ABOUT US

Our history

Maranatha Christian Church first appeared within the evangelical community as a result of an event predicted for the present time as it is written in the book of the prophet Joel 2:28 that says: “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions.”

The founder and the foundation

Maranatha Christian Church Est.1968 – Vila Velha, ES

The founder and the foundation are identified in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is, therefore, no emphasis on another name or names since their existence is part of God’s prophetic plan for our day. However, the Maranata Christian Church, as a religious institution, was born in January 1968, in the municipality of Vila Velha, State of Espírito Santo, Brazil, with the aim of worshiping God and preaching the gospel according to the Old and New Testament scriptures as unique rule of faith and practice, as well as raising awareness of man’s spiritual and social formation, Christian education, promoting charitable works and moral and educational assistance, non-profit in national and international territory

Our faith

We believe in all the doctrines taught in the Holy Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments. Especially those relating to the Trinity, in which, throughout centuries, the Faithful Church has believed in the plan of salvation by grace through faith through the person of Jesus Christ and in the work He accomplished on the cross of Calvary.

We also believe in the Pentecostal doctrines of baptism with the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts and the direction of the Lord Jesus over His Church. We believe that the Church must be attentive to Biblical doctrines to live in sanctification and in obedience to the will of God.

We believe that the practice of the teachings of the Holy Scriptures, particularly those that refer to the importance of using the resources of grace, are sufficient for any church to be awakened from the state of spiritual sleep.

The origin of the word Maranatha

The word ‘Maranatha’ is not just a name for us, but a spiritual heritage. It identifies the calling from the Holy Spirit to a moment which is the RAPTURE, a special time in the life of the Church.

This Church was born from the evangelical milieu to define this historical and prophetic moment. Maranatha is used by Paul when expressing the great message of the Church which is “The King comes!”, that is: “Jesus will return!”.

On January 1980, through the revelation of the Lord Jesus, this work came to be called: Maranatha Christian Church, so that the message would be known throughout the world preaching: “Maranatha, the Lord Jesus comes”.

Voluntary ministry

This Pentecostal Church is established in many parts of the world, and is located in 6 different areas of the UK. The Holy Spirit is the one who conducts all things and all members, including Pastors are volunteers.

Doctrine of the body

Jesus Christ is the head (Eph. 5:23) and the church is His body. This doctrine has been a reality in Maranatha Christian Church. Not only as a belief, but as a way of life, with remarkable experiences in our daily lives.

One of the Lord’s reasons for baptizing His servants with the Holy Spirit – youth, adults, elders – was to allow the Lord Jesus to rule His Church. According to the prophet Joel, as a result of this baptism, his servants would receive visions, dreams and prophecies (Joel 2:28), which are all gifts that allow the Lord to reveal His will to us.

At the time of the apostles, it is observed that gifts were used, above all to reveal God’s will for his work. We have examples of this in the spiritual gifts through which the Lord revealed to Cornelius that he should call Peter to his home (Acts 10: 3-6), directed Philip to preach to the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26, 29), guided Ananias visiting Paul and praying for him (Acts 9: 10-16), revealed to Peter not to hesitate, but to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles in the house of this centurion (Acts 10: 9-16 and 19-20), revealed to Paul, who was not to preach the gospel in Asia or Bitynia, but in Macedonia (Acts 16: 6-10), he revealed to the Church that statutes in the Old Testament were to be observed by the Gentiles who were converted (Acts 15: 28,29) , Paul was told to go up to Jerusalem to submit his teaching to the apostles (Gal. 2: 1-2), the Lord revealed that he had chosen Timothy for the ministry of the Word (II Tim 4:14), etc. The church of our day has similar experiences, the Church has understood that the Lord Jesus must become in practice – and not just in theory – the Head of the Church. Through His written Word we have the doctrine and guidelines necessary for the building up of the Church.

Our Message

We live in the prophetic time that precedes the return of the Lord Jesus in glory to rapture His Church. The day and the time are unknown, but we have the obligation to discern the signs of these times. The Lord Jesus left us many signs in His Prophetic Sermon and in the book of Revelations so that we could understand the prophetic moment we live in.

As the Bride of Jesus, we understand that the Church must be vigilant to the moment of the Lord’s return. We must have lamps filled with oil, that is, filled with the Holy Spirit. In addition to being baptised with the Holy Spirit, the faithful servants of the Lord aim to be continually inspired by the Spirit (Eph. 5:18-21).

During this prophetic time, the Church is preaching the Gospel of Jesus with power, using the Word, which confirms the signs. There is a need for the Church to be seeking baptism with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) and spiritual gifts. The manifestations of spiritual gifts are used by the Lord to show the world that Jesus is alive!

The Church has a great responsibility to announce that Jesus is alive and that He will soon return! Come, Lord Jesus!

