Hybrid Leadership in African Neo-Pentecostalism (original) (raw)
Related papers
Battling with the baton: (Dis)connecting today and tomorrow’s leaders in African Pentecostalism
HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies, 2023
Leadership praxis, development and succession can become a bloody battlefield in Africa, mainly because of economic, cultural, theological and political factors. Just like some secular leaders who fail to serve their mandate paradoxically fight for further conquest and retention of power at all costs, certain spiritual leaders miscarry Christian leadership, struggle to deliver their missionary service and tragically battle to stay in power, instead of passing the baton. Church leadership ought to be successional, transformational and intergenerational enough to disciple and develop leaders to sustain and promote other-centred missio Dei and missio Ecclesiae. Yet, the majority of Pentecostal church founders and leaders are neo-patrimonial, authoritarian and serving themselves at the expense of God’s mission. That way, they deface the missionary identity of the Church. Engaging with available literature and observing multifarious leadership trends in Africa, this article unravels problematic Christian leadership development and succession in view of Jesus Christ’s servant leadership model. It disconnects self-centred incumbents and connects the few who are Christ-like with tomorrow’s leaders.
Mentoring as an Effective Strategy for Leadership Development in Contemporary African Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism, Charismaticism and Neo-Prophetic Movements Journal
The formation and advancement of indigenous Pentecostal movements was a significant reason for Africa’s impact on global Christianity. Notwithstanding, a critical concern is the sustenance of such a feat for future global missions. Since leadership development is key to both organizational growth and continual relevance, the African Pentecostal movement that will continue to serve the purpose of fulfilling the Great Commission mandate must ensure adequate leadership succession to keep the vision. This paper examined mentoring as an effective approach for leadership development in contemporary African Pentecostalism. Drawing heavily from the Nigerian examples, it argued that mentoring is suitable for preserving and enhancing African Pentecostal theological heritage, core values and practices for effective global missions. By the use of various pieces of literature and observation methods, the article explains the impact of mentoring on the sustenance of the African Pentecostal phenom...
Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa (PEFA) in Bungoma County is a Pentecostal church established in 1962, but it has been plagued with conflicts due to leadership wrangles. The purpose of this study was to investigate conflict and unity on growth and development of PEFA Church in Bungoma. The study was set to examine the effects of leadership styles in PEFA on growth and development and identify strategies used to minimize conflicts in PEFA church in Bungoma County. This study was guided by the instrumentalism and constructivism theory, which helped in identifying structural and institutional characteristics of PEFA church. The study used a mixed method approach for designing sampling techniques, where purposive and simple random techniques were used to arrive at a sample of 164 respondents. Further, questionnaires, focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews were used as data collection tools. Quantitative data generated from questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented in form of tables and figures after serializing, developing code books, exporting to excel sheet then to SPSS sheet version 25.0 and interpreted whereas qualitative data was analyzed thematically after transcription of recorded voices. The findings revealed that trained pastors and leaders were proved to perform better than non-trained in terms of handling of issues daily demonstrating spiritual maturity during conflicts, confidence in addressing emerging issues on time regardless of one's socioeconomic status and position in church. Moral fabric of the pastors and leaders contributed most to the disintegration of the church not necessarily the leadership style. Effects of inefficient leadership in times of conflict were withdrawal of members; break up, formation of splinter groups and loss of the flock back to worldly pleasures. The type of leadership style demonstrated by pastors may promote commitment and active participation of the members who in turn could influence members of their families, friends and the community to join the church. The study recommended that PEFA church needs to review and decentralize theological training curricula.
Theology of African Christian leadership
2021
This essay will attempt to define what the Theology of African Christian Leadership is. In order to define what it is, Christian Leadership needs to be represented on its own Biblical terms parallel to African Leadership on its own terms. These features of leadership will be used as comparison to arrive at the theology of African Christian Leadership .
A missional study of Ghanaian Pentecostal churches’ leadership and leadership formation
Church leadership plays an important and irreplaceable role in the planting and the configuration of the missional congregation. The key to the formation of missional communities is their leadership. In that regard, this article explores Classical Ghanaian Pentecostal Churches’ leadership and leadership formation from a missiological perspective. This was done through an exposition on their leadership system (structure). It was argued that Classical Ghanaian Pentecostal Churches’ leadership is based on the Fivefold Ministry (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher). These leadership functions were therefore discussed in the light of their missiological implication. The conclusion arrived at is that it is not enough to discover one’s spiritual gift or calling; these gifts should be developed and nurtured through mentoring and proper theological education, with the ultimate purpose being to participate in the Missio Dei.
