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RCCG Now Present in 197 Countries
Under Adeboye's leadership the Redeemed Christian Church of God has grown from a small Lagos congregation to a network present in 197 countries, with tens of thousands of parishes.
Born into poverty in rural Nigeria and trained as a mathematician at the University of Lagos, Enoch Adeboye became the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in 1981 and has since overseen its expansion to over 197 countries, making it one of the most globally distributed church networks in history.
CORE CONVICTION
“If you follow God completely, He will take you to places you never dreamed possible.”
LESSER-KNOWN FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT
In the 1970s Enoch Adeboye was a university lecturer in mathematics in Lagos, a man of considerable intellectual ambition, with no intention of entering full-time ministry. His wife had become a member of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, then a small Yoruba-speaking congregation founded by Josiah Akindayomi. Adeboye accompanied her to a service primarily out of obligation. Over the following months, through a series of personal encounters and a deepening sense of conviction, he was converted and then called. When Akindayomi died in 1980, a sealed letter he had written was opened: it named Adeboye, not an ordained minister, as his successor. What followed was one of the most remarkable organisational expansions in the history of African Christianity.
HISTORICAL RECORDS
Under Adeboye's leadership the Redeemed Christian Church of God has grown from a small Lagos congregation to a network present in 197 countries, with tens of thousands of parishes.
The annual RCCG Holy Ghost Congress in Lagos consistently draws attendance figures exceeding five million people, making it one of the largest annual religious gatherings on earth.
Adeboye holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics, a background he credits with shaping his methodical approach to scripture study and organisational structure.