- Rev. (Pa) Josiah Olufemi Akindayomi (1909–1980) was the visionary founder of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), one of the world’s most influential Pentecostal denominations today.
Pa Josiah was Born in Ondo State, Nigeria.
He was brought up in a traditional religious background but longed for a deeper connection with God.
In his early years, he joined the Cherubim and Seraphim Church, but by the 1940s, he grew dissatisfied with some practices and began to seek God’s will more earnestly. Though he was an illiterate, Pa Akindayomi was known for his prophetic gifts and spiritual depth.
He received a divine revelation instructing him to start a new church that would take the gospel across the world.
Acting in faith, he began a house fellowship in Lagos in the early 1950s. In 1952, he officially registered the church as the Redeemed Christian Church of God—a name he said was revealed by God, and which he astonishingly wrote down himself despite not knowing how to read or write.
Until his death in 1980, Pa Akindayomi led RCCG with unwavering devotion.
Before he passed, he prophesied that his successor would be a man of education.
That prophecy was fulfilled when Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye, a university lecturer who had joined RCCG in 1973 and was ordained in 1975, became the General Overseer in 1981.
Today, RCCG stands in over 180 countries, a living testament to the faith and obedience of a man who heard God—and followed without hesitation.
(Historical Nigeria Yoruba)