General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, has revealed that he originally planned to retire from active ministry 14 years ago but abandoned the idea after what he described as a divine instruction from God.
Speaking during a recent sermon, the 84-year-old cleric said he had carefully mapped out his retirement plans and intended to dedicate the next phase of his life to travelling around the world and writing a comprehensive Bible commentary for future generations of preachers.
According to Adeboye, he believed his greatest gift was the ability to take passages from the Bible and explain them in detail. He therefore planned to begin writing from the Book of Genesis and continue documenting his insights as a lasting legacy for ministers and Christians.
“There was a time I started preparing for my retirement. I’m supposed to have retired 14 years ago, and I had a great plan for my retirement,” he said.
The respected cleric explained that his vision was to create a resource that preachers could consult long after his lifetime.
“I thought I would just sit down and begin from Genesis chapter one and keep enlarging and writing it down so that by the time I die, wherever I’ve reached in the Bible would become a legacy, something that preachers can consult when they want to preach,” he added.
However, Adeboye said those plans never materialised because he received what he believed was a clear directive from God to remain in active service.
“But then God said, ‘You are not retiring yet.’ I was wise enough to know that if I disobey, He has stopped talking to me before, and I don’t want Him to stop talking to me,” he stated.
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Adeboye joined RCCG in 1973 and initially served as an interpreter before being ordained a pastor by the church’s founder, Pa Josiah Akindayomi, in 1975. He later succeeded Akindayomi as General Overseer in 1981 and has since overseen the church’s growth into one of the world’s largest Pentecostal denominations.
His remarks come amid renewed public discussions about succession and leadership transitions within major religious organisations in Nigeria.
The cleric’s comments have sparked reactions among church members and followers, many of whom praised his continued commitment to ministry despite his age and decades of service.
