A founder is a person who founds or establishes something whether a faith, concept, movement, organization, place, etc.

A founder is not a person who receives what has been founded. A founder is not a person who becomes a member of what has been founded. A founder is clearly different from a member. A founder founds or establishes and a member becomes a part of what has been founded, a manager manages what has been founded and a discoverer discovers what has been founded, but none of these three can regard themselves as a founder or the founder.

Though a member can lead or manage what has been founded, but that cannot make him or her the founder. You can lead, manage, explore or even discover what has already been founded, but you cannot be a founder of what has been founded. The same thing is applicable in the issue of the creator and the producer. A creator creates what has never been in existence while a producer produces or mass produces what has been created.

God is both the creator and the founder when it comes to the earth and the faith. Church is a faith and not an organization. It has a starting point, a starting time and a purpose to fulfill. It can have only one beginning which means it can only be founded once at a given time but has the capability to expand to reach the ends of the world. There are many people claiming to be church founders. How could there be many founders if Church is one and a faith which is supposed to have only one founder? Who is the true founder of Church?

The Scripture made it very clear that Jesus was the true founder of the Church. He referred to it as “my church” when speaking about the foundation of the Church.

Matthew 16:17-19 NKJV

“Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.””

Jesus did not delegate Peter to found or build his Church for him. Jesus was saying that he will build his church which he founded upon the rocky foundation of truth and revelation (Luke 6:46-48) and after building the church, he will hand the keys of the church authority to Peter. Peter will operate, manage and expand the church which is already founded and built. The founder is Jesus and not Peter. Peter will be free to found another organization which definitely will not be called Church because there will be one Church and which will remain the church of Jesus Christ.

The Church which Jesus spoke of is a faith and not a faith-based organization. The foundation of church is not faith, but the entire structure of church is faith from the foundation to the top. In order words, church does not stand on the faith but church is the faith. There is only one Church and not many churches because there is only one faith of Christ since the Christ of God is one. If we cannot build another faith which will warrant creating a new and different Gospel from that of Jesus Christ, then we cannot have another Church since Church is the faith. You cannot stand on the faith of Christ without being in the Church of Christ and you cannot be in the Church of Christ without standing on the faith of Christ. Church of Christ and the faith of Christ is one and the same because Christ is one and always the same. Scriptural book of Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. So, how come so many people are calling themselves founders of church?

Birth of Church:

Church cannot be born unless Christ is revealed and church cannot be built by anyone else except the Christ of God because Christ is the Rock which is the foundation upon which Church will stand. All the while the apostles have referred to Jesus as a teacher or master, but on this particular day Peter caught the revelation that Jesus is also the Christ. The Father revealed to Peter that Jesus is the Christ. This revelation confirmed to Jesus it was time for the Church to be born because the Father has revealed his Christ identity.

Matthew 16:15-16 NKJV

“He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.””

The Church is a new wine which must not be mixed with the old wine. The Church will not be an organization but the outpouring of God’s Spirit that will give a new life to all those who the Father shall call out from the world. Jesus revealed what will be the identity of the Church of God in Christ while speaking with the woman from Samaria. He said to her that the time is coming and has actually come when a new way shall be established. The new way which is the new wine will terminate religion and establish true faith. God now needs people of faith and not people of religion. He said God the Father is looking for true worshipers who will worship Him in Spirit and truth (John 4:19-26) and not through religious practices.

Jesus revealed here what will be the nature of the people who will make up the Church. It will be made up of true worshippers who will worship God the Father in spirit and truth. These are the people the Father is looking for and they are the ones Jesus came to call. So, when Peter by the spirit confessed the truth, Jesus knew it is time for the birth of the Church. Whoever that will confess the truth by the spirit is part of the Church for no one can say that Jesus is Christ or Lord unless speaking by the Holy Spirit. Peter by his confession became the first person to become part of the Church which confirmed to Jesus that the Father has chosen Peter to lead the Church. It was based on these that Jesus called him Peter changing his name from Simon.

