The Redeemed Christian Church of God

A Pentecostal church begun in a Lagos house fellowship in 1952, now led from Nigeria by one General Overseer and counting itself in nearly two hundred countries.

RCCG, "Our Beliefs" (the church's statement of faith)

RCCG, "Our History"

RCCG, homepage (2026)

RCCG, "Our Structure" (2026/2027 Directory)

RCCG North America, "Our Origin"

RCCG Netherlands Mission, "About NLM"

Newspeak, "Official details of new RCCG leadership structure" (7 January 2017; quotes a statement signed for the General Overseer by his personal assistant)

The Punch (Lagos), Moses Adeniyi, "I apologise for saying no heaven without tithe – Adeboye" (4 October 2024)

NPR, John Burnett, "Nigerian Church Spreads African-Style Zeal Across North America" (Weekend Edition Sunday, 18 May 2014)

BusinessDay (Lagos), "A home in the world: How Pentecostal churches appeal to Africans abroad" (26 October 2024; an account of a Croydon parish)

RCCG God's Sanctuary of Praise, Sacramento, "Events" (parish service times)

RCCG Wealthy Place International, "Church Services" (parish service times)

RCCG MTC Chapel, "Services" (parish service times)

RCCG Cornerstone Chapel, Calgary, "Service Times" (parish service times)

Richard Burgess, "Redeemed Christian Church of God in Britain, c.1980s to the present," in Christianity in Britain since 1914 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024), pp. 245–266 (abstract, University of Roehampton)

The church began in 1952 as a small house fellowship led by Josiah Akindayomi, a man who could not read or write and who had left the Cherubim and Seraphim church. For its first three decades it was a Lagos church of modest size. In 1981 a young mathematics lecturer, Enoch Adeboye, became its General Overseer, and under him it spread across Nigeria and then abroad. It now tells its story as the growth of a family: "One family of believers, in every nation."

A seeker from Ondo State

Josiah Akindayomi was born in 1909 into a family in Ondo State, Nigeria, that worshiped idols. He was baptized in 1927 at the Church Missionary Society. In 1931 he joined the Cherubim and Seraphim church. The church's history says that while there he heard a voice saying "You will be my servant," and that for seven years his business ventures failed until he yielded.

Concern about the Cherubim and Seraphim

The church says that in 1947 Akindayomi "started to become concerned that the church was departing from the true Word of God in some of its practices." He stayed there until 1952.

The church is born at Willoughby Street

By 1952 Akindayomi left and began a house fellowship called the Glory of God Fellowship at 9 Willoughby Street, Ebute-Metta, Lagos, with nine members. The church's history says he then saw the words "The Redeemed Christian Church of God" written on a blackboard and, though he could not read or write, was able to write them down. It adds that God made a covenant with him to meet all the needs of the church if its members served him faithfully. This is the church's own account of its founding.

A successor is foreseen, and a lecturer joins

The church says God told Akindayomi in the early 1970s that his successor would be "a young educated man" who was not yet a member. When Enoch Adejare Adeboye, a mathematics lecturer at the University of Lagos, joined in 1973, Akindayomi recognized him. Adeboye became an interpreter of Akindayomi's sermons from Yoruba into English and was ordained a pastor in 1975.

Akindayomi dies; Adeboye becomes General Overseer

Akindayomi died at 71. The church says that "Amidst controversy, Pastor Adeboye's appointment was formalized by the reading of Pa Akindayomi's sealed pronouncement after his burial." Adeboye has held the office since 1981.

The parishes multiply

The church writes of "an open explosion" in the number of parishes after 1981. It reports at least about 40,000 parishes in Nigeria "at the last count." Its North America site gives about 4,000 in the same sentence, so one of the two pages has a misprint, and the church does not date either count.

The first North American parish

Pastor (James) Fadel, mentored by Adeboye, began Winner's Chapel in Detroit, the first RCCG parish in North America. By December 2015 the church counted over 800 in the United States and Canada, and NPR counted 758 North American congregations in 2014.

Britain

The church's North America site lists the United Kingdom among the countries where it is "fully established" in Europe. Burgess, a scholar of African churches in Britain, dates its British growth from the 1980s. BusinessDay reports more than 870 parishes in Britain and calls it perhaps the fastest-growing church there. The church itself gives no British count.

A country overseer for Nigeria

At the Annual Ministers Thanksgiving, Adeboye approved Pastor Joseph Obayemi as the new leader of the church in Nigeria. A statement signed for Adeboye said that he had not retired and "remains the General Overseer of the RCCG Worldwide." Another church source said the new office is that of country coordinator for Nigeria, as in other countries.

