Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International

Background

The origins of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International go back to the wandering of Luis Eduardo Moreno and his mother María Jesús Moreno through various christian denominations, where he served as preacher. After his marriage in 1966, his wife María Luisa Piraquive joined them.

Luis Eduardo had disagreements with the leaders of the various evangelical denominations in which he worked, due to the fact that he was pressed to give results in terms of growth of the churches at his charge.

Beginning

Disappointed by the permanent disagreements with the leaders of the denominations in which they congregated, the Moreno Piraquive family decided not to attend any church anymore and instead, they decided to pray at their house.

In 1972, during the prayers of a small group of four people congregated at the Moreno Piraquive family house, they experienced the first prophecy from God in the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ. In such prophecy, God gave them the instructions about how to direct the church.

As time passed by the church expanded to other departments of Colombia. Currently it has prayer rooms in more than 300 Colombian municipalities.

In 1997 is added the word International to the Church's name, and in 2000 the leaders of the church created a political party in Colombia, called MIRA, whose current President is Carlos Alberto Baena.

2014 controversy

In the months previous to the Colombian general elections of 2014, the MIRA political party was accused by virtually all the major media of the country of holding discriminatory views against disabled people. The criticism came from a leak of a private speech by María Luisa Piraquive in which she explained to some of the church's members that physically disabled believers are not allowed to preach in pulpits in the church in order to protect them and the church from discrimination:

It could happen that there was a very commited brother in the Church, very used by the Lord, very used by God, but unfortunately he had an accident and lost an arm, or any of his body's members. Therefore, this brother would not be allowed to preach in a pulpit, not because his soul and heart are far from God, but because of the conciousness [...] When we say because of the conciousness, we mean the impression this could cause in outsiders, because people are constantly coming to the church, and they will become worried or shocked if they see a preacher that does not have an arm, they would not like it [...] People will say 'what does this mean? I don't like this. I don't like this church, so I won't attend again.' That is what we call 'conciousness.' (Quotation from the leak, translated from Spanish.)

These words were interpreted by some media as an instance of discrimination and diffamation, and the church was also accused of money laundering related to drug trafficking. However, in March 2014, the Ninth Bogotan Judge Officer decided that Piraquive's declarations were not discriminatory under Colombian law, and in April 2014, the 286th Attorney of Colombia judged that no diffamation was found in the speech. The Office of the Attorney General of Colombia stated in July 2014 that 'up until now, there are no clear hints of links between Pastor Piraquive and criminal organisations dedicated to drug trafficking' (translated from Spanish.)

Maria Luisa Piraquive denied the accusations and filed a lawsuit in the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, in Washington D.C, claiming that the Church and the MIRA party were victims of religious persecution and segregation, with a backing of over a hundred documented cases of harassment against the Church's members and over five hundred tweets and Facebook posts that contained death threats and other violent language. The church's leaders also defended themselves by pointing out that Piraquive's humanitarian organisation, Maria Luisa de Moreno International Foundation, actively promotes disabled people's rights in Colombia and abroad.

Geographic distribution

Besides the 50 countries and territories in which the church has prayer rooms, there are informal meetings held in Cuba and Equatorial Guinea.

Spiritual gifts and prophecy

The Church's most important feature is its reliance on the gift of prophecy, in which a human instrument is said to be used by the Holy Spirit to speak. This practice reminds of the early Christian Church's gift of prophecy, mentioned by Paul in the Epistle to the Corinthians, by John in his Gospel and other New Testament books.

Unlike other Pentecostal denominations, prophecies are seldom general (i. e., given to the public attending the service), but individual, and refer to the past, present and future of the person receiving the message. Its form is of specific promises (of healing, happiness, economic prosperity, spiritual experiencies, marriage, and so on) expected to be fulfilled by God through his power, as well as commandments on the individual's life, as a "guidance for life". Those to whom the promises have been fulfilled often give testimony of them in public in the religious services.

The gift of prophecy is not the only spiritual gift said to appear in the Church. Of a central importance is the gift of tongues, which is the sign of being baptised by the Holy Spirit, resembling the New Testament's Pentecost day. There are also gifts of healing, spiritual visions, dream interpretation, casting away demons and discernment, among others. Believers are encouraged to ask for these gifts in prayer, so that all the congregation may have a personal experience with God. In a typical prayer room there could be one prophesier for each thirty believers.

Architectural style of the congregations

Initially, believers began to gather in living rooms of houses, with the Moreno Piraquive's house being the first prayer room in the La Estrada neighbourhood, Bogota. Later, the gatherings were held in the locality called Engativa. After some time it was necessary to rent warehouses, which were adequated for the religious services. By 1994 the church started to purchase properties in order to build prayer rooms for the congregation. The church has also purchased former Jewish synagogues and evangelical temples.

The first countries in which the church established prayer rooms, besides Colombia, were Panama and the United States of America. In some places of Florida and other countries, believers congregate in conference halls of hotels.

Baptisteries

Besides using rivers, the sea or pools to perform baptisms, the church uses elementary baptisteries built in some of the prayer rooms.

The Baptistery of Cota was inaugurated on 29 May 2010 in the municipality of Cota in the Cundinamarca department of Colombia. Its construction required an investment of more than 3 millions of american dollars. The baptistery of Cota was built on a 2 hectares property and has capacity for 800 people. This building is used for the baptisms of new believers from the prayer rooms in Cundinamarca and Bogota.

Maria Luisa de Moreno International Foundation

In addition to its religious activities, the church offers social assistance (e.g. via educational programs and health services) in the countries in which it has presence, mainly in Colombia. One of the means through which the church performs this activities is the Maria Luisa de Moreno International Foundation, a philanthropic institution founded in 2000 under the mottos "Help at all levels", "Architects of hearts" and currently "Helping is our work". This NGO is responsible for the distribution of food and the activities related to educational and social services. It also promotes the rights and well-being of mentally and physically disabled people.

The foundation operates in a dozen of countries, especially in Hispanic countries.

Publications

The Zion International magazine is the official magazine of the Church of God Ministry of Jesus Christ International. It covers biblical topics and activities of the church. This magazine is published quarterly, written both in English and Spanish.