Redeemed Christian Church of God : The Next Christendom

In his book, The Next Christendom : The Coming of Global Christianity, Philip Jenkins writes about the Redeemed Christian Church of God:

These clerics come from the African tradition, but the independent churches are now beginning to take the lead in evangelism across Europe. Reading their New Testaments, African and Asian Christians encounter the Great Commission that instructs followers to go and make disciples of all nations. They take their claims to catholicity seriously.

One active missionary body is the Nigerian-based Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), which was founded in 1952. Its prophetic founder was a veteran of the Cherubim and Seraphim church, part of the Aladura movement.

The RCCG has a strong missionary outreach: its statement of beliefs declares that “It is out goal to make heaven. It is our goal to take as many people as possible with us… In order to take as many people with us as possible, we will plant churches within five minutes walking distance in every city and town of developing countries; and within five minutes driving distance in every city and town of developed countries.”

Since 1981, the RCCG boasts that “an open explosion began with the number of parishes growing in leaps and bounds. At the last count, there are at least about four thousand parishes of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Nigeria. On the international scene, the church is present in other African nations, including Côte D’IVoire, Ghana, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Gambia, Cameroon, and South Africa. In Europe the church is spread in England, Germany, and France.”

It is also active in the United States, Haiti, and Jamaica. As the church proclaims, this global presence “is obviously in fulfillment of the vision that has been given to the founder Papa Akindayomi, that his church would spread to cover the whole earth, and that it would be a viable part of the body of Christ that the Savior would meet here when he returns.”
[...]

African and especially Nigerian churches like the Deeper Life Bible Fellowship have also targetted the United States, and have spreading networks of congregations. With its 80,000 Nigerian residents, the city of Houston plays a pivotal roles in these schemes. The RCCG now has “parishes in Dallas, Tallahassee, Houston, New York, Washington, and Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, Maryland, etc.”
- Source: The Next Christendom : The Coming of Global Christianity, by Philip Jenkins. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. 2002, pages 205-206, 208

Redeemed Christian Church of God
Redeemed Christian Church of God – Research Resources

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