REMEMBERING A FAITHFUL FATHER

A FAITHFUL FATHER OF FAITH:

IN EVERGREEN MEMORY OF PA. JOSIAH OLUFEMI AKINDAYOMI (1909-1980)

With gratitude to God, we acknowledge the grace of God upon our lives and The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) which has been growing in leaps and bounds since our father, the founder of RCCG, went to be with the Lord, November 2^nd, 1980.

Our father, the late Reverend Josiah Akindayomi devoted his life to the pursuit of reconciliation between mankind and God. He lived a Spartan life for the kingdom of God on earth. As a servant of God, he was committed to prayer, holiness, and sacrifice. These virtues formed the foundation of The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) founded by Reverend Josiah Akindayomi in Lagos Nigeria in 1952.
Upon the death of Rev. Akindayomi in 1980, in accordance with his will, Pastor Enoch Adejare Adeboye became the General Overseer of the RCCG in 1981 through whom the RCCG has spread all over the world. This global spread is in accordance with the promise God made to Rev. Josiah Akindayomi in his lifetime. This promise was relayed to Pastor Adeboye by Late Rev. Akindayomi before he died. Pastor  Adeboye himself has been acknowledged as one of the most influential personalities in the world by Newsweek Magazine (2011). Till date, Pastor Adeboye continues to reveal to the world that the late Reverend Akindayomi is the only mentor he has had. He is always proud to note that the late founder of RCCG taught him three major things: how to pray, back up every word he speaks with the Scriptures and to live holy.

We, the biological offspring of Pa Josiah Akindayomi, therefore cherish the memories we have of our father, grandfather, and great-grandfather on the occasion of the 37th anniversary of his passing on to glory. We confidently declare that sweet is the memory of the righteous (Proverbs 10:7) concerning the late patriarch of our family and a faithful father of faith in Nigeria and in the over 178 nations where The Redeemed Christian Church of God is represented. Today, as the work of God spreads like a fruitful acorn around the world through The Redeemed Christian Church of God, we raise our heads high that we are from the loin of a righteous and humble sons and daughters of the living God.

Historically, our father ranks among the pioneers of faith in world history who founded enduring churches. Great men like Henry VIII of England who founded the Anglican Church and John Wesley who founded The Methodist Church are the two notable only parallels of our father around the world.

An understanding of the conversion experience of our father and the establishment of RCCG reveals a parallel with the life of John Wesley and the establishment of the Methodist Church. Both men, having encountered God in their private moments, were zealous about practicing the spirit of the gospel as the Holy Spirit revealed it to them. The consequence of this was that they ruffled a few feathers in their existing denomination, thus forcing them out of their denomination to create a new environment where the Lord Jesus would be glorified in the beauty of holiness and power. Yet, our father, Pa Josiah Olufemi Akindayomi and John Wesley lived in different centuries and continents. The world is blessed with great men in every generation.

Widely believed to be uneducated, our father had an uncanny understanding of the written and revealed word of God. He passionately read his bible daily without any assistance whatsoever rightly dividing the word of truth. Till date, we treasure the sermon notes written with the long hands of our father in flowing cursive as a testimony to how the Lord trained an otherwise uneducated man. He got the revelation of the name of the church directly from God, which with the help of the Holy Spirit legibly written down without no one’s assistance.

Miracle was the middle name and daily experience of our beloved father. We witnessed when he visited US in  the 70s, accompanied amongst others by Pastor Igbekoyi,  how he was able to communicate in English by the help of the Holy Spirit direct with the American Pastors, and thereafter he couldn't do so again. Pastor Enoch Adeboye, always share the story of how our father prayed into an empty pot and commanded our mother to scoop soup from the otherwise empty pot. The testimony flowed as our mother continuously scooped out soup from the pot for many days until the day she looked into the pot!  He was a man who, like our Lord Jesus Christ, predicted how he would die, the time which towards the last hours he was constantly checking his wristwatch like someone embarking on a trip. He also predicted the future growth of RCCG across the entire world. God wrought many healings, signs, and wonders through our father. Our father was known to pray nonstop for several days on his kneesuntil God healed any of the members of the church who had long-standing sickness; some of the miracles are still fresh in our memories which include, healing of chronic sicknesses, long-time barren women becoming fruitful, the blind regained their sights and the lame walked.

God, like he did on behalf of Moses, baptized a Pastor who despised our father with leprosy in Oshogbo.

Our father, as soon as he encountered God began to do the work of an Evangelist till he gave his last breath. He always traveled overseas on missionary trips, even some African countries.

Elder Amos Olusanya (aka, king of boys), who is still vibrant in his late 80s, who was always part of his entourage in most of his trips, is a witness too, to some of our father's life testimonies. 
Our father pioneered the work of RCCG without any financial base or resources in a rented space at 9 Willoughby Street, Ebute Metta Lagos, with rugged determination combined with unparalleled zeal and sacrifice he was able to establish 40 parishes of RCCG before he died in 1980. He used the Radio as a tool for evangelism through his weekly broadcast titled, “Redemption Way”, that goes on the air every Wednesday on Ogun Radio then. Occasionally, the church embarked on  open-air crusades on Sunday evenings.

It is instructive that, apart from the Orthodox Churches, mainly the Anglican Church and Catholic Church, there was hardly any Church that had up to forty parishes operating in Nigeria as at 1980. Even today, there are very few Pentecostal churches that have up to 40 parishes.

RCCG has always been a frontrunner known for holiness, prayers, and sacrifice. It was not surprising when God assured our father, through prophecy, that RCCG is one of the few Churches that our Lord Jesus Christ will meet upon His second coming to the world.

It is in public domain that our father lived and died as a righteous man even at the risk of being separated from his second wife through Godly restitution. He had the opportunity by the special grace of God, as God gave him a second chance to reconcile with a church leader who had offended him by burning some of their customized Christian tracts that Pa. Akindayomi reproduced for evangelism. This is why we make bold to declare that our father is resting in the bosom of the Lord. He was truly ready to meet the Lord. He might not have been financially wealthy like father Abraham, our beloved father left a rich heritage and a good name for us his biological offspring and the thousands of believers who are members of RCCG all over the world today.

Prophetically, our father, Pa Akindayomi ordained Pastor Stephen Rathod, an Indian - American, as Pastor not too long before he died as a fulfillment of part of the prophecies that God gave our father, at the inception of the Church. This was interesting because as at that time the RCCG had no parish overseas though he traveled overseas on missionary trips.

Thanks to the solid spiritual foundation that our father bequeathed to us. All his children, grandchildren and matured great-grandchildren are all in the Lord. All his surviving children and some of his grandchildren are serving as Pastors in the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Nigeria and North America respectively.

It is gratifying to note that Pastor Enoch Adeboye has sacrificed so much to bring about the fulfillment of the prophecy that God declared through our father that the RCCG shall spread all over the world. In Nigeria alone, there are over 40,000 Parishes of RCCG as at August 2017. We pray that God will strengthen our beloved Daddy Adeboye to be able to accomplish more to the glory of God.

By the grace of God, caring, all of us march on toward the mark of the high calling in Jesus Christ that our father has crossed. We pray that God shall uphold us with His righteous right hand as we commit ourselves afresh to keep the banner of love, caring for masses, touching lives and faith in Christ flying as our beloved father did.

“Baba Alakoso”, as fondly called, and we his children called him "Baba Mi"  our memory is evergreen until we reunite with you in Heaven that you preached to us, and we too discovered in the infallible word of God, (The Bible).

Sleep on Baba Mi, till we meet to part no more.

From all your 5 children you left behind, Grandchildren and Great-grandchildren.