Nigerian Pentacostalism may see more fragmentation

Significance A September court decision allowed Joshua’s widow, Evelyn, finally to succeed him as senior pastor. SCOAN and other mega-churches play key political roles in Nigeria and their pastors are important powerbrokers. Their influence also extends over much of the continent. Impacts Evelyn Joshua will become an influential political figure, even if initially less prominent than her husband. Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo will look to use his Pentecostal roots to boost his chances for the presidency in 2023. Government authorities and politicians may look to interfere more directly with Pentecostal church governance.

The legacy of Sir Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd in Zimbabwean public life history

This article investigates the contribution of white liberal politics of an ex-missionary New Zealander, Sir Reginald Stephen Garfield Todd (from 1953 to 1958), on the development of Southern Rhodesia towards becoming an independent state. It outlines the contribution he made towards the progress of black Zimbabweans in a number of spheres. It arouses interest in contemporary Zimbabwean religious and political discourses. Todd held a hybridity of roles in transitional politics from the blunting settler racism to the sharpening of African capability on multi-racial democracy important for our debate on the decolonisation of southern Africa. He was a rhetorically gifted radical paternalist who adopted reformist policies to advance both the African cause and his prophetic vocation. He suggested technocratic solutions that could reorganise and diversify political and economic options.Contribution: This study uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) on the wider literature on Todd’s biography and African policies in view of his Christian vocation towards changing conditions of socio-economic, political-religious and technological-technocratic solutions to contemporary African independence. He was a man of his times living and working in an increasingly problematic context guided by the Christian principles in which he was reared. He is the ‘father of faith’ in the Church of Christ in Zimbabwe (COCZ), and leaves us pedagogical lessons on human security, gender equality, church governance and human well-being that require review within the contemporary Christian fraternity.

Pastoral leadership in a congregational church setting: The case of the Baptist Convention of South Africa

This study attempted to explore the role of pastors in a congregational church setting by using the Baptist Convention of South Africa (BCSA) as a case study. The focus is on the type of leadership relevant for such a system. A proper understanding of congregational church governance and biblical pastoral leadership is encouraged. It is argued that the BCSA would do well to adopt an attitude that views ‘congregational church governance’ as ‘sacramental democracy’, where church members view church meetings to be just as holy as any other sacrament, for example, a holy communion or baptism. Such an understanding of congregational governance offers an environment that is conducive to effective pastoral leadership. The pastor relates to the church as a biblical leader, who uses his or her authority to empower others, as the pastor is also under the authority of Jesus Christ as a follower.Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The study has significance for Christian Ethics, Practical Theology and New Testament. It is undertaken within (intra-) the Christian leadership discourse, with interest in Applied Ethics that combines Philosophical, Theological and Human Science approaches, especially with reference to (South) African sociopolitical and ecclesiastical contexts. The research builds on the existing Christian leadership discourse.

Selective Reading and Misconstrued Biblical Text: A Case for the Inclusion of Women in Church Governance Structures in Black South African Churches

This article is a sequel to our article on the marginalisation and exclusion of women from the church governance structures in the Black South African churches. While numerous stereotypes were discussed in our previous article, that justified the exclusion of women, the authors in this article argue for a theological and Biblical basis for their inclusion in both the ministry and governance positions in Black South African churches. The authors followed a literature review approach in this article. In the literature reviewed, texts were unearthed which support the inclusion of women and the need for the consciousness with which Scripture must be read, understood and applied, to help the reader identify the value added by the discussion of the role of women in church leadership positions and ministry with an open mind. The approach which the authors adopted was to, having cited the texts that support the argument for the inclusion of women, treat the texts justly, perusing the Bible widely instead of selecting verses that seemingly support a favoured argument. Among the compelling findings, which revolved around equality, was that God created both man and woman to share dominion over the earth. All through their baptism, constitute the body of Christ; the Great Commission which Jesus commanded his disciples was an instruction to men and women equally; men and women in the Bible have served God in different capacities; When the Holy Spirit bestowed the spiritual gifts, this was meant for all those who constitute the body of Christ; and while the Old Testament emphasises priesthood for males only, the New Testament presents the priesthood of all believers.

Tithes, Authority and Hierarchy, 740–840

This chapter identifies three areas in which the infrastructure of church governance changed from 740 to 840. It includes the involvement of the caliphal government in the promotion of bishops, the ratification of patriarchal rights through official diplomas, and patriarchs' use of their ties to the caliph to protect the rights of Christians. It also demonstrates what the greater proximity between the patriarch and the caliph meant for the Jacobite hierarchy, and how the threat of Muslim populations encouraged the Jacobite leadership to act as a service elite for the caliph. The chapter describes the relatively decentralized, rural composition of the Jacobite church, which made it hard for bishops to maintain their prerogatives according to church canons. It mentions that canonists had to condemn the practice of laypeople going to individuals other than bishops for judgement.

The problem of maintaining balance of liberal and conservative principles at the congresses of clergy and Laity of Southern Russia in 1917

The article examines the congresses of clergy and laity that took place after the February Revolution of 1917 in the South of Russia — on the Don, Stavropol and Kuban, which were the part of the movement propagated throughout the country. It marked the broad inclusion of clergy and laity in the reform of the synodal system of relations and the solution of accumulated intra-church problems. The author examines the nature of the expansion of the participation of parish clergy and laity in church administration, the participation of diocesan bishops in these processes, the question of how the participants of the congresses imagined combining these ideas with the traditional hierarchical structure of the Church. The study is based on the protocols of the congresses of the clergy and laity and the discussion of their decisions on the pages of the periodical press of that time. The author comes to the conclusion that the congresses of the South of Russia have shown a desire to unite all members of the church community, without violating the traditional right of diocesan bishops to church governance. The revolt against the episcopal authority has passed the Cossack territories. In the inclusion of lower clergy and laity in the church administration, their participants saw the implementation of the principles of conciliarity. The most important component of the reform was the inclusion of laypeople in the church administration bodies of different levels, which took place at the initiative of the clergy as a whole.

Geheiligt werde dein Name

The way the Churches deal with their services reveals more about themselves than they would like. A look behind the scenes of liturgical reality reveals many unspoken attitudes and tacitly followed habits. The traditional church members have long since voted with their feet. They seek their religious fulfilment elsewhere, while church governance finds itself forced to manage the break with tradition. What exactly has happened here? Reinhard Thöle takes a disenchanting look, across denominational boundaries, at today's worship practice, which seems to have lost the sacred between banal popularisation and institutional self-assertion.

The circumstances of the origin and history of the development of the church schism of the Belarusian diaspora in the first half of the 1980s

The article describes the history of the origin and development of the intra-confessional conflict that engulfed the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (BAOC) in the first half of the 1980s. For the first time, a conclusion is drawn regarding the decisive role of the ideological prerequisites for the emergence of a split, rooted in the difference in approaches to understanding the principles of church governance. If the highest church leadership was characterised by a commitment to the ideas of the key role of hierarchy (clericalism), then representatives of parishes and Belarusian sociopolitical organisations insisted on the obligation to implement the principle of collegiality. The conflict developed as a result of the structural and administrative division of the BAOC, mutual compromise of opponents, a significant reduction in the financial possibilities of parishes and the disintegration of the Belarusian diaspora. Unlike the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in exile, divided and weakened by internal contradictions, the BAOC was unable to expand its activities in Belarus in the late 1980s and 1990s.