Online ministry

In February 2025 the church launched "Apostle Stephen," a virtual assistant that answers questions about the Bible on its website. Its homepage in 2026 counts the church at more than 10 million members in 197 countries and territories.

The General Overseer withdraws a tithing claim

Addressing the church's Youth Convention at Redemption City on 3 October 2024, Adeboye apologized for having said that Christians who do not pay tithe might not make it to heaven: "I'm sorry, that's wrong, and it's not in the Bible," as The Punch reported the next day. In the same address he said a tenth "should be for beginners." The church's statement of faith has no article on tithing.

Josiah Olufemi Akindayomi

The founder. A seeker who passed through the Church Missionary Society and the Cherubim and Seraphim before beginning the Glory of God Fellowship in 1952. The church calls him "Pa" and "Papa" and records that he could not read or write.

Enoch Adejare Adeboye

A University of Lagos mathematics lecturer who joined in 1973. His office rests on the church's account that God named him to Akindayomi and that the founder left a sealed pronouncement. The homepage calls him "General Overseer, RCCG Worldwide" and members call him "Daddy G.O."

Folu Adeboye

Pastor (Mrs) Folu Adeboye, wife of the General Overseer, has her own official website, listed beside his on the homepage.

Joseph Obayemi

Appointed by Adeboye in January 2017 as the church's leader in Nigeria, with Adeboye staying as General Overseer, Worldwide.

James Fadel

Mentored by Adeboye, he started the first North American parish in Detroit in 1991. NPR (2014) spells the name Fadele and calls him chairman of the church's North American operations.

Where the sources disagree. The church's two sites give 40,000 and 4,000 parishes in Nigeria, with no date for either. The homepage's worldwide count (more than 50,000 parishes, more than 10 million members) is the church's own claim and was not checked by anyone else. The tithe apology is dated by The Punch (4 October 2024, "on Thursday" at the Youth Convention), and BusinessDay, on 26 October 2024, says he apologized "this month." A Ghanaian site ran the story again in July 2026; the date here is the 2024 one.

What the church says and what is added. The church's account of Akindayomi's call, the blackboard vision, the covenant and the foretelling of his successor are its own account. We report them as its own account and make no claim about them. They matter for part 4 only in this way: they are the ground of the General Overseer's office.

The monthly Holy Ghost Service. The church says it holds the all-night service on the first Friday of every month at Redemption Camp and "now holds in different parts of the world." Its North America site says the General Overseer leads such services about every six months in London, and once a year in Washington and in Toronto.

The Bible, written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and unchangeable, with the church's own rules for dress, conduct and the dedication of children added to it.

The statement of faith opens with the Bible. It says the whole Old and New Testament is written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that "All the Christian teachings and the Christian attitude of the Children of God are such as are established in the Holy Bible," and that what God writes in the Bible "are to remain unchangeable." Prophecy is a gift the church believes in, but it is tested by the Bible: "any prophecy that is against the Bible is rejected." The article on church discipline says the same of church life: "whatever is not Bible teaching should be ignored entirely by all members."

The statement of faith also binds members to things the Bible does not state in so many words: how they dress, the places they may not be seen, the dedication of a child on the eighth day, and speaking in tongues as the necessary sign of the Spirit's baptism. It gives a Scripture text for each of these.

We believe that the entire Scripture, both Old and New Testament are written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit

any prophecy that is against the Bible is rejected.

whatever is not Bible teaching should be ignored entirely by all members

The church's own list of what it binds. Its statement of faith, in its own wording, says members "must not see our Church members in dancing halls, or cinema halls, reveling"; that "all members must be moderate in adornment"; that "after a child is born on the 8th day, the parent should bring himher unto the House of the Lord for dedication unto the Lord" (the page's spelling); and that "Any Christian who receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit must speak in tongues." Each carries a text from the Bible after it. How these rules are enforced is in the article on discipline: "If there be found any member disobeying these teachings he may be disciplined privately, but if any backslider would not admit discipline and restitute his way, he may be disciplined openly."

A person is born again by repentance and faith and justified, then is sanctified by a second grace; the believer is immersed in water as a sign of repentance and of union with Christ.

