Samuel Bilewu Joseph Oshoffa was born in 1909 in Porto-Novo (then part of French Dahomey, now the Republic of Benin). Sources differ on the precise day, but biographical materials and church histories consistently record the year. His father known in accounts as “Daddy Osofa” or Oshoffa was a devout Methodist and carpenter of Egba origin; his mother, Alake Iyafo, was from Imeko-Afon in present-day Ogun State, Nigeria. Raised in the Methodist tradition, Samuel received basic mission training as a child, later apprenticing as a carpenter and becoming a timber trader. The vow his father reportedly made that a son would be dedicated to divine service pervades family and church narratives of Samuel’s life.
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Education and early occupation
Oshoffa’s schooling was modest but multilingual: he learned to read and to speak both French and English, a useful facility in the bilingual environment of Porto-Novo. His work as a carpenter and timber trader established him as a skilled artisan and small-scale entrepreneur. Contemporary witnesses describe him as devout, disciplined and morally upright traits that framed his later ministry.
The defining vision: the 1947 calling
On 23 May 1947 Oshoffa experienced the series of visions and revelations that he and his followers regard as the movement’s founding miracle. While in a forest near Porto-Novo searching for timber, he reported a succession of supernatural appearances, auditory commands and spiritual gifts (prophecy, healing, discernment). Following these encounters he began to minister publicly, attracting followers through testimonies of healings and prophetic utterances.
Founding of the Celestial Church of Christ
Oshoffa formally established the movement that would become the Celestial Church of Christ on 29 September 1947 in Porto-Novo. In its early years the fellowship drew adherents from diverse Christian backgrounds and from local spiritual traditions. It emphasised gifts of the Spirit, dramatic healing, moral discipline and a ritual vocabulary that combined biblical motifs with African symbolic practice.
Expansion and Nigeria’s Makoko base
Oshoffa’s movement reached Lagos early: he relocated to Makoko, Lagos, in 1951, where a parish with a growing membership anchored the CCC in Nigeria. From Makoko the church spread across Yoruba-speaking areas and beyond. The 1950s–1970s were formative: the CCC expanded its parishes and developed its liturgy and administrative structures. During the 1970s–1980s the church’s activity intensified in Nigeria; Oshoffa also turned his attention to his mother’s home area at Imeko, where he initiated plans for the Celestial City and where the movement’s Holy City was later established.
Doctrine and worship
The Celestial Church combined conservative moral teaching with charismatic practice. Distinctive features included white garments (sutana), barefoot worship, the ritual use of holy water, incense and sanctified oil, strict prohibitions on alcohol and charms, and a central place for prophecy, trances and prayers for healing. The liturgy married biblical texts and prayers with Yoruba ritual sensibilities, producing a form of worship that many found both spiritually immediate and culturally resonant.
Leadership, character and social impact
Oshoffa was portrayed by followers as humble, ascetic and authoritative. His charismatic leadership and claims to direct revelation created a strong personal cult of authority; the movement also emphasised community service, reconciliation and moral transformation. As the CCC grew, it became a social as well as spiritual presence in many urban and rural communities.
Imeko, death and succession
Oshoffa initiated construction of Celestial City at Imeko in the early 1980s, and he directed that he be buried there if he died in Nigeria. On 10 September 1985 Oshoffa died following injuries sustained in a road accident; he was subsequently buried at Imeko. His death precipitated leadership disputes and factional divisions within the CCC, as the movement’s highly centralised authority under its founder created no unambiguous succession mechanism.
Legacy and global influence
The Celestial Church of Christ is among the most influential African Independent Churches (AICs). From its founding in Porto-Novo in 1947 it expanded through West Africa and into the African diaspora, contributing to the rise of prophetic and Pentecostal movements across the continent and abroad. Oshoffa’s theology of direct revelation, moral discipline and embodied worship has had a lasting effect on contemporary African Christianity. Annual pilgrimages to Imeko continue to draw thousands and testify to the movement’s enduring devotional life.
Samuel Bilewu Joseph Oshoffa’s life illustrates how indigenous prophetic authority reshaped Christianity in West Africa. His ministry gave rise to a movement that combined charismatic gifts, moral rigor and a culturally embedded liturgy a potent combination that reconfigured the religious landscape of Nigeria and neighbouring countries.
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Author’s note
This corrected account relies on scholarly biographical materials, church histories and archival sources that document Oshoffa’s life, the 1947 calling, the Makoko period (1951), the Imeko project, and the succession disputes following his death.
References
Dictionary of African Christian Biography — “Oschoffa, Samuel Bilewu” (biographical entry and primary materials).
Celestial Church of Christ / official church histories — brief histories and statements (history and dates, Makoko, Imeko, founding date).
