Redeemed Christian Church of God

The Redeemed Christian Church of God ( RCCG ) is one of the largest Pentecostal churches in Nigeria. It was founded in 1952 by Pa Josiah Akindayomi ( 1909-1981 ) and is now widespread in many African countries, but also in Europe and the United States. As a native to Africa Church, which was founded independent of the European mission, she sees reversed today in Europe and the U.S. a field for their own missionary efforts.

History

The church founder Akindayomi, born in present-day Ondo State in Nigeria, grew up in a family that clung to the traditional religion of the Yoruba. He was baptized in 1927 by the Church Mission Society and graduated in 1927 Cherubim and Seraphim Society of the, an independent African church. After he had come to believe that the Cherubim and Seraphim Church differed from the true path of God, he founded a private prayer group, which he called Glory of God Fellowship. The circle which started with nine members in Lagos, grew rapidly and in 1952 participated in institutional forms. The prayer group was a church and received its present name. After the death Akindayomis in 1981 Enoch Adeboye Adejare succeeds. In contrast to the illiterate Akindayomi Adeboye was formed, he was a lecturer in mathematics at the University of Lagos. One of his achievements that contributed to the internationalization of the Church, that sermons Akindayomis from Yoruba into English was. Since 1981, the church expanded explosively, which claims there are currently about 2,000 congregations in Nigeria alone. In addition, many communities have been established in other African countries. After Africans founded in European and American diaspora communities also there, the RCCG Europe and the United States soon discovered as a mission field. In Europe, the RCCG is a mission church today, especially in Scandinavia active.

Doctrine and practice

At the learned beliefs of RCCG include the verbal inspiration of the Bible, the Trinity, the rejection of man through the fall and salvation through repentance and faith. Christological statements are the deity, virgin birth, sinless, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The efficacy of the Holy Spirit is confirmed by speaking in tongues. Cure of diseases is possible by direct interaction of divine grace. With regard to the sacraments the RCCG teaches the Lord's Supper as a pure commemoration. The Baptism is by full immersion of the baptized in water. The Last Judgment is a future historical event for the RCCG, as well as the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

If the RCCG in their teaching contents evangelical or fundamentalist aspirations close, so she represented this originally with less polemic and militancy, as is the case in European or American groups. The background is that these beliefs in Africa encounter other intellectual history and cultural conditions as in Europe and the U.S., where fundamentalism has emerged as a direct response to the Enlightenment. Only when the church was confronted massively in the Diaspora with secular and religious discourses critical in their missionary efforts, sometimes exacerbated the tone of their preaching.

The special features of RCCG Holy Ghost Service is part of the so-called a nocturnal service, which is held every first Friday of the month at the headquarters in Lagos and in which the occurrence of the divine miracle is expected. The Holy Ghost Congress is a mass event, which takes place annually in December in Lagos. Usually take millions of people from Nigeria and outside part.