He was called "the barefoot Black African Prophet". The Reverend Prophet-Pastor Samuel Biléou Joseph OSCHOFFA (1909-1985) is the founder, and the sole founder, of the CELESTIAL CHURCH OF CHRIST (C.C.C.).
The founding, in 1947
The Church was born on 29 September 1947 in Awhantinkomè, Porto-Novo, in what was then French Dahomey, at the height of the colonial era. The recommendations and injunctions the Holy Spirit passed on to him became the foundation of the Church's teaching: it is this original teaching that La Doctrine sets down.
38 years of ministry
His ministry lasted 38 years: 29 in Benin, his native land, then the last 9 in Nigeria, from 1976 to 1985.
After 38 years of hard labour, 29 years in Benin his native land, then the last 9 in Nigeria, the Prophet OSCHOFFA departed along the paths of eternity…
In Nigeria he could work more freely. Through him, the Holy Spirit brought a reorganisation of the whole ritual, as well as innovations. The Church grew so much that it became known worldwide, and IMEKO (Ogun State) became the worldwide Celestial City. In December 1984, during the annual pilgrimage for the year 1985, he published there the Church's last Ordre des Cultes (Order of Services).
Those who stood beside him
The Prophet did not carry the Church alone. Among the pioneers were Nathaniel A. YANSUNNU (1904-1970), the first Evangelist of the C.C.C. and the founder of its choir, and YAHMAN OSCHOFFA (1906-1975).
A first-hand account
Lévi M. YANSUNNU, son of Elisabeth and Nathaniel A. YANSUNNU, is the first child born into the Celestial Church in Côte d'Ivoire (1951). He lived alongside the Prophet and almost all of the Church's pioneers. In the face of comments, speculation and questions of every kind, he puts the facts back in chronological order in the OSCHOFFA series: Volume I covers 1947 to 1954, Volume II 1954 to 1976, Volume III the Nigerian years, from 1976 until the Prophet was called home to God in 1985, and Volume IV the Church after the passing of those who carried it.
