CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS STUDIES YEAR 9 (THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH) JUNE 26, 2020
THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH
b. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19,20. Mark 16:15,16. Luke 24:47.
INTRODUCTION:
The Church is the “Bride of Christ” through which God
reconciles man to Himself. The church is not a building, the
venue nor the structure BUT Christians – as the body of
Christ.
The first missionaries that came to Nigeria were Europeans from the Roman Catholic Church. Their initial attempt to preach the gospel to the people failed because the weather was hostile; there was the language barrier; the chiefs were hostile because they were afraid that if their indigenes become Christian, they would no longer follow their traditional religion. Some of these early missionaries were: Mary Slessor, David Hinderer, Henry Townsend, Father Coquard, Thomas Bowen, Dr Karl Kumm among others.
The second attempt three hundred years later was successful because some Africans had become missionaries, who joined to preach the gospel in Nigeria and churches were built in major towns and cities throughout Nigeria. Among the African missionaries were: Samuel Ajayi Crowther, Reverend Thomas Birch Freeman and William de Graft from Gold Coast (now Ghana).
THE GREAT COMMISSION:
The great commission was from Christ after his death and
resurrection, handed to the disciples to continue from where
he stopped – the evangelisation of sinners, setting free of
those under the powerful influence of sin, sickness and Satan.
The mission of the church is the work of evangelisation or
preaching the gospel to the people who are under slavery
of the power of sin to conversion; which was the work of the
Apostles, handed from generation to generation.
THE ORTHODOX CHURCHES:
In the beginning, there was only one Church called the
Catholic Church. Catholic means Universal, but as a result of
a great movement termed reformation, the church was
divided
into two: The Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant
Churches; broadly known as ORTHODOX or MAINLINE
CHURCHES.
These are churches founded by European Missionaries.
These include:
i. Catholic Church Mission
ii. Methodist Church Mission
iii. Baptist Church Mission
iv. Presbyterian Church Mission
v. ECWA – Evangelical Church of West Africa
i. Catholic church mission
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The earliest missionary activities in Nigeria were made in Benin and Warri by the Portuguese, led by John de Aveiro in 1485. The Oba of Benin (Oba Esigie) welcomed the missionaries as churches were built and some Benins including Oba Orhogue learnt the Portuguese language. Christianity was not deeply rooted and after a while, it died off completely. In Warri it was an Itsekiri prince who married a Portuguese wife in Portugal on his academic trip. He returned after eight years. Their son Antonio Domingo was made king of Warri where Christianity was more rooted than Benin. Here, Christianity didn’t die off completely. However, it was in 1860 that the modern Catholic missionary activities in Nigeria started with the visit of Father Borghese in Lagos. There he met some Catholics who were freed slaves from Brazil. Padre Antonio – a freed slave from Brazil – was the first well-known Catechist who worked in the Lagos Church. From Lagos, a mission station was built in Lokoja in 1884 and in 1886 two missions were established, in Onitsha and Oyo respectively. From that date, the history of the Catholic Church Mission was one of continuous growth. |
ii. Methodist Church Mission |
The Methodist Church Mission began its work in Nigeria with the arrival of Thomas Freeman at Badagry in Lagos state in 1842. He built a mission house as soon as he arrived because he came on the invitation of freed slaves who migrated from Sierra Leone to Badagry. Thomas Freeman planted the seed of the church in Nigeria and a Ghanaian named De Grafts watered it. The Mission concentrated its works in Lagos and Abeokuta where it spread to other parts of the country. |
iii. Baptist Church Mission |
The Baptist Church Mission started its work in Nigeria in 1850 with the arrival of Rev. Thomas Bowen in Badagry. The Baptists Church Mission built its first mission at Ijaye, Abeokuta, Ogun State. In 1854, a mission station was founded in Ogbomosho and another in Lagos. From Ogbomosho, the Baptists Church Mission spread to Oyo and Ilorin where mission stations were established. Rev. Agbaje, a Yoruba-man carried established the church in Niger Delta area. |
iv. Presbyterian Church Mission |
The Presbyterian Church Mission was established in Calabar by Rev. Hope Waddell in 1846. The mission made slow but steady progress. In 1868 the Bible was translated into Efik. Mary Slessor worked tirelessly establishing village churches in the district. Natives who helped in the spread of the mission work in the area included EsienUkpabio (who was the first Efik teacher and pastor) and James Luke who influenced the opening of a mission station in Ikotana. By 1874, Christianity had been so well established in Calabar that a Christian was appointed the Chief of Creek Town and he ruled according to Christian laws. |
v. ECWA |
Evangelical Church of West Africa now Evangelical church winning All Has its headquarters in Jos plateau State Nigeria with large membership across the nation. The pioneer missionaries of the church are Thomas Kent Roland Bingham and Walter Gowan |
INDIGENOUS CHURCHES:
i. Cherubim & Seraphim
ii. Celestial Church of Christ
iii. CAC – Christ Apostolic Church
i. Cherubim & Seraphim |
C&S was founded by a fifteen-year-old girl named AbiodunAkinsowo, later Mrs Emmanuel and Moses Orimolade in 1925 in Lagos. On June 18, 1925 Miss AbiodunAkinsowo went with her two cousins to watch the annual “Corpus Christi” procession in Lagos. She saw an angel which followed her home that she would die except a certain man was called in to pray for her. Thus, Moses Orimolade was sent for. As he was coming, there was heavy rain but his body was not wet. When he came, Abiodun asked her three questions, as the angel directed her, and Moses Orimolade answered all after which he prayed for her and she became whole. Later, Abiodun and Orimolade decided to start a spiritual society. Orimolade said that they should pray to God for a name. So for three days the two of them and some other people fasted and prayed and at the end, a woman saw the letter “SE” which Rev. Berber of the United African Native Church interpreted as “SERAFU”. Thus, on 9th September 1925, the spiritual society became Seraphim was added and so the society became formally known as Cherubim and Seraphim Church. |
