Biography
Josiah Olufemi Akindayomi was born in 1909, in the region of Ile-Ife, in southwestern Nigeria, in a Yoruba family. His family was poor, and he did not have a formal education. As a young man, he was a farmer. He was known as a quiet and thoughtful person. It is reported that he was unable to read. He is said to have received the gift of reading in the Yoruba language by a miracle, after he began to pray. These details come from the memory of the church and cannot be confirmed in the usual way.
He was converted in his youth, and he joined the Christ Apostolic Church, which was then in the midst of a revival. He was a member of that body for many years and was a devout worshipper. In the 1930s, he had a number of visions and dreams, which he took to be from God. In one of them, he was told to found a church. He was filled with a sense of calling and moved to Lagos in the late 1930s. He held prayer meetings in his home and began to teach the Bible. He was a man of prayer, who often fasted, and he lived in poverty.
In 1952, he formally founded the Redeemed Christian Church of God, in a small house in the Ebute Metta district of Lagos. It began with a handful of followers, and it grew slowly. He taught a plain message of holiness, repentance and faith in Christ. He preached against idolatry and against immorality. He was a man of few words, but he held to a high standard of conduct. He was known for his gift of prophecy and for his readiness to pray for the sick. He wrote hymns in the Yoruba language and a handbook of church order.
The church was small for decades. It had only a few congregations in the 1960s and 1970s. He had to deal with the pain of opposition from the larger churches. He also suffered from poor health in his later years. He was blind and had to depend on the help of others. In the late 1970s, he felt that he should pass the work on to a successor. After a time of prayer, he selected a young university lecturer, Enoch Adeboye, who had joined the church a few years earlier. He asked him to be his interpreter and then his assistant. In 1980, he made him his successor.
He died on November 11, 1980, in Lagos, at the age of about seventy-one. Under the leadership of Adeboye, the church has grown to be one of the largest Christian organizations in the world, with millions of members and branches in over a hundred countries. It is a living testimony to a small seed.
His life shows that a simple man of prayer may lay the foundation of a great work. He did not see the growth, but he trusted that God would carry it forward. The record of his life is limited, and some of the details need to be confirmed by those who know the history of the church.