Apostle Emmanuel Iren: CELEBRATION CHURCH INTERNATIONAL (CCI)
HISTORY:
Celebration Church International (CCI) is a mission-minded teaching ministry founded on 8th November 2012 by Apostle Emmanuel Iren with a vision to see all people celebrate endless life in Christ Jesus and fully embrace the power of His death, burial and resurrection.
Under Apostle Emmanuel Iren’s leadership, CCI has grown from a campus fellowship into a global ministry with over 15,000 members and more than 30 campuses across Nigeria, Europe, the United Kingdom and Canada. He is renowned for his dynamic preaching, teaching, and gospel songwriting.
Apostle Iren’s ministry began during his time as an undergraduate at Covenant University in 2008, where he founded the Triumphant Youth Fellowship. This fellowship evolved into a Church called Life Triumphal Church and then Celebration Church International with the inaugural service held on 11th November 2012. In addition to leading CCI, he oversees two significant platforms: Manifest Bible Course – an interdenominational Bible training program and the Triumph30 Devotional – a daily devotional designed to help believers develop a consistent prayer life and relationship with God. Both platforms are instrumental in equipping believers to live purpose-driven lives rooted in biblical truth. He got married to Laju Arenyeka now Laju Iren, a fellow pastor, author and media entrepreneur on 1st November 2014 and together, they have 4 children.
CCI is passionate about spreading the Gospel to everyone, either young or old through its ministries which include Finding Salaam (Outreach Islam), an evangelical ministry which is dedicated to reaching out to the Muslim Community with the Gospel. This is achieved through training Christians about who Muslims are and what they believe in and providing effective strategies on how best to deliver the Gospel to them. Another effective ministry which the Church boasts of is the “Outburst Ministry” which is a ministry that exists to help the world ponder the Gospel of Christ continually and accurately through music. It is a record label that was founded by Pastor Emmanuel Iren, who himself is a songwriter, singer and lover of music. The Celeb Kids Ministry, another ministry of the Church is passionate about training children to be grounded in the faith.
CHURCH EXPANSION:
Celebration Church International began her expansion in Africa – Nigeria precisely in the year, 2016 when she planted a branch in Benin. The Benin Church kicked off with the inaugural service on Sunday 6th March 2016. She has further spread to Abuja, (7th January, 2018), Port Harcourt (9th August 2020), Ibadan (10th January, 2021), Ile-ife Osun State (3rd April 2022), Uyo (15th January 2023), Enugu (11th August 2024) and so many more. She also established more branches within Lagos aside from the headquarters in Lekki (8th November, 2020), Yaba (1st May, 2022) – The 9th Church expression of the Celebration Church and so many more.
On 12th November 2023, Apostle Iren declared that the Lord has told him they will plant 50 branches the following year. He further declared, “I’m honestly open to the possibility of 100 (Churches) by next year… but for structure’s sake, if we can only do 20 effectively, we will do 20. We are going to get maybe 10 in the UK (United Kingdom) alone and 10 or 20 in America.” This led to the creation of many more branches in 2024.
Canada: Celebration Church International began in Canada on 4th October 2020. She has expressions in Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg – 7th July 2024, Hamilton – 18th August 2024, Barrie, Oshawa – 6th October 2024.
United Kingdom: CCI London began on the 30th of July 2021 with an inaugural service that lasted till the 1st of August 2021. She has further expanded to CCI Manchester – 26th March, 2023, East London – 18th August 2024, Glasgow, Birmingham, etc.
Europe: Celebration Church International has an expression in the Ireland – Dublin. The Ireland Church started meeting on their own in a living room and from 5, they grew to 10, to 15, to 20. The living room couldn’t contain them and so they rented a cinema on their own and started going there to stream services. She eventually had her inaugural service on Sunday, 5th of November 2023 at the Odeon Cinemas Point Square, Point Village, Dublin 1.
Celebration Church began owning properties in 2024, having 35 branches with 6 branches in Lagos aside the Headquarters. Recently, she has moved into real estate locally – acquiring landed properties worth 2.5 billion Naira and 7 billion Naira in Abuja and Lagos respectively. In 2020, CCI had 1,000 members globally but has moved to 18,000 members globally in 2024. Spectacular about Celebration Church is the influx of upwardly mobile youth outside Nigeria and within to their ministry. We can relate this to some reasons such as:
Start up: CCI began as a fellowship in Covenant University with friends, course mates and of course, like begets like.
Church location: CCI chooses strategic locations as Church centers. For instance in Nigeria, the Church began in Ikotun Egbe, M Square Hall – an event center. In 2014, they moved from Ikotun Egbe to Ikeja City Mall – a central place – and the population grew and quality of service improved. August 2017, they moved to Yard 158, yet another event center and bigger venue.
Evangelical Drive: CCI is marked by a strong evangelical drive as they’re always in the business of souls. She carries the urgency of the Gospel – preaching the Word like they’re the only ones.
Care: It is testified that Celebration Church is a family attributed to having a leader who is a loving father. CCI claims to have an open door policy where people have access to what they want. She focuses on caring about the flock, saving people from “Church hurt.”
Excellence Culture: CCI maintains an excellence culture – consistently benchmarking, striving to do it better.
Dressing: CCI has a liberal dress code more than what most Pentecostal Churches will agree to – female choristers can minister on trousers and the male ones can be on dreadlocks.
Celebration Church International thrives on the vision to see a billion souls, in 10,000 cities for Christ.
SOURCES:
Celebration Church International Website
Apostle Emmanuel Iren Facebook page
Celebration Church International X handle
#ChurchOfTheWeek
#CCI
#ChurchGist
