Any story on the existence or formation of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, RCCG, that does not start with the name Pa Josiah Olufemi Akindayomi, may be considered to have started on a wrong note.
Pa Akindayomi was born in July 1909 to a family given mostly to worshipping of idol in Ondo State, South West of Nigeria. Despite this situation, the young Akindayomi believed that there was more for him; that there was a God bigger than the idols his family worshipped, a God that in his own words “created the earth and everyone on it”. His hunger for this God drove him to the Church Missionary Society where he was baptised in 1927.
The Call
He joined the Cherubim and Seraphim Church in 1931 in his quest for more of this God. It was while there that he first got the call from God. According to him, he heard a voice say to him: “You will be my servant.” But since this was not part of the plans he had for his life, Mr. Akindayomi ignored the voice he heard for seven years and tried his hands on other businesses, which failed one after the other.
The Yielding
When it became obvious that his self-dependence was getting him nowhere, Mr. Akindayomi submitted to the will of God, a totally broken man, and this marked the beginning of a “definite relationship with God”. He told God that he would go wherever He wanted him to go if only He would show him signs to confirm that indeed it was God calling him. God did just that through His Word, and gave him Scriptures from Jeremiah 1: 4-10, Isaiah 41:10-13, Romans 8:29-31 and also assured him that He would provide for his daily needs, including all that he needed for his marriage in 1941.
The Redeemed Christian Church of God
Mr. Akindayomi continued to worship in the Cherubim and Seraphim Church until 1947 when he began to feel dissatisfied with some of the doctrines of the church, which for him appeared to be a deviation from the Word of God. In 1952, this young man with zeal for the Lord, finally left and went on to start a house fellowship called the Glory of God Fellowship at Willoughby Street, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, starting with nine members but it soon grew, as stories of the miracles happening there spread everywhere.
Shortly after, Akindayomi, now a full-time pastor, had a vision where he saw written on a board “The Redeemed Christian Church of God”. Also, God told him, in this vision, that the church would go to the ends of the earth and when Jesus returned would meet the church. He said God promised to provide for the daily needs of the church as long as they served Him faithfully and remained obedient to His Word. This formed the standard operational procedure of the RCCG, a kind of covenant with the church since in 1952. What is most significant about this vision was that Pastor Akindayomi could neither read nor write but was able to write down the exact name of the church as shown to him in the English language.
The church grew and continued in Willoughby Street until it moved to a permanent location, its present headquarters at 1-5 Redemption Way (formerly 1a Cemetery Street), Ebute-Metta, in Lagos Mainland.
Passing The Baton
Pa Akindayomi continued to shepherd RCCG and at the twilight of his years, he got a message from God, telling him that his successor was a young man not yet in the church. When in 1973, a young university lecturer by the name Enoch Adejare Adeboye, joined the church, Pa Akindayomi got a confirmation in his spirit and began to mentor him, becoming one of the interpreters to Pa Akindayomi, translating his sermons from Yoruba to English.
Dr. Adeboye was in 1975 named a Pastor of the church. Knowing that his time was nearing its end, Pa Akindayomi called the Mathematics lecturer and spoke to him for several hours, explaining the vision of the church and God’s instructions, making sure that he had a full grasp on it. Pa Akindayomi died at the age of 71 in 1980, when Pastor Adeboye was ordained as the General Overseer of the RCCG.
Legacy
Perhaps the most striking thing about Pa Akindayomi was his close walk with God, the ability to discern the voice of God and obey him to the last detail. His decision to appoint the young Adeboye as his replacement has been confirmed as an action derived from the Word he received from God in 1952, as the RCCG has spread to many parts of the world. The church holds a Holy Ghost congress every month at the Redemption Camp ground on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, with an average head count of 500, 000 people in attendance.
Just as Abraham and the great prophets, Moses and Elijah, who although did not see the full promise of God come to pass in their time, held on to the sure word of prophecy and raised able men to take over from where they stopped. As a result, the world today is blessed by the ministry of Pastor E.A. Adeboye, a man as humble as Pa Akindayomi, but great in the works of God.