THE PROBLEM AND PROSPECT OF EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION IN CHURCH LEADERSHIP
| Format: Ms Word | 1-5 Chapters | Table of Content|
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ABSTRACT
This research focused on the problems and prospects of effective Administration in the Leadership of Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria. The purpose is to show that leadership is a key point for the spiritual, numerical and geographical growth of the church. The Church exists for the work of mission, and for this to be accomplished, effective church administration is required. This will help in bringing into light the mission of the church. The growth and achievement of divine purpose and usefulness of a local church in the African society depends on the quality of leadership through effective and adequate use of administrative skills: Pastors as leaders are expected to lead the church of God effectively in order to produce growth. Hence, this paper examines some basic administrative skills and how such skills can be used to enhance effective leadership in the Church. The work is basically on historical research. An extensive survey of literature was done majorly in LIFE Theological Seminary Ikorodu Lagos. Research instrument such as questionnaire and oral interview were administered to members, pastors and church leaders in Ghana to get opinions on the subject matter. It was discovered that Foursquare Gospel Church in Logos needed to be more intentional in developing their leaders especially in administrative skills. The research recommends Pastors and lay leaders of churches should from time to time go for refresher courses on administration and leadership. They should be open to administrative training through periodic seminars, workshops, Conferences etc. to grasp administrative strategies and skills, and how they can be used to promote church growth.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
1.2 Statement of the Problem
1.3 Purpose of the Study
1.4 Significance of the study
1.5 Delimitation of the Study
1.6 Research Procedure
1.7 Limitation of the Study
1.8 Definition of Terms
CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Effective administration is very critical in determining the longevity of every organization, with church inclusive. However, churches are unique. Churches are unique in that they rely on donations from members and have a responsibility to be good stewards with those resources. The ability to manage church resources effectively depends on the ministry’s process of overseeing church operations. If contemporary churches want to increase their ministry effectiveness and experience enduring success, they must be willing to design and redesign themselves. To do so, they need to incorporate new strategies, structures and systems that give the strategic focus, momentum and operational support needed to thrive in an ever-changing world; while at the same time maintaining the very sacred nature that causes them to be uniquely different from all other organizations.
The church is both an organization and spiritual entity (Gabriel, 2006), thus for church leaders to be to the leadership and management of both these elements. The church as an organization is exposed to insufficient education in management principles and skills through formal education that, in turn, results in leaders that often struggle to perform the basic managerial tasks expected of them (Abogunrin, 2006), Consequently, the lack of basic management principles and skills negatively affect the efficiency and effectiveness of the church in pursue of its vision (Dairo, 2007), According to Lewis and his group of scholars, “an effective way of developing managerial skills is to follow a general learning model which involves conceptual knowledge, behavioural guidelines, skills development exercises, feedback and frequent practice”. The reason being that, for a ministry to be effective, it depends on the management and leadership skills of the pastors (Oluwasegun, 2005).
Management aspects that can be incorporated into the course offerings of pastoral preparation programs to enable effective church management are identified and this was achieved by finding applicable management principles and practices from the secular system which church leaders could adopt for ministry effectiveness. This study will occasionally use the term organizational effectiveness to refer to ministry effectiveness and manager to refer to the pastor. All organizations (including churches) are purposive entities and achieve their objectives with limited resources. Management thus integrates these scarce resources in a productive relationship so as to achieve the organizational objectives with optimum efficiency and effectiveness (Dairo, 2004). As such management theories and principles have universal application in all kinds of organized and purposive activity even though the application differs from organization to organization (Dairo, 2005). This implies that church leaders need to be educated on management issues and apply these principles in church management so as to achieve ministry effectiveness. Antony and Est,erp (2008) says “management is important to the church in three aspects. First, it calls church leaders to commit to organizing the institution to achieve its vision, focusing on the proper utilization of resources”. Lotich underscores the same view (Lotich, 2009). Second, church leaders do not provide ministry in a vacuum but within the context of people, as such ministry is all about people and not programs. However, individuals have strengths, weaknesses, gifts and desires which require the church leader to have some management skills to allow him serve the people more efficiently. This view point is also supported by (Welch, 2010). Third, the church has a vision and mission which they cannot accomplish apart from coordinated effort. Support lines need to be established and defended, materials need to be acquired and people need to be selected and trained. This is echoed by (Oluwasegun, 2005). All these activities are at the heart of sound management and they require the application of management functions which are critical for ministry operation otherwise the church is compromised and negated (Oluwasegun, 2005).
