Editing Celestial Church of Christ (section)

==History==
Oshoffa was born in [[French Dahomey]] (now [[Benin]]) in 1909.<ref name="crumbly">{{cite book|last=Crumbly|first=Deidre Helen|title=Spirit, Structure, and Flesh: Gendered Experiences in African Instituted Churches Among the Yoruba of Nigeria p. 54 on|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|year=2008|pages=182|isbn=978-0-299-22910-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=olMmvHsB-C4C&dq=Samuel+Bilehou+Oshoffa&pg=PA54|accessdate=7 April 2017}}</ref> Raised as a [[Methodist]], he claimed to have had a divine revelation while lost in a forest on 23 May 1947 during a [[solar eclipse]]. (The nearest recorded solar eclipse visible in [[Africa]] occurred on May 20, not May 23, of that year.) He felt called to pray, to heal the sick, and to raise the dead. He founded his church in September 1947.<ref>{{cite book |last=Partridge |first=Christopher |title=New Religions A Guide.New York: Oxford |year=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-522042-1}}</ref> 

Having appointed himself Prophet, Reverend, Pastor, and Founder, he occupied the highest office of his movement. The hegemony he exercised on doctrine and discipline issues made succession difficult when he died in 1985 in [[Lagos|Lagos, Nigeria]].<ref name="crumbly"/> The CCC was recognized and authorized by the [[Republic of Dahomey]] in 1965. From 1976, the church launched an evangelistic campaign in that country, a former colony of [[French West Africa]] which gained independence in 1960. 

Since the late 1990s, the CCC has used the [[internet]] as a means of [[Evangelism|evangelization]], allowing the many existing branches of the church within the [[African diaspora]] in the [[United Kingdom]], [[Germany]], [[Austria]], [[France]], the [[United States of America|United States]] and elsewhere to maintain contact with each other and with [[Nigeria]], the nation in which the CCC is currently most popular.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QlW3ZMxrCKMC&pg=PA257|title=Òrìşà devotion as world religion: the globalization of Yorùbá religious culture|last2=Rey|first2=Terry|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-299-22464-6|pages=257–58|first1=Jacob|last1=Obafẹmi Kẹhinde Olupọna}}</ref> 

The movement has continued to grow since Oshoffa's death after a contentious succession.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2001/04/04/20010404fea01.html |title=This Day Online |access-date=10 June 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927200605/http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2001/04/04/20010404fea01.html |archive-date=27 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Oshoffa was succeeded by [[Alexander Abiodun Adebayo Bada]], who was head of the church until his death on 8 September 2000.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.celestialchurch.com/news/newsroom/cele_mourns_bada.htm 
 |publisher=Celestial Church 
 |title=Celestial signs lighten Bada's burial 
 |work=The Comet 
 |date=October 2, 2000 
 |accessdate=2011-06-12 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001124707/http://www.celestialchurch.com/news/newsroom/cele_mourns_bada.htm 
 |archivedate=1 October 2011 
 |df=dmy 
}}</ref>

Bada was briefly followed as leader by [[Philip Hunsu Ajose]], who died in March 2001. A dispute followed over the succession to Ajose. Some declared [[Gilbert Oluwatosin Jesse]] as the new leader, while the majority recognised the Reverend [[Emmanuel Oshoffa]], son of Samuel Oshoffa.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.celestialchurch.com/news/newsroom/news_2003.htm
 |title=Celestial Church: Oschoffa Renews Call for Peace
 |work=[[ThisDay]]
 |date=October 11, 2003
 |author=Yemi Akinsuyi
 |accessdate=2011-06-12
 |url-status=dead
 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001124714/http://www.celestialchurch.com/news/newsroom/news_2003.htm
 |archivedate=1 October 2011
 |df=dmy-all
 }}</ref>

Following Jesse's death, his faction declared that Superior Evangelist [[Paul Suru Maforikan]] was the new spiritual leader of the church.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.celestialchurch.com/news/newsroom/news_2003.htm
 |title=Cele: Maforikan succeeds Jesse
 |publisher=Celestial Church of Christ
 |author=BISI ERETAN
 |accessdate=2011-06-12
 |url-status=dead
 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001124714/http://www.celestialchurch.com/news/newsroom/news_2003.htm
 |archivedate=1 October 2011
 |df=dmy-all
 }}</ref> 
Contrary to the procedure of succession in Nigeria, the supreme headquarters in [[Porto-Novo]] chose Benoit Agbaossi to head the church. Agbaossi appointed Benoit Adeogun as the next director  shortly before his death in 2010.