Heroes of the Church 18

Ramotu Emmanuel, the Muslim owner of Makoko, gave the Celestial Church of Christ the land on which its Nigeria headquarters church stands. The Constitution records her gift by name and blesses her family.

Moses Ajovi of Ijofin was the emissary Lagos always sent to the Founder. After two refusals, Papa Oshoffa agreed to come, on condition that Ajovi would be with him always. They travelled to Lagos together in Passion Week 1951.

About seven fishermen carried the Celestial Church of Christ from Toffin and Gbaji into Lagos, among them Samuel Francois, Leyon, Johana from Gbaji and the late Sepo. Leyon and Samuel became the first Leaders of the Church in Nigeria.

Through Joseph Awangonu, Baba Martha, came the vision of a Church without walls or roof, with four entrances, where people of all races came running from the four corners of the earth, singing praise to Jesus.

On 29 September 1947 Marrie Zevenu saw Jesus as the Founder received the Divine Order. The next morning her husband Frederic told young people in Porto Novo, and the first crowds came to the Founder’s house.

The Constitution records that the seating arrangement of Celestial worship was revealed through a prophetess who, in the wilderness in October 1947, sketched it using oranges. Her name is not recorded; her contribution is remembered.

When crowds kept the Founder from sleeping for thirteen days in 1947, Dominic Adande carried his appeal to the police officer in charge of Porto Novo. That errand led to the public meeting that marked the beginning of the Church’s growth.

Leader Alfred Folabi Babatunde Owoaje, one of the Church’s first registered Trustees in Nigeria, went to check on the registration application in 1958 and found the signed and sealed certificate, No. 489, already waiting for him.

Elizabeth Ekundayo Guton, the Founder’s elder sister, was the mother of Emmanuel Mawunyon Guton, the Church’s first prophet. After her son was restored to life in 1947, she left her church and followed her brother.

The Constitution records that the song “Emi Mimo sokale sarin wa” came through the eleven-month-old child of Marie Zevunnu. Papa Oshoffa sang it at Yaba on Good Friday 1951. The child’s name is not recorded.