Confession of faith

The main points of the ICM Confession of Faith, its biblical bases and the understanding of the Scriptures that support each point are described below:

  1. The only living, true and almighty God exists eternally in three persons, all with the same glory and power: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14). God is perfect in holiness (Isaiah 6: 3), wisdom (Romans 16:27), justice (Revelation 15: 3-4) and love (1 John 4: 8). He created and sustains all things (John 1: 3; Hebrews 1: 3) by His Word. Man was created to worship and serve Him. Only God should be worshiped or exalted (Exodus 20: 4-5; Acts 10: 25-26).
  2. The eternal Son of God, in order to save the Church, became a perfect man, although equally perfect in divinity, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 3:16). He was born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18, 23), lived a life of perfection, without sin, fulfilled the law, was crucified for the sins of mankind, rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15: 3- 4) and ascended to heaven (Acts 1: 9), from where he continually intercedes before the Father for the Church (Hebrews 7:25). As a result of his perfect obedience (Philippians 2: 8-11) the Lord Jesus received from the Father all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18) and became the Savior (Acts 4:12) of all those who trust in Him. ‘He (Acts 16:31) is the only Mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2: 5). Believers are thus privileged to approach God the Father and pray to Him (Matthew 6: 9), assisted by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26) and in the name of Jesus Christ (John 14: 13-14) .
  3. The Bible, composed of the Old and New Testaments, is the Revealed Word of God (2 Timothy 3: 16-17). His original manuscripts were entirely inspired by the Holy Spirit. Consequently, they contain no error (John 17:17). The Bible is the only rule of faith and conduct for the Church (2 Timothy 1: 3). The Church does not teach any doctrine other than those clearly taught in the Holy Scriptures (1 Timothy 6: 3-5), as believed by the faithful Church throughout its history. Such doctrines are to be believed, obeyed, (1 Peter 1:22) and lived by the Church (2 Timothy 3:15). The same Spirit that inspired the Bible provides the necessary illumination for the Church to understand the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 2: 10-12). The Holy Spirit quickens the Scriptures (John 6:63) and uses them to reveal Jesus Christ to man (John 15:26) and to glorify Him (John 16:14).
  4. All men are sinners and are therefore subject to eternal condemnation (Romans 3:23). They can be saved only by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2: 8-9; John 6:47), as the Son of God, as Christ (Matthew 16: 16-17) and as the only and sufficient Savior. The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus – typified by His blood shed on the cross (Ephesians 1: 7; 2:13) – for the salvation of everyone who believes is the sum and essence of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 15: 1- 4) and the only source of all spiritual life (John 6: 53-54; 7: 37-39). Believers are elected according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 2:13; Ephesians 1: 4), for obedience and sprinkling the blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1: 2).
  5. Believers manifest their faith in Jesus and their love for Him through a life of obedience (John 14: 21-23) and good works (James 2: 17-18; John 15: 8), which God prepared from beforehand so that they would walk in them (Ephesians 2:10). Believers strive to live in fellowship with Jesus (John 15: 7), walk in the Spirit (Romans 8: 9-13; Galatians 5:16) and live by faith (Romans 1:17). They are led by the Spirit of God (Romans 8:14) and bear the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:18, 22-25). As they continue to listen and follow the Good Shepherd, none of them will be taken away from the hands of God (John 10: 27-28). The Holy Spirit enables the elect to endure to the end in faith (Revelation 2:10, 26), in sanctification (Hebrews 12:14), in obedience (John 10:27; Romans 6:17; Luke 8:15) and in service to the Church (Hebrews 6: 9-12).
  6. The Lord baptizes in the Church all those who believe in Jesus (1 Corinthians 12:13). The Church is God’s instrument for manifesting God’s manifold wisdom to the world (Ephesians 3:10) through the fulfillment of Jesus’ ministry today (John 14:12). The Church is to do the Work of God on earth, preach the Gospel (Matthew 28: 19-20), support its members (Ephesians 6:18; Galatians 6: 2, 10), worship God (Acts 2: 46- 47), baptize believers in water (Matthew 28:19) and celebrate the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2: 41-42). The Lord wants His Church to be one body, for all its members to be united by the same Spirit (Ephesians 4: 3), to hear the voice of the same Spirit (Revelation 3:22), to be led by the same Spirit Spirit (Galatians 5:18; Romans 8:14), have one faith and submit in true obedience to the same Lord, the Head of the Church (Ephesians 1: 22-23; 4: 1-6).
  1. The Lord Jesus baptizes believers with the Holy Spirit (John 1:33; 14: 16-17, 23; Ephesians 1:13; Acts 8: 14-17) to build up the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:18 , 24; 14: 4-5, 12), leading believers to all truth (John 16: 13-14), through the operation of the fivefold Ministry of the Word and the nine gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12: 7-12; Ephesians 4: 11-16). In this way the Lord prepares the Church for His second coming, which is His great hope (1 Corinthians 1: 7-8; Ephesians 5: 25-27; 2 Timothy 4: 8).
  2. The Lord Jesus will return to His Church, composed of all believers throughout history who have relied solely on the blood of the Lord Jesus – in other words, on His death and resurrection – for their salvation (Revelation 7: 9, 13 -14), at an unknown day and time (Matthew 24: 40-42). Those who died in Jesus will rise from the dead and with all believers will receive glorified bodies (1 Thessalonians 4: 15-17; 1 Corinthians 15: 51-52). From that moment on the Church will live in communion with the Lord Jesus in eternity (Revelation 21). Those who have rejected the grace of God offered in Jesus Christ will be judged and condemned to eternal separation from God (John 3:36; Revelation 20: 12-15).