Thomas G. Kirsch_'The Precarious Center: Religious Leadership among African Christians' (2014)
Kirsch, Thomas G. 2014. The Precarious Centre: Religious Leadership among African Christians. Religion and Society: Advances in Research 5: 47–64. Abstract: This article addresses a long-standing conundrum in the anthropology of religion concerning the ambiguous status of religious leaders: they are subjects of power in that they are able to exert power over others, yet they are objects of power in that they rely on empowerment through others. Taking African-initiated Pentecostal-char-ismatic Christianity in Zambia as my example, I argue that church leaders' strategies to stabilize their authority have unintended consequences since these strategies can contribute to the precariousness of their positions. By drawing fundamental distinctions between themselves and members of the laity as regards their own extraordinariness, church leaders raise high expectations about their own capacities that may turn out to be impossible to fulfill. Yet even the opposite strategy of strengthening one's authority by embedding oneself in socio-religious networks can eventually lead to a destabilization of church leaders' authority because it increases their dependence on factors that are beyond their control.
An investigation of the leadership styles of Pentecostal church leaders in Zimbabwe
African Journal of Business Management, 2016
The aim of the paper is to focus on leadership styles exercised by Pentecostal leaders in Zimbabwe. The target population was divided into three main groups; the founders, the leaders and the members of Pentecostal churches in Zimbabwe. Depth interviews and questionnaires were used on six founders, three hundred and fifty leaders and nine hundred members. The leadership style of the founders was found to be transformational while that of the leaders was democratic. The dominant leadership style as reported by members was supportive. The study extends/applies the study of leadership styles from business organisations to church organisations. The study enabled the creation of leadership models that can be applied to both church and business organisations for growth. An in-depth study on the leadership styles practiced by Pentecostal churches in Zimbabwe clarifies on the reasons of growth experienced in the churches.
Christian Leadership in Africa: Interview with an African Cohort of Christian Leaders
The Journal of Applied Christian Leadership, 2018
Africa and presented them with questions regarding leadership in their various countries. Comprised of one woman and eight men, between the ages of 31-60, these cohort members currently serve in a variety of capacities, including pastors, directors, conference executive/ministerial secretaries and church workers, and have been working in Christian leadership or ministry anywhere from 6-10 years to 21-30 years. Six different countries across Africa were represented. As you can imagine, each member of the cohort brought different experiences and mindsets to the interview. 1 Petr Cincala, on behalf of the Journal of Applied Christian Leadership: What characteristics would you expect in a "typical" christian leader? Participant 1: i would say a christian leader should be honest, sincere, and impartial. Participant 9: Also, he should be honest, full of integrity, and faithful. Participant 3: i think a christian leader is truthful, setting an example of christian life. this includes being loving, self-controlled, and relationally warm. he should be committed to god's work. Participant 7: A leader should also be god-fearing and selfless. JACL: how does one become recognized as a great leader in your country-in any context, not just religion? 1 in order to protect cohort members from any negative repercussions in their country of origin, their identities have been hidden. their participant number, instead, identifies them.
" Pentecostal Ecumenical Pioneers: Select Case Studies in Leadership "
This article will seek to examine the theological context for ecumenical leadership provided by select Pentecostals. The Pentecostals in question come from churches that are part of the Pentecostal World Fellowship (PWF). The historical narrative will start with David DuPlessis then move on to Cecil Mel Robeck, Wonsuk Ma, Cheryl Bridges Johns, Vinson Synan, and finally Harold D. Hunter. Many efforts were made to look at emerging voices in the global South that I lecture about in my course on global Pentecostalism last taught at Kuala Lumpur late in 2013 but it has been impossible to get adequate documentation to include them. Having visited over 80 countries, this is no small failure on my part. Although the first Pentecostals to join the World Council of Churches (WCC) were from Latin America, none of these autochthonous Pentecostal groups were or are now part of the PWF. Currently no member church of the PWF belongs to the WCC. It is axiomatic that early Classical Pentecostalism embraced with enthusiasm a particular notion of calling and gifting when it came to the recognition of leaders. This thread remains so prevalent that a February 2015 unpublished document by the Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches of North America (PCCNA) stipulated that any new commissions must embody “divine initiative, visionary calling, passion, and obedience of faith”. A constant for the Pentecostal ecumenists treated here is the Pentecostal emphasis on gifting and calling or as du Plessis put it The Spirit Bade Me Go. This study poses a question to how the Pentecostal emphasis on calling and gifting intersects with the respective faith communities’ responsibility of discernment of early Pentecostal ecumenists.