Out of Guadalajara’s working-class Hermosa Provincia neighbourhood rises the 270ft Hermosa Provincia Temple. It is, for millions of devotees, a stairway to heaven.
This week, half a million religious pilgrims from 53 countries will descend upon the Mexican city to celebrate the birthday of Aaron Joaquin Gonzalez, the deceased founder of the little-known Christian denomination Luz del Mundo (Light of the World), a colourful institution with cult-like leaders that was founded in 1926.
With grandstanding architecture and a growing global reach, Luz del Mundo is a Pentecostal church that claims five million members worldwide. Inaugurated in 1992, the 14-sided Provincia Temple is formed of seven blindingly bright white and gold layers, each meant to symbolise steps towards the perfection of the human spirit. Illuminated by neon lights, its vast 12,000-seat auditorium hosts 24-hour services all this week, as pilgrims from the United States, Latin America and Europe congregate to re-enact the Last Supper and celebrate the founder’s birthday on Friday. “It’s a transcendental act that inspires us all year long in all the different places we can be found,” Luz del Mundo’s national spokesman, Eliezer Gutierrez, told The Independent.
At least 300,000 people take part in Luz del Mundo's annual ceremony (EPA)
This year’s attendees include about half of Luz del Mundo’s 57 British members, who were baptised at its churches in south London’s Lewisham and Old Kent Road. Members must give the church 10 per cent of their income, but this requirement has not inhibited its growth around the world.
“When I came to the church 27 years ago there were only seven of us English speakers. Now we have over 500,” said Jack Freeman, a US-born devotee who has led evangelisation efforts in England and Australia. A former atheist, Mr Freeman said he “felt the presence of the Lord” upon attending his first Spanish-language ceremony in Los Angeles, despite “not understanding a word anybody said”.
Luz del Mundo rejects the rigid dogma and lavish iconography of Catholicism in favour of a more puritan ethos. Alcohol is strictly forbidden and the church does not celebrate Christmas or Easter. Only men are allowed to hold leadership positions, while women are forbidden from using makeup or jewellery and must cover themselves with long skirts and veils during services. “The Luz del Mundo has always been a cult of personality centred around the charisma of its leaders,” Renee de la Torre, a Mexican sociologist and expert on the church, said.
Today the church is led by the founder’s grandson, Naason Joaquin Garcia. Venerated as an apostle, he was “chosen by God” to succeed his father, Samuel Joaquin Flores, who died last December. Luz del Mundo engenders a strong sense of brotherhood, with this week’s celebrations also taking place in Mexican prisons where the church helps to rehabilitate inmates, Mr Gutierrez said.
The church is also known for its bizarre landmarks, which include a 180ft replica of the Eiffel Tower in Guadalajara, a mini Taj Mahal in southern Mexico, a mock Mayan pyramid in Honduras and an £11m Parthenon-style temple in Houston, Texas. Yet Luz del Mundo is not without its controversies. In 1997, church leaders were accused of sexually abusing a number of young devotees. One of the accusers then claimed Luz del Mundo members stabbed him 57 times for speaking out.
Mr Gutierrez dismissed the allegations: “The authorities decided there were no grounds for charges.” Part of the church’s success comes from historic links to the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), Mexico’s dominant political force for the last century. “Luz del Mundo has benefited greatly from their alliance” in return for guaranteeing votes for the PRI, said Andrew Chesnut, a professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University.
