•Shepherd-In-Charge CCC Inter Hq. KETU
Superior Evangelist Tosho Oshoffa rarely grants interviews. He is a quiet and easy going man of God who is the current Shepherd-in-Charge of the Celestial Church of Christ International Headquarters in Ketu, Lagos. He is also a biological son of the founder of Celestial Church, Pastor S.B.J Oshoffa.
When he visited City People Magazine office last Wednesday, he spoke at length about the growth of CCC and what makes it stand out from other churches. Below are excerpts.
You have been the Shepherd-In-Charge of the CCC International Headquarters in Ketu for about two and a half years. How has it been?
I became Shepherd of the headquarters of the church is Ketu a little over 2 years ago in 2019. Prior to that, I have been the P.A. to the Pastor, our father Rev. Pastor Emmanuel Oshoffa, the Head of CCC Worldwide, for 13 good years. So, I believe my little achievement, (to God be the glory of course) is because of the experience I have been able to acquire whilst serving as the P.A. to the Pastor for these 13 years. Because through those 13 years many cases will come from all over the world, and as young as I was then, through the wisdom of God, things were sorted out.
So, managing a parish now, which is now an archdiocese today, which happens to be the seat of the Pastor, I believe it’s by the vision of God and the experience I have acquired during those 30 years. Of course, in every situation, the Bible says we should thank God. We have been through a lot of ups and downs, but thank God today, we are still standing on our feet.
Therefore, all Glory to God and appreciation to my eldest brother, the Pastor of the church, His Eminence, Rev. E.M. Oshoffa.
At what state is the church now?
By the Grace of God and with the contributions and collaborations of the elders of the church and especially the youths, physically there have been developments like we could see the last harvest that we had, the 40th of its kind was held at the upper side of the church which will become the next Auditorium when it is complete. But the ground floor we are seeing today will be the Sunday School. So, we thank God. As we are talking, people are still working on the physical structure of the church.
All Glory to God. We still have other structures that are coming up like offices and so on. That is physically. And spiritually, of course I thank God for everything. There have been many testimonies. It is not by my wisdom or by my knowledge or my doing. It is just by the Grace of God. There have been many testimonies.
Of course, when there are many testimonies, everybody cannot be satisfied. There will always be one or 2 or 3 people that may not be satisfied. But to God be the glory, majority are satisfied.
What is the significance of your archdiocese the International Headquarters in Ketu?
Ketu church was founded more than 40 years ago, by the founder himself, Samuel Bilewu Joseph Oshoffa when he left the National Headquarters at Makoko in Lagos in the late 70s. He now came to settle in Ketu. I am talking of my father, Joseph Samuel Oshoffa, the founder of the Celestial Church of Christ. He was staying in Makoko before acquiring a property in Ketu. When he moved to Ketu, he started Ketu church like a Sanctuary, where he can be praying in silence. But he started it from his own house. As a man who had forsight, he acquired a land on Adeyiga Street not far from his house in Moshood Street. He used to reside on Moshood. He started Ketu church from Moshood, his home. But then, he acquired a piece of land on Adeyiga, which is off Moshood, a plot of land. And he personally built an edifice. Before he left, as a man who had greater foresight, where the International Headquarters is today, he acquired it personally again.
You can see he was a man that has so much foresight, as large as it is. It was larger than this but over the years, many people had encroached on it. But thank God what we have today was acquired by the owner himself. He has had one or 2 services there before he left. He was hoping that when we grow up and we shall be expanded physically and humanly, and we would need a bigger place. That is why he acquired that place with his own money.
Baba Oshoffa laid the foundation for God. He did it for God. Anything that you do for God is for God. That is why CCC is not a personal God. It is a community church where people come from all over the South West states and we gather and we pray, unto God.
As it is today, we believe that is where the God of SBJ Oshoffa has got for us as the permanent site of the International Headquarters, when he moved from Makoko. Makoko happens to be the natural headquarters of the church. When he got to Ketu, as small as Ketu was when he started, he made it International Headquarters Church. And when he moved from Ketu to Imeko, towards his late years on earth, he named Imeko as World Headquarters.
And fortunately, that is where he had his last abode. That is where he was buried, beside his mother. So, Ketu today, is through the grace of God as well, and the Pastor of the church, apart from the external headquarters church, made Ketu as an archdiocese. A diocese that will be above other diocese. So that is the standard of Ketu today.
Worldwide today Celestial members are about 60 million. In Lagos alone we have more than 10,000 parishes. We have about 30,000 known parishes in other states. There are some that are not known to the headquarters that they are doing underneath. But the known ones we have about 30,000 parishes dioceses in Nigeria alone. When you now go to Benin Republic where the church was born, we still have many that are uncounted.
So, all over the world, we could go up to 80,000 to 90,000 parishes. Because we have them in West Africa, Central Africa, we have them in China, Australia, United Emirate (Dubai). Qatar.
