Reverse Mission and the Establishment of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) in Canada

Abstract

This article examines the transplantation from Nigeria to Canada of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG). It argues that the concept of reverse mission, an increasingly popular view held by some scholars and church leaders that churches from Africa, South America and Asia are now re-evangelizing the secular Western world, is but rhetoric and a myth that does not describe the true nature of the church's activities in Canada. Statistics has showed that there is a decline in church attendance in the Western world including Canada, however, this research establish that RCCG parishes in Canada are far from being successful with regards to their purported efforts to arrest this through a reverse mission. Instead of winning new souls for Christ among the secularized Canadians, the RCCG is only actively serving its predominantly black congregation. The two largest parishes of the church in Canada were used as a case study to determine that the reverse flow or reverse mission is not successful as some have wrongly assumed.