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Research Outline
Prepared for Malcolm W. | Delivered October 11, 2019
Leadership Succession in Christian Ministries - Other Nations
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Goals
To identify the state of leadership succession in Christian ministries in nations other than the U.S. (India, Nigeria, and Indonesia to start) for the purposes of understanding how Christian institutions are preparing for pastoral succession.
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Early Findings
Preliminary research indicates there is a law in place that limits the amount of time a leader can be in charge of a church in Nigeria and that on average, pastors in India are elderly. However, insights are limited.
NIGERIA
Section 9:3
of the Nigerian Financial Reporting Council (FRC) Governance Code states that "leaders or founders of nonprofit organizations, including churches and ministries must hand over leadership to a non-family member after
70 years of age or 20 years
of being in charge."
This section of the code initially went into
effect in 2016
and once fully implement could require 90% of Nigeria's evangelical church founders and leaders to retire.
However, after prominent church leader
Enoch Adeboye
resigned to comply with the code, there was a public outcry that prompted President Muhammadu Buhari to fire the FRC's financial secretary and "suspend implementation of the
new financial code
until after further reviews."
The financial code itself was not new, as it was in place for
banks and managing directors
for years before it was expanded to nonprofit organizations, only people in those positions have to leave after
10 years
in the job.
The code was upheld in court and Enoch Adeboye became the "
General Overseer
RCCG worldwide" a distinction that was an attempt by the church hierarchy to
circumvent the law
.
Therefore, currently, in Nigeria, "heads of non-profit organizations have a
maximum period of 20
years to lead" and they cannot hand over leadership to family members. This law applies to "
all registered churches
, mosques, and CSOs."
INDIA
According to the Pentecostal Assemblies of the West Indies' 2018 General Conference, the highest number of church workers are between the ages of
57 and 61
.
The second-highest age group for church workers is ages
52-56
.
The majority of ordained Pentecostal pastors are between the ages of
62 and 71
, followed by the age group of
72-82
.
T
h
e
Bishop of the Pentecostal Church has identified the "critical need for
succession-planning
as a priority in the PAWI."
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