The statement of faith says repentance is "the sorrow of a godly man for his sins with decision to abstain from them." Justification, or new birth, is "God's grace whereby we are cleansed from our sins by which we are able to stand before God as though we have never sinned." After that comes a second work: "Sanctification is another grace of God by which our souls are progressively and completely cleansed," which comes "after we have been justified." The Holy Spirit, it adds, does the work of sanctification "until they are fully sanctified."

Baptism follows salvation. "Every saved soul automatically qualifies for Water Baptism," and "all members of this Church should receive immersion Water Baptism, in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." It states the reason in two parts: it is an outward sign of true repentance, and a sign that the baptized are joined with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. For the first of these it cites Acts 2:38. It does not say that baptism brings forgiveness. The church's homepage, in its steps for those who want to give their lives to Christ, prints Acts 2:36-38 under the step "Acknowledge all your sins." The steps that follow are to confess, ask forgiveness, repent, forsake old ways and join a church. Baptism is not one of them.

Every saved soul automatically qualifies for Water Baptism

Water Baptism stands for a sign and an example of two things.

Sanctification is another grace of God by which our souls are progressively and completely cleansed.

The invitation page. In the steps for those who ask how to give their lives to Christ, the verse printed under "Acknowledge all your sins" is Acts 2:36-38 in the King James Version, ending "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (RCCG homepage, "Do you want to give your life to Christ?"). The page quotes the verse for its call to repent. It does not list baptism among the steps, and it does not say what baptism is for. That agrees with the statement of faith, which uses the same verse for baptism as a sign of repentance.

The Lord's Supper is for all Christians, kept regularly in bread and wine until Christ returns; the parishes we read keep it once a month.

The article on Holy Communion says the Lord Jesus instituted it "shortly before His death" and that "He commanded all Christians to gather together regularly to share the bread and wine till He comes back again." It cites Luke 22, Matthew 26, Mark 14, 1 Corinthians 10 and 11, and Acts 2:42 and 20:7. It names no day and no interval. The article on the church adds that believers "gather from time to time to worship God in truth and Spirit to share the bread and eat."

In practice, the four parish pages we read keep the service once a month, and on different days: the first Friday evening in Sacramento and at Wealthy Place International, the first Sunday evening at MTC Chapel, and the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving Sunday in Calgary. Sacramento writes: "We share the Lord's table together on the first Friday of each month — in church and on Zoom." No page we read says who may take it, beyond the creed's word that Christ commanded "all Christians."

He commanded all Christians to gather together regularly to share the bread and wine till He comes back again

We share the Lord's table together on the first Friday of each month — in church and on Zoom.

The parishes we read. RCCG Wealthy Place International lists its Holy Communion Service for "First Friday of the month: 7 – 9 PM." RCCG MTC Chapel lists "Holy Communion (1st Sunday of the Month) 5:00PM – 6:00PM." RCCG Cornerstone Chapel in Calgary lists it "Every First Tuesday After Thanksgiving Sunday." These are four parishes of tens of thousands, found by search, and each parish sets its own times. The church's own pages say nothing about a service order for the Supper.

One General Overseer over continental overseers, regions, provinces and parishes; a pastor leads each parish, women as well as men have been ordained pastors, and members are told to obey ministers.

The church is governed from the top. Its structure page shows Pastor E. A. Adeboye as General Overseer, then 13 continental overseers, then regions each "led by a Pastor in Charge of Region (PICR)," then provinces, then parishes. The Netherlands site shows the same chain abroad: pastors in charge of provinces report "administratively to the Pastor-In-Charge of Europe Mainland Region 1, who also doubles as the Assistant General Overseer," and that office answers to the General Overseer. A parish is led by a pastor in charge. After the 2017 appointment of a Nigeria overseer, the statement for Adeboye said he "remains the General Overseer of the RCCG Worldwide."

Members are asked to follow their leaders: "Rebellion against Church Ministers is against the Will of God," and "we should obey our Spiritual leaders and submit to them." The homepage says a leadership program "is now a condition for ordination." Women have been ordained. The RCCG Netherlands Mission's site says of one board member that she "was first ordained Assistant Pastor in RCCG Nigeria in 1988 and later as a full Pastor in 2001," and that she is the pastor in charge of a parish.

Rebellion against Church Ministers is against the Will of God.

Each region is led by a Pastor in Charge of Region (PICR), assisted by an APICR for Administration and an APICR CSR.

Pastor Adeboye remains the General Overseer of the RCCG Worldwide.

