The General Overseer
Pastor E.A. Adeboye and the story of the RCCG
Pastor E.A. Adeboye
General Overseer of the RCCG worldwide since 1981. Former Mathematics lecturer at the University of Lagos.
Sometime in the early 1970s, Pa Josiah Akindayomi (the founder of the RCCG) claimed that God had spoken to him about his successor. He claimed that the Lord told him that this man — who was not yet a member of the church — would be a young educated man. When a young university lecturer joined the church in 1973, Papa was able to recognise him in the Spirit as the one the Lord had spoken about. This man, Enoch Adejare Adeboye, was then a lecturer of Mathematics at the University of Lagos.
Adeboye soon became involved in the church. He became one of the interpreters translating Pa Akindayomi's sermons from Yoruba to English. He was ordained a pastor of the church in 1975.
The Transition of Leadership
As Papa was preparing to meet his Creator, he sent for Pastor Adeboye and spent several hours sharing with him details of the covenant and the plans of the Lord for the church. Even though a year before this, the Lord had revealed to Pastor Adeboye that he would be Papa's successor, it was still too difficult for him to fully contemplate such an awesome responsibility.
Pa Josiah Akindayomi was 71 years old when he died. Amidst controversy, Pastor Adeboye's appointment was formalised through the reading of Pa Akindayomi's sealed pronouncement after his burial.
Global Growth
Since 1981, an open explosion began with the number of parishes growing in leaps and bounds. There are over 2,000 parishes of the RCCG in Nigeria alone. On the international scene, the church is present across Africa, Europe (England, Germany, France), and the United States, as well as in the Caribbean.
One of the well-known programmes of the church is the Holy Ghost Service — an all-night miracle service that holds on the first Friday of every month at the Redemption Camp, km. 46, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. The Holy Ghost Congress holds annually in the second week of December.
Some of the Lord's promises to the RCCG: that He will meet this church on His return; that this church will become a model to the whole world; and that other churches from all over the world will come to learn and worship here.