The Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) came into existence in November 1929 with the effort of missionaries.

It began in the south as a result of an informal meeting of a small group of missionaries who then met in Ibadan to discuss the line of action concerning the new Educational law instituted to separate religion from education. The meeting brought together mainland Protestant Churches.

It also made efforts to incorporate the Roman Catholic Church but the Roman Catholic Church never became a member of CCN, for Roman Catholic Church considered it a Protestant movement. The Roman Catholic Church later came together to work with CCN in the area of education and health. The aim of the meeting reflected in the name “United Missionary Council for Education” which was the first name adopted by this association.

The meeting described as the first ecumenical attempt of the churches in Nigeria had impact all over Nigeria as Churches in the South spread to the North and as Churches in the North later joined the movement. As a result of the meeting the government was prevented from enacting the law.

This accomplishment reflected the power of joint action and one voice. This success gave the missionaries the courage to start an organization and in 1930 the name of the association was changed to Christian Council of Nigeria (CCN) giving room for the organization to address issues, other than education, that are affecting the lives of Nigerians. For a dozen years the leadership of the organization was mostly in the hands of missionaries.