Women in office. The Netherlands site names women as "Pastor," as a pastor in charge of a parish, as an area pastor and as an assistant pastor in charge of a province, and one of them coordinates the women of the European mainland region. BusinessDay's report on a Croydon parish has a woman preaching. The church also has a "Women In Ministry (WIM)" and a "Pastors' Wives Forum" among its key ministries (RCCG North America). We found no statement of the church's rule on which offices women may hold, so this is taken from what the parishes and the mission's own pages show.

Worship on the Lord's day, prayer in Jesus' name and in the Spirit, with a band, choir and drums; the church bars drumming and dancing at weddings.

The church holds that "the first day of the week called Sunday is a special day which the believers should separate as the Lord's day during which time are to gather to worship." Prayer is central: "We must pray only by the Name of JESUS," and "The Holy Spirit helps his infirmities in prayer." The invitation page sums up the church's life in four words: "worship, pray, serve and grow."

The music is that of a Pentecostal church: NPR's reporter, at a parish in Austin, calls the worship "musical, energetic, and emotional." BusinessDay's account of a Croydon parish has a band, a lead vocalist, talking drums and the shekere. The statement of faith has no article on music. It does speak of marriage: members who marry "are not to follow the worldly patter with drumming and dancing, drunkenness" (the page's spelling). The church holds many gatherings besides the Sunday service: the monthly all-night Holy Ghost Service, vigils, the annual convention, and weekday Bible studies.

the first day of the week called Sunday is a special day which the believers should separate as the Lord's day during which time are to gather to worship

We must pray only by the Name of JESUS

They are not to follow the worldly patter with drumming and dancing, drunkenness

What the outside reports add. The Croydon service BusinessDay visited began late, with the band a member short; a lead vocalist in a pink turban sang in Yoruba; and monthly Yoruba services are kept for those who want the language. NPR notes that the American congregation "is mostly from Nigeria" but that non-Africans are joining. These are single visits and do not describe every parish.

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is a second experience after new birth, and tongues are its sign; prophecy, miracles and healing continue today.

The statement of faith says that "All born-again souls should ask for the Holy Spirit from above, as the Apostles were ordered to wait in Jerusalem until they were filled from above," and that "Any Christian who receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit must speak in tongues." It cites Acts 2:4, 10 and 19 for this. The Spirit also "endows believers with gifts they can use."

Healing is part of the church's gospel. It says "Healing without medicine is Biblical," names four ways to receive it (individual prayer, two or more agreeing in prayer, the laying on of hands, and "the Ministry of the Elders, anointing the sick with prayer of faith"), and rejects other means such as blessed water, special washings, "the use of candles," and charging for prayer: "We do not receive money or charge money before we offer prayer for anybody." The church holds that prophecy is a gift for today, to be tested by the Bible.

Any Christian who receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit must speak in tongues

Healing without medicine is Biblical

We believe that we can be given the gift of prophecy by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit

Healing without a fee. The church says healing is to be given "free of charge" and rejects water, candles, robes and similar aids as "not Biblical." The distinctive on healing weighs this.

Christ will return in two stages, the rapture first and then his return to earth, followed by a thousand-year reign, three judgments, a new heaven and earth, and eternal life or punishment.

The statement of faith teaches that "The Second coming of Jesus Christ will be in physical form and will be visible to all." His return is in two stages: first Christ returns in the sky, when "The Saints or Bride of Christ will be raptured to meet Christ in the sky," and then he returns to the earth to judge. Between the two comes a time of tribulation. After that, "He would set up His Kingdom with the Holy people for one thousand years," with Satan chained, no death and no poverty.

Three judgments follow: of the believers (in the sky), of the nations, and of the unbelievers at the white throne. After judgment, "God will create a new Heaven and a new earth in which HOLINESS will exist." The church teaches the resurrection of the body, eternal life, and that "the wicked people will be sent to a fiery hell made of sulphur." Of those who have died, it says "a brother who sleeps in the Lord is with Christ already."

The Second coming of Jesus Christ will be in physical form and will be visible to all

The Saints or Bride of Christ will be raptured to meet Christ in the sky

After Christ appears upon earth, He would set up His Kingdom with the Holy people for one thousand years

Entire sanctification

After new birth, a second grace cleanses the believer "progressively and completely" until he is "fully sanctified."

The church teaches that justification and sanctification are two works of grace in order. Sanctification is "the second accomplishment of the grace which through our faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ is wrought after we have been justified." The Holy Spirit carries it out "until they are fully sanctified." Its mission statement puts the aim as a way of life: "holiness will be our lifestyle." The church does not name a single crisis moment for it.

