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Celestial Church of Christ
The Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) is a Pentecostal church in the Aladura movement, which was founded by Samuel Oshoffa on 29 September 1947 in Porto-Novo in modern Benin. It has spread from West Africa with the African diaspora in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The CCC has followers in Benin and Nigeria, particularly in Lagos and Ogun State.
Oshoffa was born in French Dahomey (now Benin) in 1909. Raised as a Methodist, he claimed to have had a divine revelation while lost in a forest on 23 May 1947 during a solar eclipse. (The nearest recorded solar eclipse visible in Africa occurred on May 20, not May 23, of that year.) He felt called to pray, to heal the sick, and to raise the dead. He founded his church in September 1947.
Having appointed himself Prophet, Reverend, Pastor, and Founder, he occupied the highest office of his movement. The hegemony he exercised on doctrine and discipline issues made succession difficult when he died in 1985 in Lagos, Nigeria. The CCC was recognized and authorized by the Republic of Dahomey in 1965. From 1976, the church launched an evangelistic campaign in that country, a former colony of French West Africa which gained independence in 1960.
Since the late 1990s, the CCC has used the internet as a means of evangelization, allowing the many existing branches of the church within the African diaspora in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, France, the United States and elsewhere to maintain contact with each other and with Nigeria, the nation in which the CCC is currently most popular.
The movement has continued to grow since Oshoffa's death after a contentious succession. Oshoffa was succeeded by Alexander Abiodun Adebayo Bada, who was head of the church until his death on 8 September 2000.
Bada was briefly followed as leader by Philip Hunsu Ajose, who died in March 2001. A dispute followed over the succession to Ajose. Some declared Gilbert Oluwatosin Jesse as the new leader, while the majority recognised the Reverend Emmanuel Oshoffa, son of Samuel Oshoffa.
Following Jesse's death, his faction declared that Superior Evangelist Paul Suru Maforikan was the new spiritual leader of the church. Contrary to the procedure of succession in Nigeria, the supreme headquarters in Porto-Novo chose Benoit Agbaossi to head the church. Agbaossi appointed Benoit Adeogun as the next director shortly before his death in 2010.
The CCC is a prophetic Christian church. Its members call themselves "Celestians", and the church is sometimes informally called “Cele”. The formal name of the church is inspired by a vision, in which Jesus said that Church members adore him as do the angels in heaven, and from Deuteronomy 26:15: "Look down from thy Holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel and the land which thou hast given us, as thou didst swear to our father, a land flowing with milk and honey".
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Celestial Church of Christ
The Celestial Church of Christ (CCC) is a Pentecostal church in the Aladura movement, which was founded by Samuel Oshoffa on 29 September 1947 in Porto-Novo in modern Benin. It has spread from West Africa with the African diaspora in Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The CCC has followers in Benin and Nigeria, particularly in Lagos and Ogun State.
Oshoffa was born in French Dahomey (now Benin) in 1909. Raised as a Methodist, he claimed to have had a divine revelation while lost in a forest on 23 May 1947 during a solar eclipse. (The nearest recorded solar eclipse visible in Africa occurred on May 20, not May 23, of that year.) He felt called to pray, to heal the sick, and to raise the dead. He founded his church in September 1947.
Having appointed himself Prophet, Reverend, Pastor, and Founder, he occupied the highest office of his movement. The hegemony he exercised on doctrine and discipline issues made succession difficult when he died in 1985 in Lagos, Nigeria. The CCC was recognized and authorized by the Republic of Dahomey in 1965. From 1976, the church launched an evangelistic campaign in that country, a former colony of French West Africa which gained independence in 1960.
Since the late 1990s, the CCC has used the internet as a means of evangelization, allowing the many existing branches of the church within the African diaspora in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, France, the United States and elsewhere to maintain contact with each other and with Nigeria, the nation in which the CCC is currently most popular.
The movement has continued to grow since Oshoffa's death after a contentious succession. Oshoffa was succeeded by Alexander Abiodun Adebayo Bada, who was head of the church until his death on 8 September 2000.
Bada was briefly followed as leader by Philip Hunsu Ajose, who died in March 2001. A dispute followed over the succession to Ajose. Some declared Gilbert Oluwatosin Jesse as the new leader, while the majority recognised the Reverend Emmanuel Oshoffa, son of Samuel Oshoffa.
Following Jesse's death, his faction declared that Superior Evangelist Paul Suru Maforikan was the new spiritual leader of the church. Contrary to the procedure of succession in Nigeria, the supreme headquarters in Porto-Novo chose Benoit Agbaossi to head the church. Agbaossi appointed Benoit Adeogun as the next director shortly before his death in 2010.
The CCC is a prophetic Christian church. Its members call themselves "Celestians", and the church is sometimes informally called “Cele”. The formal name of the church is inspired by a vision, in which Jesus said that Church members adore him as do the angels in heaven, and from Deuteronomy 26:15: "Look down from thy Holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy people Israel and the land which thou hast given us, as thou didst swear to our father, a land flowing with milk and honey".
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