ii.Celestial Church of Christ |
CCC was founded by St S.B.J. Oshofa in 1947 in Lagos. In his own words, when he went to tree forest to buy timber, he heard a voice saying “LULI” and the voice said, “This means the grace of Jesus Christ”. On another day when he was praying, a voice told him, “God wishes to send you on an errand to the world”. While he was still praying a woman named Mary Zebunu exclaimed that she saw Jesus came down from the cross and stood by him. The woman took him to a room and when they came out he was dressed in a white garment; his eyes were full of a dazzling light that nobody could look at them. On the following day, twelve young men came to his house and seven of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, delivering different messages and other five went to Port Norvo to spread the gospel. On another, the occasion where they had a gathering, a young man AllexanderYanaga fell into a trance for seven days. On the seventh day, he was an inscription “CHRISTIANSME CHRISTE” descended from heaven meaning Celestial Church of Christ. Saint S.B.J Oshofa died in 1985 and Rev. A.A Bada became the leader of the Church for a while. Today Rev. Emmanuel MobiyinaOshofa is the leader of the church. |
iii.Christ Apostolic Church |
CAC started in 1918 as a small prayer group in Ijebu-ode under the leadership of its founder Pastor S.J Sadare. The church adopted six names before it finally settled on Christ Apostolic Church. These were: 1. The Precious Stone Society 2. The Diamond Society of Nigeria 3. Faith Tabernacle 4. The Apostolic Church 5. Nigerian Apostolic Church and 6. United Apostolic Church. The man who changed the course of the Christ Apostolic Church was Ayo Joseph Babalola. He was born in 1904 at Ilofa near Ilorin in Kwara state. He left school in standard four and became a caterpillar driver. One day in October 1928, the engine of the caterpillar stopped on the Ilesha-Akure road and a voice called his name three times. The voice told him to go and preach the gospel. He saw a hand giving him a bell and a rod as signs of prayer. The voice added that his prayers would cure every sickness. In obedience to God’s call, he went preaching and healing people in the area now known as Ondo, Ekiti, Osun and Oyo State until persecution drove him to Lagos, where he became a member of the Faith Tabernacle Church as the Christ Apostolic The church was then known. Then he went on preaching and healing people by prayer through the help of the Holy Spirit. |
i. Deeper Life Bible Church
ii. The Redeemed Christian of God
iii. Winners Chapel
iv. Church Of God Mission
i. Deeper Life Bible Church
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DLBC church was founded in 1973 by Bro William FolorunshoKumuyi in Lagos. It started as a Bible study fellowship of young people from the established churches as an interdenominational fellowship. From a very small beginning, it now has hundreds of thousand fellowship centres in the world. The founder lost his wife – Sis BiodunKumuyi 11th April 2009 and re-married to Sis Esther FolashadeBlaize. The teaching of the church centres on salvation, Sanctification, Holy Spirit Baptism and healing miracles. The Headquarters is located in (WAEC - kilometre 48, Ibadan Express Road) Ayodeleokeowo street, Gbagada Lagos. |
ii. The Redeemed Christian Church of God
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RCCG was founded in 1952 by Rev. Josiah OlufemiAkindayomi. He was born in 1909 in Ondo state. He and his wife – Pastor Esther Egbedire – came to Lagos in 1941 as original members of C&S. They left C&S and started OgoOluwa Society that met regularly for prayers, worship and Bible study. When he understood the Bible, he left his two younger wives and remained with the first one. He miraculously received the name “RCCG” through a vision. OgoOluwa Society changed to RCCG. Rev. Josiah Akindayomi died on November 2, 1980. In March 1981, Pastor E.A Adeboye, a PhD holder of Applied Mathematics and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Ilorin was divinely chosen to take over as the General Overseer of the Church with a total of forty parishes. |
iii. Winners Chapel (Living Faith)
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The Living Faith church was founded in Ilorin by Bishop O. Oyedepo 1980. On 2nd May 1981 he had an 18 hours open vision in which he saw a large crowd passing in his front in a roll with different diseases and deformities. He asked “Why Lord, Why Lord?” and was replied that it was not so from the beginning. God added, “And now the hour has come to liberate the world from all oppressions of the devil through the preaching word of faith and I am sending you to understand this task". Bishop David O. Oyedepo accepted the task God gave him and now the Church has gone worldwide. The church headquarters in Canaan land, Ota, Ogun State. |
iv. Church of God Mission
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The Church of God Mission International was founded by Archbishop Benson Idahosa in Benin City in the late sixties. It was the earliest offspring of the Scripture Union Movement. Like others, it began as a non-denominational fellowship in the sitting room which gradually turned to regular Sunday Church Services and within a period of ten years, it had spread throughout Bendel State and beyond. Trailers were converted to buses used to convey large crowd to its headquarters called “The Miracle Centre” in Benin. |
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GROWTH OF THE CHURCH IN NIGERIA:
Paul, other Apostles and disciples helped to evangelise Christianity. Later in history, Christianity spread throughout Europe and missionaries from Europe took the good news of Christ to other parts of the world.
The main Christian churches in Nigeria were founded through missionary activities. These early missionaries helped to train some new converts who became teachers and taught others. They built hospitals, schools and public houses. They taught the people Catechism, reading, writing and arithmetic.
They guided the new converts and prepared them to accept the principles of Christian living. Even today, the Christian church is growing as new converts are being added to the folk of Christ. New churches under new names are coming up, to evangelise the message of salvation in Christ Jesus.
The church also has the duty of caring for the personal needs of the individual members as a show of unity and love.
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