He also performs the work of Sanctification in the born again souls until they are fully sanctified

unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place, their Lord and ours:

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Scripture calls every Christian "sanctified in Christ Jesus" at the start (1 Corinthians 1:2) and says that "by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Hebrews 10:14). The church is right that holiness of life is the aim, and it deserves credit for taking sin seriously. But the Bible does not teach a second work of grace after new birth that cleanses a soul "completely." John writes to Christians: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). The remedy it gives is confession, not a second experience: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins" (1 John 1:9). A teaching that sets a second stage over the first goes beyond what is written.

What the church does not say. It names no single crisis moment, and it does not claim that a sanctified believer cannot sin. Its words are "progressively and completely," and "until they are fully sanctified," which leaves the work open-ended. That is gentler than some holiness teaching. The test is still the same: the text speaks of every Christian as sanctified already, and of every Christian as one who must keep confessing.

Healing without medicine

The church teaches prayer for the sick as a gospel work, with healing "without medicine," anointing by elders, and no fee for prayer.

The church says healing without medicine "is of the Gospel," because the apostles and the seventy "combined healing with their Ministry of the Gospel." It lists four ways to be healed: prayer alone, two or more agreeing in prayer, the laying on of hands, and the elders anointing the sick. It says that before using these, members "would have sanctified our life." It refuses fees, holy water, candles, robes and other aids: "The order of our Lord is that we should heal the sick free of charge."

Healing without medicine is of the Gospel

We do not receive money or charge money before we offer prayer for anybody.

Is any among you sick? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him.

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give.

Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas salute you.

Be no longer a drinker of water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.

The church stands on firm ground in two places. James tells the sick to "call for the elders of the church" to pray and anoint (James 5:14), and Jesus' charge to the twelve was "freely ye received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8). Refusing fees and charms is right. The weak point is "without medicine" as a rule. The apostles' healings were a sign given with the gospel and ended with the apostles (Hebrews 2:3-4). Scripture never forbids a physician: Paul called Luke "the beloved physician" (Colossians 4:14) and told Timothy to take wine "for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities" (1 Timothy 5:23). Elders pray for the sick as God allows, and God answers as he wills. To tell the sick to refuse medicine binds a rule the New Testament does not make.

Special notice. The church adds that before members "work by healing without medicine, we would have sanctified our life to the doing of the Law." That makes healing depend on the sufferer's own holiness, which James does not say. James ties healing to the prayer of faith offered by the elders, and to confession of sins, not to a prior degree of cleansing. When the sick are not healed, a rule of this kind lays blame on them, and Scripture gives us Paul's thorn, Timothy's frequent illnesses and Trophimus, left sick at Miletus, as a caution against it.

Dress, adornment and separation

Members are to be moderate in dress, wear no gold or braided hair, and keep away from dance halls and cinemas, on pain of church discipline.

The church says it is "not our policy to have special robes," and that "all members must be moderate in adornment," and quotes 1 Timothy 2 on braided hair, gold and pearls. It says "we must not see our Church members in dancing halls, or cinema halls, reveling, for such things are works of the flesh." A dedicated Christian "would avoid foolish talking or jesting" and "would not wear clothing of the opposite sex." Members who disobey these teachings may be disciplined privately, and then openly. Debt is also forbidden, in the church's wording that members "must not willfully enter into any debt which he finds difficult to repay."

Therefore we must not see our Church members in dancing halls, or cinema halls, reveling, for such things are works of the flesh.

We believe that all members must be moderate in adornment.

In like manner, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair, and gold or pearls or costly raiment; but (which becometh women professing godliness) through good works.

If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances, Handle not, nor taste, nor touch (all which things are to perish with the using), after the precepts and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will-worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but are not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Let not him that eateth set at nought him that eateth not; and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him. Who art thou that judgest the servant of another? to his own lord he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be made to stand; for the Lord hath power to make him stand.

The church is right that Christian women should adorn themselves "in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety" (1 Timothy 2:9), and Peter's call to the "hidden man of the heart" still stands. It is right too to keep members from revelry. But Paul treats outward adornment as a matter of modesty and not a list of banned objects, and he asks "why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances, Handle not, nor taste, nor touch" (Colossians 2:20-21). A bar on cinemas and dance halls, backed by public discipline, binds a rule of men where the apostles left each Christian to answer to the Lord: "to his own lord he standeth or falleth" (Romans 14:4). Discipline is for sin the New Testament names. It is not for a church's own list.

