The church was founded in 1977 in Rio de Janeiro by Bishop Edir Macedo,[6] who is the owner (since 1989) of the multi-billion television company RecordTV.

[8] The denomination had established temples in the United Kingdom and in Africa and India, claiming a total of more than 12 million members worldwide that year.

[26] The BBC reported in 2023 that it recorded London based UCKG Bishop James Marques claiming mental health conditions could be helped by casting out demons and that epilepsy is a "spiritual problem".

[29] In 1975, Soares and another pastor invited Macedo, who still wanted to start his ministry, to inaugurate the Cruzada do Caminho Eterno ("Crusade of the Eternal Way"), a precursor of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God.

[30] In order to increase the number of members, Macedo began to preach in a gazebo at the main square of the Méier neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro.

[9] Some observers at the time thought that Crivella was being promoted as a competitor to the popular Catholic priest-singer, Marcelo Rossi, who had sold over 4 million albums.

He has been effective at attracting crowds: the first time appearing at the Nilson Nelson gymnasium in Brasília, with a capacity for 25,000 people, and also in the Estádio Fonte Nova in Salvador and the Mineiro in Belo Horizonte.

[39][40][41] The UCKG said that in 2018 its American branch opened a church inside a jail in Houston, Texas, U.S.[42] Macedo has said he wants to "create a theocratic state" by participating in elections.

[45] Reports in 2009 from a Brazilian governmental investigation of money laundering estimated that the UCKG received R$1.4 billion per year in tithes, collected in 4,500 temples in 1,500 cities in Brazil.

The charity also provides financial support to its sister churches in developing nations via the issue of loans presented as programme related investments in the balance sheet."

According to Forbes magazine, as of 2015[update] Macedo had a personal fortune estimated at US$1.1 billion, largely from his ownership of RecordTV, the second largest broadcaster in Brazil.

She found that in churches such as the UCKG, members were urged to demand "miracle jobs" and reject humble vocations and low pay, regardless of qualifications, skills or experience.

[62] The UCKG considers that the first ten percent of all of a person's gross income before deductions "belongs to God" as a tithe, quoting the Bible as the ultimate, divine authority (Malachi 3:10).

The church gives very detailed instructions on what is to be paid, when, and to whom, distinguishing between rules for salaried workers, business owners, the self-employed, pensioners, and the unemployed, including beggars.

In particular, Premawardhana found that from the standpoint of an individual member of the church, tithing was not "an escapist substitute for, but a vital supplement to, his daily struggle for a better life."

The UCKG was "demonizing" especially Afro-Brazilian syncretic religions such as Umbanda and Candomblé; "Jews are portrayed as 'the killers of Christ', Catholics as 'devil worshippers', traditional Protestants as 'false Christians' and Muslims as 'demonic'", the report said.

Facing legal charges, Von Helde fled the country but was later tried and convicted of religious discrimination and desecration of a national sacred treasure; he was sentenced to two years in prison.

[68] Macedo apologized for Von Helder's actions, but accused Rede Globo, Brazil's largest television network, of "manipulating public sentiment" by repeatedly showing a video of the incident.

[7] A book by ex-pastor Mario Justino reported a system of goals for the pastors, with those who collect more money receiving awards such as bigger houses, better cars, and holidays.

[77] In December 2012, the UCKG was ordered by a court in Lajeado to pay R$20,000, confirmed on appeal, in compensation for coercing a businesswoman and her partner to make donations they could not afford.

The judge determined that the donations (car, jewellery, home appliances, a mobile phone and a printer) were induced to prove faith and subject to the threat of withholding the blessings needed.

Finally, it is sent to Brazil though domestic lending companies "Cremo" and "Unimetro", lender banks that divide the funds among Rede Record executives, who in turn supply more money to UCKG officials.

Victoria was seen by dozens of social workers, nurses, doctors and police officers before she died, and by a pastor of the UCKG, but all failed to spot or stop the abuse.

The UCKG was criticised for heavily promoting the film at their services, and asking those attending for money to buy tickets for those who could not afford them; pastors at church services distributed envelopes with the Ten Commandments logo, and asked for them to be filled with money and returned to help the "cause", interspersed with stressing the importance of tithing 10% of salary, plus extra donations, every month.

[103][104] In 2018, the film Nada a Perder (Nothing to Lose), which depicts the story of Edir Macedo, part-funded and promoted by Macedo's Record channel, was similarly reported to be the biggest-selling Brazilian film, but to be playing to rows of empty seats night after night; in one case two sold-out performances played to a totally empty cinema, and to a woman and her two children.

A UCKG spokesman said that it was a lie and fake news propagated by media with "a long history of attacks against Universal and the Christian faith" that the film was showing to empty cinemas.

He said that the church had "never" bought tickets for the film, but there had been "an initiative so that the biggest number of people possible could see the film—taking needy populations and residents of poor neighbourhoods, the excluded and those who never had access to a cinema where they live".

[106] The investigation continued as of April 2018[update]; the Portuguese judicial authorities had by then ruled that children were not taken illegally from their parents, but that there were indications of crime in the subsequent process of adoption.

However, subsequent forensic inspections, carried out by the Prosecutors' Office, then indicated that the mothers had indeed signed the court documents regarding their children's adoptions,[111][112] deeming the respective procedures as lawful.

[113][114] According to the mother's allegations, journalist Alexandra Borges instigated her to state that she had not signed any adoption papers or notifications, in exchange for reuniting her with her estranged sons.