This article explores the processes of rationalization involved in a person's adherence to the individualist message of prosperity theology. Looking to gain a better understanding of the charisma associated with this version of Christianity, the text examines a number of elements used in the construction of male subjectivities, such as they appear to members of a network of worshippers from the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. This network is formed by around 20 men, both single and married, aged between 18 and 45 years with low levels of schooling, living in favelas or on hillsides located on the boundary between the south zone and centre of Rio de Janeiro. Their private and individual strategies for dealing with the problems surfacing in their day-to-day lives and the urgency of the economic challenges confronting them contain a rich set of data, providing us with an insight into the reasons behind the Universal Church's penetration of Brazil's urban working classes.
God; Work; Masculinity; Conversion; Pentecostalism