services as well has supporting survivors to make reports to the charity commissioner. Hundreds of people have come forward to complain about this church.
How they were roped in, love bombed before being used and abused, then gaslit. Since calling out the church publicly, the UCKG’s response to the allegations has continued to be very dismissive to say the lease.
The churches leaders poke fun at survivors stories, and calls us all sinners and liars. They have not personally reached out to myself or any survivors to offer an apology or explanation.
I am aware that there is currently little to no legal precedent in regards to faith abuse in the uk of this magnitude. The Charity Commissioner needs to take action now to stop this organisations dangerous works.
Therefor, we are calling for the Charity Commissioner to launch a Statutory Inquiry into the UCKG HelpCentre.
This organization uses coercion to manipulate societies most vulnerable into doing things they otherwise would never do. This ranges from making them give large financial offerings, to dropping out of education to volunteer in the church full time.
They use their charity status to extort members and the public into giving them money under the pretense that they use this money to support the community. There is no transparency to show where this money actually goes and what it is used for.
Myself and the other survivors recall many times when we were youths, we were ordered to stand on the streets fundraising, in the cold for hours, with no real sense of what we were being made to raise funds for. If we didn’t volunteer to fundraise, we would be ridiculed, humiliated and even punished.
We were told to tell the pubic that we were fundraising for our youth group. Which was odd, because us as members of the youth group never benefited from this money. We had to fund trips and events from our own pockets. So where does this money go?
As former members, we were subjected to horrific psychological abuse and constant threats.
We were subjected to physical abuse during their exorcisms. We were groomed within the church to isolate ourselves from the outside world, including family. We were controlled and made to disclose the most intimate details of our lives to church leadership.
There is also some survivors who suffered sexual abuse within the church, to which leadership would sweep it under the rug. It felt like we were in a prison.
A place like this, that refuses to take any accountability for their atrocities should not have unlimited access to vulnerable people and be able to earn millions off the backs of these often poor communities.
We say enough is enough. After a number of compaints were made to the Charity Commissioner, we are disgusted by their response, which was to essentially give the trustees of the UCKG a talking to. But how effective can that possibly be? When firstly, those trustees consist of pastors and pastors wives of the church, and secondly, when we are dealing with the most serious of allegations?
To show other corrupt and harmful organizations that they simply cannot hide behind charity status, we call on the Charity Commissioner to launch a Statutory Inquiry into the UCKG immediately.
We demand transparency, accountability and justice.
For far too long the UCKG has been making a mockery of the charity sector, abusing people it claims to help. Lessons need to be learnt and justice needs to be had.
Thank you for your time. To follow the movement, please follow us on
Instagram and TikTok:
@survivinguniversaluk
Twitter @Suuk
Rachael,
Founder of Surviving Universal UK
408
The Decision Makers
Petition created on 19 September 2022