Appendices

Appendix I

Glossary of Terms

Exorcism – a formal religious ceremony or ritual used with the intention of driving ‘evil spirits’ out of a person or place which is believed to be possessed by them.

Holy Trinity – defined in Christianity as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

Pentecost – commemorates the gift of the Holy Spirit to the apostles of Jesus Christ on the seventh Sunday after Easter.

Protestant – a member or adherent of any denomination of the western Christian church that rejects papal authority and some fundamental Roman Catholic doctrines, and believes in justification by faith.

Soul – who you are, the person, what differentiates you from others, remains with you when you die.

Spirit – that which keeps you alive, your breath of life, what goes back to God when you die, belongs to God.

Appendix II

Statement of Faith

We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in their original writings as fully inspired by God and accept them as the Supreme and Final Authority for faith and life.

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We believe that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born by the Virgin Mary and is true God and true Man.

We believe that God created man in His own image; that man sinned and thereby incurred the penalty of death, physical and spiritual; that all human beings inherit a sinful nature which causes actual transgression involving personal guilt.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, a substitution sacrifice according to the Scriptures and that all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood.

We believe in the body of resurrection of the Lord Jesus, His ascension into heaven and His present life as our High Priest and Advocate.

We believe in the personal return of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.

We believe that those who repent of their sins, receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith and hold fast to Him are born again by the Holy Spirit and become children of God.

We believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, empowering believers for service, with accompanying supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit and in fellowship with the Holy Spirit.

We believe in the divinely ordained ministries of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher.

We believe in the resurrection of the just and the unjust, the eternal blessings of the redeemed, and the eternal banishment of those who have rejected salvation.

We believe that the one true Church consists of all those who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and regenerated by the Holy Spirit; that the local church on earth should take its character from this conception of the spiritual Church and therefore new birth and personal confession of the Christ are essential for church membership.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ appointed two ordinances: baptism in water and the Lord’s Supper, to be observed as acts of obedience and as a continual witness to the facts of the Christian faith; that baptism is the immersion of the believer in water as a confession of the Lord Jesus in burial and resurrection and that the Lord’s Supper is the partaking of the body and blood of our Saviour in remembrance of His sacrifice until He comes.

We believe that divine healing seen in the Old Testament and the New is an integral part of the Gospel.

We believe the Bible teaches that without holiness no man can see God.

We believe in sanctification as a definite, yet progressive work of grace, commencing at the time of the new birth and continuing until the end of one’s life.

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  • Prayer Request

Young Girl Found Under a Tree

Dear Bishop Macedo

I would like to share the story of Zanele, a 22-year-old girl in South Africa. She left the city of Durban and came to Johannesburg in the hope of having a better life. Zanele came with her friends to find a job and to study. She went to live with one of her friends but was soon evicted and started living on the streets, where she lost everything, including her documents.

Whilst living on the streets, Zanele began to hear voices that told her to “tie yourself up.” Therefore, she started tying herself up with sack cloths, clothing, wires, plastic, etc. Zanele had been living under a tree for a little over a year, and developed psychological problems. She also no longer took care of her personal hygiene.

Zanele was found through the evangelisation work of the Universal Church and she received spiritual help and all the necessary support. We removed everything that was tied to her body. After some time, she took a bath, got a haircut, received new clothes, food and, above all, (after going through the deliverance process) she was free of evil spirits.

Through faith, Zanele was given the opportunity to start a new life. Now, she has begun a chain of prayer and is very happy.

WORDS FORM THOUGHTS, THOUGHTS AFFECT YOUR LIFE – WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH IT?

This question can change the course of your life and your relationship. Take a few minutes and understand!

We are in a time when people have wishes, and plans for the coming year, but everything is very superficial.

Understand, if you want to change your life, you need to start at the deepest level, which is in the words you say – to others and yourself – because they become thoughts, beliefs, habits and behaviours.

You are responsible for your life and the change starts when you ask yourself: what am I doing with my life? What will happen if I continue at this rate?

Have the courage to ask yourself, take stock, look inside yourself and see what is not working or what is causing you harm. I know it’s hard to face reality, that you’ve been wrong for so long, but eliminating what’s bad for you can create space for good to flourish.

Bishop Renato Cardoso

How Many Souls Are on Board?

When someone wants to officially refer to the number of people on an airplane or ship, usually they are described as souls. Newspapers reporting on the number of people on an airplane that has crashed will usually say that there was “X” number of souls aboard.

The reason for this is if you refer to the number of passengers, you are immediately discarding the pilots and the crew. You cannot say that there was an “X” number of bodies onboard because airplanes sometimes carry bodies in the cargo hold, that are being taken to another country to be buried.

Regardless of whether CEOs of airlines believe in life after death or not, they still refer to anyone alive on their airplanes as a soul.

There is no life in a body unless a soul is in it. The moment a soul departs from a body, what is left behind is a mere shell.

How important is our soul? Well, the Bible says: “Everyone included among those who are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the Lord. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when you give an offering to the Lord, to make atonement for yourselves.” Exodus 30:14-15

This offering of atonement represented a person’s soul and was given every time a census of the people of Israel was done. Notice how the amount required from the rich or the poor was exactly the same. Surely the rich could give a lot more than the poor, but in this instance, God was trying to show us that the value of the soul (https://www.uckg.org/a-letter-from-a-man/) of the rich and of the poor are the same in His eyes.

We know the world differentiates between the rich and the poor. In few places is this more evident than on an airplane where the rich can be treated very differently from everyone else by upgrading to First Class. But in order to enter the kingdom of God, the sacrifices required are the same, no matter who the person is: “Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.’” Luke 9:23

Take a moment to reflect and see if you are indeed sure of the salvation of your soul, or if you have been trying to avoid carrying your cross by doing things the easy way.

There is no cost-cutting when it comes to entering the Kingdom of God (https://www.uckg.org/discipline-in-the-kingdom-of-god/). The same is required from everyone; whether they are rich or poor.

Bishop James Marques

New year new habits

It can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit and with the new year ahead of us what better time to do just that?

What habits are you willing to form in this new year, and what changes do you want to take place in your finances, health, spiritual life, and love life?

Our chain of prayers will challenge you to change old habits into new ones…

What is it?

A Chain of Prayer is when you attend a prayer meeting for a certain number of weeks without interruption in order to see a breakthrough in your life. Whether it is in your health, a financial breakthrough or spiritual deliverance that you need, a Chain of Prayer helps you develop the faith and determination to overcome.

Before starting a chain of prayer, you will need to decide what you want to fight for, and then decide the day, or days, that you will make your chain. A requirement to making a Chain of Prayer is that you attend a Sunday service every week.

The success of a Chain of Prayer depends on your perseverance. If you’re not determined, it won’t work.

Take a look at our weekly schedule of service and read the brief description for each so you to decide which service is best for you to participate in depending on the goals you have set for yourself.