Reported literature asserts that most pastors are adequately trained with regards the spiritual aspects of ministry but they are not adequately trained in terms of the management aspects (Zeitchik, 2021). This lack of management skills development in the pastors leaves them exposed to many management challenges. It also leads to the ineffective management of the church’s tangible and intangible resources which then results in issues like embezzlement, stagnation of the church, mass migration of congregates, removal of pastors from office over issues of mismanagement than doctrine and abuse of church resources.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The lack of an efficient administration hinders ministries in reaching the greatest level of ministry effectiveness. By following through with the specified strategic plan the programs of an organization will reach greater levels of ministry effectiveness. This can be accomplished through the steps of the strategic plan beginning with an external and internal analysis, a clearly defined mission statement, goals and objectives, formulation of specific strategies, concluding with the implementation of the strategy and managed control process. This concludes that an efficient strategic plan leads to a greater level of ministry effectiveness.
Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria has been observed by the researcher to be an organization which is prolific in church planting but this feat is not commensurate with ample training of leaders for strategic development and growth of the churches planted. As a result, several of such churches are lost or weak with a resultant loss of resources, finance and human capital due to lack of strategic planning and administration.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
This research work is aimed at achieving the following objectives:
- To explore whether pastoral preparation programs make management learning explicit through course offerings, in a bid to demonstrate that management skills development in pastors can lead to effective church management which translates to ministry effectiveness.
- To present different scholars opinion on effective administration in church leadership.
- To suggest remedies to leadership challenges in Church administration and to reinforce Church leaders with materials relevant to strategic administration in Church Leader.
- This is to incorporate new strategies, structures and systems that give the strategic focus, momentum and operational support needed to thrive in an ever-changing world; while at the same time maintaining the very sacred nature that causes them to be uniquely different from all other organizations
- To encourage strategic development of leaders in Foursquare Gospel Church, and identify the factors responsible for bad leadership in Foursquare Gospel Church.
- The study also determined the extent that pastoral preparation programs offer management courses to enable pastors to effectively manage the church’s resources which ultimately contributes to ministry effectiveness.
1.4 Research Questions
The following questions were carefully formulated to guide the study:
- Are there factors responsible for ineffective administration in Foursquare Gospel Church?
- Are there factors responsible for bad leadership in Foursquare Gospel Church?
- Does pastoral preparation programs make management learning explicit through course offerings?
- What are the factors responsible for ineffective administration and bad leadership in Foursquare Gospel Church?
1.5 Significance of Study
This research study will he significant in many ways, at the end of’ the study, the following will be established.
- Outcome of the study will relevant to church planters for strategic administrative which will lead to Church growth.
- It will also be used as a reference materials for leaders outside the four walls of the church e.g. Business men and CEOs.
- This research will also serve as a resource base to other scholars and researcher interested in carrying out further research in this field. Subsequently, if applied will go to an extent to provide new explanation to the topic.
- It will also be relevant to Students obtaining courses in management and leadership all over the world.
- It shall also be relevant to the Foursquare of Gospel Church in Ghana in analyzing the strength and weakness of her administrative structure
1.6 Delimitation of the Study
The scope of this study shall be confined to Foursquare Gospel Church, Nigeria in which careful study will be taken into consideration on the Problem and Prospect of Effective Administration in Church Leadership and its implication for church growth and leadership development.
1.7 Research Procedure
With the intention of acquiring more knowledge and understanding on the
challenges of problems and prospects of administration in the church, the following procedures were taken:
- Materials of relevant authors and authorities on this subject matter were reviewed, especially those of Christian literatures, magazines and lecture materials, some literature books such as textbooks, commentaries, concordances. Dictionaries, Handouts were gotten from LIFE Theological Seminary Library, Lagos State, Online Journals and Personal Library.
- The researcher also consulted the internet for information on this subject matter. And of course various document from the Foursquare Gospel Church in Lagos State.
- Lastly, Questionnaire were also administered to Pastors and Church leaders, Staffs in Foursquare Gospel, church workers and other selected members of the organization to gather relevant information for a reliable compilation.
1.7 Limitation of the Study
Despite the end product of this research work, this project faced some constraints such as time, fund, gathering of’ materials and co-operation from question respondents at the collection of data. However, the researcher did this possible best to present a valid report.
1.8 Definition of Terms
The following words shall be given a proper definition as to the way they are to be used in this research project to enhance more understanding for the readers.
Administration:
The function of providing (effectively) spiritual and organizational leadership to the church or area of the church for which persons are responsible.
Administrative Board:
The governing body of a local church comprised of clergy and key lay members, elected by the Charge Conference.
Administrative Council:
The governing body combined with the program body of a church, including the pastors and key lay members of the church, who have been elected by the Charge Conference.
Church:
When spelled with a capital C, refers to the church in general or the denomination. When spelled with a lower case c, refers to a local body of believers in a given location, .e.g. parish, charge or larger parish.
Management:
The function of providing spiritual and organizational leadership to a church or area of a church for which a person is responsible. It involves the total work of clergy and lay leaders, including all functions of enabling the church to establish its mission and facilitate movement to fruition.
Manager:
One who is responsible for offering spiritual and organizational leadership to a specific area of the church, i.e., key leaders.
Organization:
A system around which the church is structured. Tradition: Refers to the accepted experience, roots, history, and culture of people through ages.
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