What the church gets right. It forbids the works of the flesh by name, quoting Galatians 5, and rejects swearing and cursing, in words very near Jesus' own: "Swear not at all" (Matthew 5:34). It asks for restitution, for honesty in debt, and for marriage to be kept to one husband and one wife. Many of its rules are the plain teaching of the New Testament. The fault is only in adding to them a list the apostles never wrote, and in giving that list the force of church discipline.

Women as pastors

Women have been ordained as pastors, in Nigeria and abroad, and lead parishes; the church has published no rule on it that we found.

Women have been ordained as pastors in the RCCG. The evidence is the RCCG Netherlands Mission's own site and two outside reports. The mission's board biography of Pastor (Mrs) Olubukunola Olowu says she "was first ordained Assistant Pastor in RCCG Nigeria in 1988 and later as a full Pastor in 2001," and that she is "Pastor in charge of RCCG House of Praise Rotterdam." The same site lists other women as pastors of an area and of a province. BusinessDay's report on a Croydon parish (2024) has a woman preaching. The church's North America site lists "Women In Ministry (WIM)" among its key ministries. We found no article of the statement of faith, and no ruling of the General Overseer, on which offices women may hold.

She was first ordained Assistant Pastor in RCCG Nigeria in 1988 and later as a full Pastor in 2001.

Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection. But I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness.

let the women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but let them be in subjection, as also saith the law. And if they would learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home: for it is shameful for a woman to speak in the church.

For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave thee charge; if any man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children that believe, who are not accused of riot or unruly. For the bishop must be blameless, as God’s steward; not self-willed, not soon angry, no brawler, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre;

I commend unto you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church that is at Cenchreae: that ye receive her in the Lord, worthily of the saints, and that ye assist her in whatsoever matter she may have need of you: for she herself also hath been a helper of many, and of mine own self.

Women served the church in the first century, and the New Testament names them with honor: Phoebe, "a servant of the church that is at Cenchreae" (Romans 16:1), and Priscilla, who with Aquila "expounded unto him the way of God more accurately" (Acts 18:26). The church is right to value women's work. But Paul gives the rule for the assembly: "I permit not a woman to teach, nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness" (1 Timothy 2:12), and the elders to be appointed are men, each "the husband of one wife" (Titus 1:6). A woman who is ordained pastor, who preaches to the assembled church and has charge of a parish, holds the place the apostle did not give. We say this without doubt of her sincerity and her labors.

What the sources show and do not show. The biographies are one national mission's own, but the ordination they record was made in RCCG Nigeria, in 1988. So the practice is found in Nigeria as well as abroad, and is not one mission's exception. It is not shown to be a rule for every parish: we found no article of the statement of faith on the matter and no ruling from the General Overseer, and the verdict here weighs the practice the sources show.

Tithing and the General Overseer's apology

The church gives through tithes and offerings; its leader had taught that paying tithe was a condition of reaching heaven, withdrew that in 2024, and called a tenth the giving of beginners.

The statement of faith has no article on tithing. The homepage's giving page speaks of "Covenant Partners, Nehemiah Builders or tithe and offering." The General Overseer had said in sermons that paying tithe was one of the conditions for going to heaven. On 3 October 2024, at the church's Youth Convention, he withdrew it, as The Punch reported: "I'm sorry, that's wrong, and it's not in the Bible. What the Bible says is 'Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God'." In the same address he said "It is wrong to limit you to 10 per cent when someone is talking of 20, 30, 40 per cent," and that a tenth "should be for beginners." This is the teaching of the General Overseer and his revision of it, not a rule of the statement of faith.

I apologise for saying 'If you don't pay tithe, you might not make it to heaven.' I'm sorry, that's wrong, and it's not in the Bible.

All forms of giving to the mission, whether Covenant Partners, Nehemiah Builders or tithe and offering, can be made here in a few clicks.

And they indeed of the sons of Levi that receive the priest’s office have commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though these have come out of the loins of Abraham:

Let each man do according as he hath purposed in his heart: not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.

The General Overseer's apology is right, and it is to his credit that he made it plainly. But the same address kept the tenth as the measure, calling it the giving of "beginners." Tithes were a command to Israel: the sons of Levi "have commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law" (Hebrews 7:5). The New Testament gives Christians a different pattern: "Let each man do according as he hath purposed in his heart: not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7), laid by on the first day of the week, "as he may prosper" (1 Corinthians 16:2). A tenth set as the Christian's floor, with more expected above it, is still a rule from the old covenant, and the apostles set no figure at all.

