It was 2003, the bicentennial of Mexico’s independence, when the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God opened its first church in the country.

It all started in a very small location. The church held special services on a small plot of land that later gave access to a small meeting room for about 50 people. It then decided to build a warehouse-type building on those grounds for 240 people. In a short amount of time the work had grown so much that people were standing outside to attend meetings.

At that time, a neighbour began persecuting the church, causing many problems. The neighbour was bothered by the large amount of people walking back and forth on the property. The church had to hold six meetings on Sunday in order to accommodate everyone. Every Sunday he purposefully placed speakers on top of his roof facing the church and blasted music to disturb the meetings. He would often come to the door to insult the people and the pastor. He provoked fights and even scratched some of the member’s cars.

On one occasion, he climbed on the church’s roof and started pounding on it with a hammer. It seemed like the whole building was going to collapse. He even attacked one of the assistants. The police came and took everyone down to the sheriff’s station, but they didn’t want to hear our side of the story. They turned against the assistant, threatening to deport him for fighting with a Mexican. They had no tolerance with the young man, thinking he was a foreigner and they said that it was against the law to lay a finger on a Mexican. But how could they deport the young man if he was Mexican too? The sheriff was so possessed that he didn’t even notice or believe that the assistant he was accusing was Mexican. His mother had to run home and get his birth certificate to prove his citizenship.

The persecutions increased, trying to discourage people from coming to church. There always some new problem or annoyance every week. The pastor was often full of indignation because the law was never in our favour. We were discriminated against and the only thing we could do was pray and cry out to God to change that situation. We suffered as we saw the people being insulted when they came to church, but it seemed like the more we were persecuted the more people clung to God and became stronger in faith. It was obvious that Satan himself was bothered with how God’s work was growing. Finally the day came when God gave us conditions to buy an old warehouse on Rio Totolica Ave. #13-A.

We prepared the warehouse and divided it in half. Half served as a parking lot and the other half was for the church. This was the only solution for our problems. The new church had a capacity of 800, and praise God, His work continued to grow even more. People were being delivered and having their lives transformed by God’s power. It reached a point that the warehouse was getting overcrowded and we had to set up a projector in the parking lot so that everyone could participate, watching the services on a screen.

That’s when we decided to knock down that first building and reconstruct our own Cathedral, (the first of many to come) for the honour and glory of the Lord Jesus. That was the beginning of another battle. We were about to finish the construction when the city of Naucalpan began putting obstacles in our way and wouldn’t give us the permits needed to open the church. The building was almost finished but we couldn’t inaugurate it. We followed all of the required procedures, we did everything they told us, we took the paperwork from one place to another but they wouldn’t give us the permits. We used all the legal avenues possible, and still no permits. That’s when we decided to schedule the grand opening by faith, even though we didn’t have the permits to operate. I confess that our actions were a bit extreme, but it was absurd for these officials to allow the construction the church and then just deny us permits to open.

So we scheduled the opening day for September 8, 2010 and began spreading the word, believing that God would provide the solution to this problem because everything was being done for Him and He would have to manifest His power. It was a challenge. We held many prayers and fasts. We cried out to God for everything to be resolved, but everything was stuck at a standstill. During the week of the grand opening, the city released all the permits and surprisingly began supporting us in a remarkable way. Once again the Kingdom of God prevailed over the forces of hell. The Lord Jesus said that the gates of hell shall not prevail over His church. Once again His word was fulfilled.

The grand opening was a dream come true, a great celebration. We had more than three thousand people attend that meeting. We had to put speakers on the staircases of the church so that those who couldn’t get in could listen to the Word of God and the prayers outside. The congregation wept and thanked God for this great victory. Today, we have a place that’s worthy enough for God’s people. It’s like Bishop Macedo has taught us: no sacrifice, no success. We can’t give up on our dreams. We’ll always face battles, but with faith, sacrifice and perseverance we’ll reach our goals. The cathedral is located in Naucalpan, Mexico and has a 1600 seating capacity, ample parking, elevators, children’s classrooms, nurseries, air conditioning. It’s a dream come true. Praise God.

Bishop Paulo Roberto Guimarães