Jesus prophetically changed the name of Simon the son of Jonah to Peter which means stone extracted from the rock. Then he said on this rock I shall build my church. On this Rock which means on Christ who is the Rock of God I shall build my church and I have made you a stone which is a reference to all who shall be part of the Church. The foundation of the church is Christ who is the Rock and the founder of the church is Jesus who is the Christ and that’s why we call him ‘Jesus Christ or Jesus the Christ.’ The people that will make up the Church will be stones like Peter (a stone) and Jesus is the chief corner stone holding the entire stones of the Church together. The Church will be made up of collection of stones build together as one and held together by Jesus as the chief cornerstone and it will stand on Christ the Rock which is also Jesus the Christ of God. Peter said that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. God has made him both the chief cornerstone and the Rock so that in him the Church is one.

This is what Jesus was referring to when he said in Matthew 16:18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

Peter was not the founder of the Church because he is not Christ. Peter is a stone while Christ is the Rock. A stone is an extract of the rock and cannot be the rock. Jesus spoke of building his Church upon a rock and not a stone. Secondly, there was no covenant that God established with Peter that may support the notion Peter is the founder of the Church. Peter was the first human being to become part of the Church through the revelation the Father gave and he became the leader of the apostles based on the Father’s choice.

Now, if Peter to whom the revelation was first given is not even the founder of the Church, how then does people call themselves church founders. Whoever that calls himself or herself the founder of church (no matter the denomination) is invariably claiming to be the Christ of God. Jesus said that many will come and said they are the Christ. This is one of the ways many are already saying they are the Christ.

This spirit of anti-Christ began to operate even during the time of the early Apostles. They are denying that Jesus is the Christ and the Lord. One of the ways to deny that Jesus is the Christ and the Lord is when you claim to be a founder of the church (I used “the church” because the church of Christ is one and there cannot be another type of church, so I could not say ‘a church’). The Church can only be established with a covenant for without a covenant could any dispensation be established.

God always starts a dispensation (a mission) and after that establishes a covenant that will commission it. The dispensation must start first and be followed with a covenant just like a child has to born first before being baptized. The call of Abraham was followed with a covenant and the establishment of the physical nation of Israel was also followed with a covenant, so in the same manner according to God’s pattern, the Church of God in Christ shall be born first and be followed with a covenant.  The covenant for the church shall not be established before the birth of the Church. It is after the birth of the Church that the covenant shall be established. The person with whom God gave birth to a mission is the person with whom the covenant shall be established which is why birth precedes covenant.

The birth of the Church was by Jesus who is the Christ of God the Rock of the faith. It was after the birth of the Church that Jesus established the covenant of the Church on the Passover night. The Church was empowered to expand on the Pentecost day. The Church was born through Christ on the day of transfiguration, the covenant was established by Jesus on the Passover night and the Church was empowered on the day of Pentecost to expand throughout the world. Church was not meant to expand by building Church buildings but by preaching to all creations faith in God through Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8).

Jesus made it clear about The Christ in the book of Luke 24:25-27.

 “Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” ………  Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” Luke 24:25-27, 46-49 (John 11:49-52).

The founder of the Church is Christ who will suffer many things, die and rise from the dead on the third day and repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations beginning at Jerusalem. No one else fulfilled the requirements of being the Christ except Jesus. Church is the faith which teaches repentance and forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus Christ. Church will operate in the name of its founder and that founder is Jesus Christ.

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”
Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:36-38.

Church is one but people have turned it into an organization giving different names to their own denomination or group. More ironically, they have gradually begun to insert the name of their founders in the operation of these churches claiming that Elisha called God the God of Elijah, but they forgot that Elijah must come first before the Christ and that once the Christ comes everything shall be in his name. There is no other way to God other than through the Christ. This is the day of the Lord and not the day of Elijah and the Lord is Jesus. There is no other name through which we can connect to God other than the name of Jesus the Christ.

God is calling on everyone who is claiming to be the founder of any Church to make amend because such claim is not by the Holy Spirit unless if you are not called to be part of the Church. And if you are not called to be part of the Church, then you should not operate a church because you’re not gathering with Jesus the stones of faith as is required. Turn your organization into a simple not-for-profit charity organization and stop referring your self-founded organization as church.

Those who are associating with any organization called church which the founder is the leader should cautiously come out of it for the sake of your soul. Christ is one and Jesus is the Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever. Remember we are at the concluding time of this system and it is the time we have been told to apply the wisdom of God in everything especially as it relates to spiritual things.

Again, if Peter the first stone of the Church is not the founder, how could a stone standing on a Rock claim to be carrying the Rock. Do not call yourself the founder and do not associate with anyone who claims to be the founder. Beware of the operations of the spirit of anti-Christ.