Why it matters. A claim that a missed tithe closes heaven puts a price on salvation, and the New Testament gives grace freely. The General Overseer's retraction points back to the right ground, the holiness the Hebrew letter calls for (Hebrews 12:14), and it was made in the open by the man who had taught the claim. The statement of faith never taught it. What remains to set right is the measure: a gift made "of necessity" (2 Corinthians 9:7), whether a tenth or more, is the very thing Paul says the cheerful giver is free from.

The Redeemed Christian Church of God is a church that opens its statement of faith with the Bible and means it. It asks believers to repent, to be immersed, to pray in Jesus' name, to keep holy and to wait for the Lord's return, and it refuses to sell prayer. Measured against the New Testament, its weak points are these: baptism called a sign, a second work of grace, the Supper kept monthly, women ordained as pastors, one man over a ladder of overseers, a band in the service, tongues as a required sign, and an added code of rules.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Now these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes; that in us ye might learn not to go beyond the things which are written; that no one of you be puffed up for the one against the other.

But in vain do they worship me, Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men. Ye leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.

The church honors the Bible as inspired and unchangeable, and says "whatever is not Bible teaching should be ignored entirely by all members." That is the right foundation, and it is nearer the New Testament than the creed-bound churches. But the statement of faith then binds rules the Bible does not make: cinemas and dance halls barred, a dedication of the child on the eighth day, tongues required as the sign of the Spirit's baptism, and obedience to ministers as a point of faith. Paul tells the church "not to go beyond the things which are written" (1 Corinthians 4:6). Jesus' own warning, "Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men" (Mark 7:7), fits any rule that a church sets beside the text.

The credit. The church tests prophecy by the Bible and rejects what disagrees: "any prophecy that is against the Bible is rejected." It also has no creed written by councils. That is a plain advantage over many churches. The cost. The statement of faith says nothing about how a rule is shown to be Bible teaching before it is bound on a member, so the church's own list of rules can sit beside the Bible with the same force.

And Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name.

Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

which also after a true likeness doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ;

The church is right on who and how: the penitent believer is immersed, and it names repentance as a duty. It is wrong on what baptism is for. The creed calls it "a sign and an example" of a repentance already made, and cites Acts 2:38 for that. But Peter joined the two commands to one end: "Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins" (Acts 2:38). Ananias told Saul, who had already believed and had fasted and prayed for three days (Acts 9:9-11), to "be baptized, and wash away thy sins" (Acts 22:16), and Peter says baptism "doth now save you" (1 Peter 3:21). Baptism stands before forgiveness in the text, not after it as a sign. The placement is the rounded mean, as it is for the Baptists, who are right on who and how and wrong on why in the same way; the second work of grace is weighed in its own place.

Where the church stands nearer than most. Baptism by immersion, only for believers, after repentance, is the pattern of Acts. Peter's words "Repent, and be baptized" are on the church's invitation page. Salvation by grace through faith is stated without any priest or sacrament standing between the sinner and Christ.

And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.

For I received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, This is my body, which is for you: this do in remembrance of me. In like manner also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood: this do, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come.

The church holds that the Lord "commanded all Christians" to share the bread and wine until he comes, and it cites Acts 20:7 itself. That is correct about who and what: the Supper is for Christians generally, in bread and cup, as a memorial until his return. Acts 20:7 says "upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread," and that is the one day the text names for it; the first church "continued stedfastly" in "the breaking of bread" (Acts 2:42). The parishes we read keep it once a month, and often on a weekday evening, apart from the Lord's Day assembly. That falls short of the pattern: the Supper on the first day of every week is binding, and a monthly Supper leaves three Lord's Days in four without it. The placement is the rounded mean, which already counts the monthly interval; it sits where the other churches that keep the Supper monthly or quarterly sit.

What no page said. We found no rule for who may take the Supper, so this chart does not count restriction against the church. If a parish bars any baptized believer from the table, it would count against it only where Scripture is against the restriction (1 Corinthians 11:28, "let a man prove himself").

And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they had believed.

The elders therefore among you I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Tend the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you, but making yourselves ensamples to the flock.

But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your teacher, and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father on the earth: for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your master, even the Christ.

