allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Keeping Church in the Family (Page 1 of 3)

One of the most important qualities of a leader, according to John C. Maxwell's 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, is succession. In business, politics or religion, what often guarantees continuity or perpetuity of a dream, tradition, business or culture, is the ability of the man at the top to hand over to a protégé of sorts. It's what has made some businesses survive ten generations; and what has made others crumble barely 12 months after the founder's death. The church in Nigeria is an important case study, when the issue of succession crops up. While the older, orthodox congregations are adhering to a succession formular that should guarantee continuity, most of the newer, Pentecostal churches are 'keeping it all in the family'. What effect does this have on the religious system? Is there a disconnect between the leadership and followership? What's the succession pattern and how has it influenced the success of these churches and the way worshippers perceive them? As the first in a series of success and succession features, Glitterati invites you to come along into the world of the modern-day church in Nigeria. By Nseobong Okon-Ekong

The baton of leadership is being passed around within the same family, particularly in the Pentecostal movement in Nigeria. It appears a trend has been established that once the founder of a church passes on, the headship goes to his wife or to one of his children. This tendency is not there at all in the orthodox churches, where ordained channels are set for entry into the priesthood; and everyone is welcome to aspire. In the Catholic church, for instance, priesthood is a deliberate, even if weighty choice that sometimes evokes a lot of emotion in members of the immediate family because a reverend father in the Catholic church can not raise a family of his own, so the question of handing over to his better half or off-spring does not arise. He undergoes a period of training, of no less than, 20 years-acquiring various levels of knowledge in the seminary. While priests in the Anglican Communion, Methodist, African, Baptist, The Apostolic fellowship allow their priests to raise families, the baton of leadership does not switch automatically to members of the same family. In the few cases where father and son have served in the same priesthood in these churches, each was recommended on his merit and often they have to enter from the normal starting block and rise through the hierarchy. There is no Primate, in living memory, whose son was privileged to reach that mark in the Anglican or Methodist church.

Apart from the Pentecostals, some-Christian sects, better known as, 'white garment' churches are also inclined to keep headship of the church in the family. Leadership (from the father to various sons) of The Church of the Lord, Aladura has remained in the Ositelu family of Ogere-Remo since it was founded. It was the refusal to accept one of Pastor Bilewu Oshoffa's children to succeed him that has factionalised the church. Till today, a good segment of the Celestial fold owe allegiance to one of Oshoffa's children. In the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, Bishop Roland Obu has virtually taken over leadership of the church from his father, Leader Olumba Olumba Obu. Roland had fought a spirited battle with his sister, who now appears to be satisfied with the title, 'Queen Mother'.

No where else is this fashion of 'me-and-my-wife-church' better entrenched in Nigeria than among the Pentecostals. Justification for this is both founded in the Bible and by convention. Critics of the vogue point to its susceptibility to corruption and other forms of abuse.

To be sure, order of priesthood started with Aaron. Back then it was a family affair with Moses, his younger brother, carrying the mantle of political leadership and their sister, Mariam operated in the office of a prothetess. Two incidents are worth recalling here: The Bible records how Aaron conceded to make a golden calf, to which the children of Israel bowed and this made God angry. Moses had been away to the top of Mount Sinai to commune with God. He returned to find this abomination. Vexed beyond words, he asked, 'who is on the Lord's side?' Only the children of the tribe of Levi answered in the affirmative, therefore, God entered into a covenant with them, saying they shall be priests onto him forever. Another Biblical incident Numbers Chapter 16 records how Korah, Dathan and Abiram challenged the authority of Moses. They sought to know if Moses was the only medium God could use. "You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?" In response, Moses sounded a spiritual battle cry, " the Lord will show who is His and who is holy " God showed He was with Moses when the ground opened and swallowed all the 250 men and their families who were with Korah. The next day, the slaughter continued as over 14,700 lives were lost in a plague. One of the signs that Moses had demonstrated by asking Korah's group to fill their censer with incense in order to see which one God will accept by lighting it up with fire from above, is what the Catholics use till today in the choice of a new pope. Usually, all candidates for the exalted office would be asked to bring up their censers and during a prayer session, the one whose censer is ignited with fire is believed to be the divine choice for the Catholic Pontiff.

Pastor Reham Benjamin of Warfare Pentecostal Assembly, Isheri Oshun, Lagos anchors his opinion against the emergence of a woman as head of the church on the scripture in 1Corinthians Chapter 14 verses 33 and 34, which reads, in part, "Let your women keep silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak; but they are to be submissive, as the law also says . For emphasis, this teaching is further rooted in 1Timothy 2 verses 11 and 12: "Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence".

web allafrica.com	Enter your search terms	Submit search form
OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine


Use our pull-down menus to find more stories

Today's Most Active Stories