Emmanuel Aniefiok Iren was born on December 18, 1989, and hails from Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. He completed his primary education at Saint Bernadette’s Nursery and Primary School in Ipaja, Lagos. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Building Technology from Covenant University, Ota in 2011, shortly before launching his ministry. The overlap of those two facts, a Building Technology graduate who went on to build one of the fastest-growing churches in young Nigerian Christianity, is the kind of detail that tells you something about how he thinks. He builds things. The church. The community. A free school. A national youth welfare structure. A film production house that makes movies addressing real-life issues.

His spiritual journey began during his university years, where he led the Triumphal Youth Fellowship in 2008, laying the groundwork for CCI’s establishment in 2012 as a mission-minded teaching organisation dedicated to helping individuals discover and live out their God-given purpose through the Gospel of Christ. Celebration Church was established in November 2012 and is currently led by Pastor Emmanuel Iren.

What followed in the 12 years between founding and today is one of the most documented examples of rapid institutional growth in contemporary Nigerian Pentecostalism. Under his leadership, CCI has expanded to 44 campuses across Nigeria, Europe, Canada, and the United States, serving over 25,000 members as of November 2025, with an emphasis on in-depth Bible teaching, prayer, evangelism, and activation of spiritual gifts, while aiming to reach one billion souls in 10,000 cities worldwide.

On June 11, 2025, Emmanuel Iren was inaugurated as President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) Youth Wing, a position he is expected to hold for four years. He introduced a bold blueprint including a partnership programme for campus fellowships, doctrinal training on core Christian beliefs, political engagement initiatives for youths, a national PFN Youth Welfare Fund, and structured outreach support to churches in Northern Nigeria. That last commitment, structured outreach support to churches in Northern Nigeria, is not a rhetorical flourish. It is a governance promise made by the national youth leader of Nigeria’s Pentecostal body at his inauguration, and it belongs in any serious record of how CCI’s leadership engages national development.

His wife, Pastor Laju Iren, whom he married in November 2014, serves as pastor at Celebration Church International alongside her roles as a filmmaker and author. Her founding of Have You Eaten, a charity that serves victims of terrorism in Northern Nigeria, is not an activity adjacent to CCI’s mission. It is one of its clearest expressions.

Documented Contributions

EDUCATION

Propella Schools — Free Primary School, Ibadan, Oyo State (September 2025): Target of 50 Schools Nationwide

Celebration Church International launched Propella Schools, a groundbreaking free primary school initiative, on September 15, 2025, at Celebr8 Centre Ibadan, Oyo State. The church’s first free school welcomed students to a transformative educational journey, with plans to expand to 50 schools nationwide.

The programme fully covers tuition, stationery, textbooks, workbooks, extracurricular activities, examination fees, clinic services, and ICT training. On the first day of resumption, 62 pupils were enrolled and each received school bags, uniforms, and stationery supplies.

At the launch, Apostle Iren rang the first bell to signal the beginning of this historic chapter, declaring: “Here, progress is not behind a paywall. The only cost is your best effort.”

Addressing parents at the ceremony, Apostle Iren reassured: “One thing we can promise you: there is no student who attends an expensive school that will have better access to education than these ones here. We believe that every child deserves a chance to learn and thrive, regardless of their family’s ability to pay. Today is about hope, dignity, and opportunity, this school is our practical expression of loving our neighbours and investing in the next generation.”

The launch of Propella Schools is also a first step in CCI’s broader goal to establish dozens of free learning centres across Nigeria as part of their 2025 Legacy Year vision. Nigeria still faces a significant out-of-school challenge, with UNICEF reporting roughly 10.5 million primary-age children not in formal schooling. Propella Schools aims to chip away at that gap by removing cost barriers and adding capacity in underserved communities.

Source: The Nation Newspaper, September 2025 — thenationonlineng.net · The Guardian Nigeria, September 2025 — guardian.ng · ThisDay Live, September 2025 — thisdaylive.com · TheCable Lifestyle, September 2025 — lifestyle.thecable.ng · Pulse Nigeria, September 2025 — pulse.ng · GMusicPlus — gmusicplus.com

SKILLS ACQUISITION

5,000-Plus Nigerians and Ghanaians Trained Freely in Vocational Skills — Most Recently August 2025

CCI’s ministries in Africa have successfully implemented skills acquisition and vocational training to empower youth, adults, women, and jobless individuals. As at date, they have trained over 5,000 people in Nigeria and Ghana. The last of such trainings was in August 2025 in Sogakope, Volta Region, Ghana, where 250 persons were trained freely in vocational studies.

The scope of training covers practical income-generating skills targeted at those who are most economically vulnerable, youth, women, and the unemployed. The church also distributes relief materials, including food, clothing, and essentials to vulnerable families, runs free medical services and health outreach programmes, and supports community development initiatives that strengthen family and societal stability.

Source: Emmanuel Iren LinkedIn — linkedin.com/in/emmanuel-iren/ · CCI Global Official

FOOD AND EMPOWERMENT

Have You Eaten — Feeding and Empowering Victims of Terrorism in Northern Nigeria

Co-Pastor Laju Iren, a Mass Communication graduate of Covenant University, former journalist, filmmaker, and bestselling author, founded Have You Eaten, a charity whose stated mandate is to “save, feed and empower the less privileged in society, including but not limited to victims of terrorist attacks in Northern Nigeria.”

The name itself is worth noting. Have You Eaten does not name itself after a programme or a framework. It names itself after a question, the kind of question that a neighbour asks, not an institution. In the context of what Northern Nigeria has faced, mass abductions, Boko Haram and ISWAP attacks, and over 4,000 civilian deaths in 2025 alone, directing a charity specifically at the survivors and displaced communities of those attacks is a deliberate decision to go where the need is most acute and the institutional response is most stretched.

Source: The Newman Nigeria — thenewman.org.ng/2022/12/biography-of-pastor-laju-iren.html?m=1

COMMUNITY WELFARE

Internal Mutual Aid — Financial Assistance for Members in Need, Documented by Zikoko (December 2024)

A three-year member account published by Zikoko in December 2024 documents CCI’s structured internal mutual aid system: donations are routinely collected within church units for members facing financial hardship, medical emergencies, wedding expenses, or other crises, with unit leaders specifically protecting the anonymity of beneficiaries. This is not a publicly announced programme. It is a documented internal culture structured, systematic, and operating quietly across the church’s 44 Nigerian and international campuses.

The significance of documenting this is not to elevate an informal system to the level of a formal CSR programme. It is to note that a church’s contribution to community welfare is not always visible in a press release. Sometimes it is in how a church handles the Tuesday when a member cannot pay school fees.

Source: Zikoko, December 2024 — zikoko.com/pop/i-have-been-attending-pastor-irens-cci-for-3-years-this-is-what-i-have-seen/