The New Testament church had elders in every congregation (Acts 14:23, Titus 1:5), and no one above them but Christ. The RCCG has a pastor over each parish, and then provinces, regions, continental overseers and one General Overseer. The apostles did not hand an office down over churches, and Peter told elders not to be "lording it over the charge allotted to you" (1 Peter 5:3). To say "Rebellion against Church Ministers is against the Will of God" turns the verse on obeying those who "have the rule over you" (Hebrews 13:17) into a bar on question or correction. Jesus said, "one is your master, even the Christ" (Matthew 23:10). That the General Overseer governs but adds no new doctrine is to the church's credit; it is a governance far above the congregation all the same.

What stands closer. The church's homepage makes a leadership program "a condition for ordination," so ordination is not given lightly. The General Overseer governs, but the sources show him adding no doctrine of his own. The ordination of women is weighed in its own place, after the seven.

speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

The church gathers on the first day of the week and prays in Jesus' name, to the Father, and that is sound. The apostles' pattern for the assembly's music is singing: "speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (Ephesians 5:19), and the church's own reporters describe a band, drums and a rattle. The church adds acts to the assembly the apostles did not: the all-night service, the vigils and the dedication of children. Worship is to be "in spirit and truth" (John 4:24), and the truth is what is written. The Lord asked for song from the heart, and the church's lively singing deserves credit; instruments were not part of the apostolic assembly.

Credit. Prayer is offered in Christ's name alone ("We must pray only by the Name of JESUS"), and the church rejects candles, blessed water and robes as aids to prayer. Both are plain gains.

Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? have all gifts of healings? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

Now when the apostles that were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit: for as yet it was fallen upon none of them: only they had been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard; God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders, and by manifold powers, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will.

Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away.

The church teaches that every Christian who receives the baptism of the Spirit "must speak in tongues" and that healing and prophecy go on as in the book of Acts. Scripture does not say this. Paul asks of the gifts, "do all speak with tongues?" (1 Corinthians 12:30), and the answer is no. The gift came by the apostles' hands, as in Samaria, where Peter and John prayed "that they might receive the Holy Spirit" and "laid they their hands on them" (Acts 8:15-17). The signs "confirmed" the word spoken by those who heard the Lord (Hebrews 2:3-4) and ceased once it was confirmed: "whether there be tongues, they shall cease" (1 Corinthians 13:8). Making tongues a required sign puts a burden on sincere believers whom the New Testament does not put there.

Credit. The church tests prophecy by the Bible, bars paid healing, and rejects charms. These are firm lines that many Pentecostal churches do not draw.

Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.

And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

The church teaches a bodily and visible return, the resurrection of the body, judgment, and eternal life and punishment, all of which Scripture teaches. It adds a two-stage return with a rapture first, a tribulation in between, and a thousand-year reign on earth, and it writes that order into its statement of faith. Holding the order is not the fault by itself, though the plain texts lean against it. Jesus spoke of one hour: "the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth" to life or to judgment (John 5:28-29), and of raising the believer "at the last day" (John 6:40). Peter says the day of the Lord brings the dissolving of the heavens and the earth (2 Peter 3:10), and no earthly age follows it. Paul places the rising of the dead and the gathering to the Lord at the same coming (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The core of the church's hope is sound; binding as an article of faith a timetable that the text does not state is the fault.

Held with care. The church's creed holds that the dead in Christ are with him already and teaches resurrection of the body. Many churches that share this timetable hold it in good faith. The point of the test is that the Lord's return is certain and its day and hour are not: "of that day and hour knoweth no one" (Matthew 24:36).

What the RCCG holds that Scripture also holds is a great deal. It receives the whole Bible as inspired. It confesses one God in three persons, the deity of Christ, his virgin birth, death and resurrection. It calls for repentance and for the immersion of believers. It teaches prayer in Jesus' name alone, and it rejects candles, blessed water and special robes. It shares the Lord's Supper with all Christians in bread and wine until he comes. It keeps the first day of the week. It will not charge for prayer. It calls for holiness, marriage between one man and one woman, and obedience to the law of the land. It believes in the bodily return of Christ, the resurrection and the judgment. And its General Overseer, when he found one of his own sermons had no basis in the Bible, said so in public.

The church's best inheritance is its first line, that the Bible is written by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and is to stay unchangeable. The way to hold that line is to let the Bible, and nothing laid beside it, set the rule.

Then baptism is for the forgiveness of sins, the Supper is on each first day, each congregation is led by its own elders and no one above them but Christ, worship is the singing the apostles named, tongues and healing stay with the age of the apostles, and the Lord's return is awaited without a timetable. None of this asks the members of the RCCG to love Christ less, and what they have of faith and prayer they can bring with them.

More illuminations · Harbinger's Lamp