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Many citizen have assumed leadership positions in the Church based on the claims that they had a "call". This 'call' has been commonly understood to come from God, which made it quite easy for them to be proper as leaders. But Oswald Sanders said, in his book 'Spiritual Leadership', that, "in many cultures today where Christian leadership carries credit and privileges, citizen aspire to leadership for reasons quite unworthy and self-seeking."1 Such citizen hide their true motive under the guise of 'call'.
It can be proved from scripture that God has been calling citizen to be leaders, but the way the Church understood and answer the call has given rise to misinterpretation and misunderstanding. Merrill F. Unger, in the New Unger's Bible Dictionary, classified the biblical conception of call under the following three headings: a) To call for help, b) Divine call, C) Call to salvation. With respect to the subject matter of this article, the 'Divine call' should be the area of concern. Unger additional divided the divine call under three sub-headings: a) In the sense of 'to name' or to prescription (Gen: 16:11) and in the sense of 'to be' (Isa. 9:6);b) In the designation of individuals to some extra office or work, as the call of Bezalel (Exod. 31 : 2)), of Judges, prophets, apostles etc. And c) A health of life (1 Cor. 7 1 Cor. 7:20)2
N.R.W, Farrer, in his narrative in the New Bible Dictionary, additional commented on the divine call. He pointed out that when God called an personel to serve in some capacity and for some particular purpose, that call both described and indicated a relationship between God and that personel or group, e.g. As in the case of the nation of Israel.3
With this background idea of the conception of divine call, in both the contemporary Church and the Bible, the call to leadership, is divided into three main sections: a) The call of leaders in Bible times, b) The call of leaders in the contemporary African Church, c) Conclusion.
The Call of Leaders in the Bible Times
The Bible gives account of how most leaders came into leadership positions. Key leaders in the Bible are prime and grouped under four categories for this examination. The grouping is based on differences seen in the way they were called.
A. Group One
The first group comprises Leaders who had direct personal call from God. They include Abraham, Moses and Paul.
Abraham
Alan P. Ross, in his annotation on Genesis, cites Gen. 12:1-9 as the call of Abraham. He states that the duct recorded how God called Abraham out of a pagan world and made amazing promises to him, promises that later became part of the formal Abrahamic covenant.4 In increasing to the text cited by Ross, Harrison and co-author, cites Acts 7:2-3 and Heb. 11:8 as additional passages from which Abraham's call can be understood. The Acts duct reveals that God had a personal encounter with Abraham and told him to leave his country and citizen and go to a place he would show him. The Hebrew text reveals that Abraham obeyed. But as Harrison additional pointed out, the call of Abraham was renewed in the Gen. 12 account.5 It was quite clear that obedience on the side of Abraham up to that point was partial. Ross pointed out two imperatives in the Gen. 12:1-3 account. The first was that Abraham was asked to leave his country and go to the land of Canaan, and the second was that he would be a blessing to others.6
Biblical records show how Abraham had been a leader particularly with respect to his faith and how the Jewish nations and later other nation of the world were blessed by imitating that same faith of Abraham.
Moses
K.A. Kitchen, in his narrative on Moses, introduced him as, "the great leader and law-giver through whom God brought the Hebrews out of Egypt, constituted them a nation for his service, and brought them within reach of the land promised to their forefathers.7 One can never dispute the fact that Moses had been a great leader. An leading phrase of the quote above, 'whom God used', focuses on the relationship between Moses and God. The starting point of this working relationship was that it was God who called Moses whilst he was tending his father-in-Law's flock at mount Horeb.8 Howard F. Vos, in describing this divine encounter of Moses said the angel of the lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire in a bush which would naturally have burned in a moment, but remained unconsumed. He continued by pointing to a two-fold revelation made to Moses. The first was the eternal self-existence of God, and the second was God's mission to deliver his people.9 All that Moses did in his life as a leader had a direct bearing on this encounter.
Paul
The third and final man to be discussed in this group is the apostle Paul. In Act 9:1-9, the Bible describes a excellent encounter that he had with God. F. Foulkes agreed with the biblical writer of Acts that Paul's encounter was an taste of a healthy mind and can be adequately interpreted only as a miraculous act, which transforms Christ's enemy into his apostle.10 It must be noted that commentators, like Stanley D. Toussaint, discussed the text above under Paul's conversion. But Toussaint went additional than just discussing conversion experience. He also mentioned Paul's acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ and the instructions the Lord gave him as to what he startling him to do.11 It was clear, from the point of Paul's miraculous encounter onwards, that his role and mission as a leader was directly related to this experience.
Summary
The three leaders mentioned in the section above - Abraham, Moses and Paul, had personal divine encounter with God. In increasing they were given specific instructions as to what they were supposed to do. It was upon the basis of these experiences that these men proper God's call. Finally, it must be noted that God has a specific mission in mind for each of these men when he called them.
B. Group Two
The second group comprises leaders God called through human mediators. In this group David and Joshua would be discussed.
David
In 1 Sam. 16:1-3, God instructed the prophet Samuel to go and anoint one of Jesse's sons as king because he had rejected Saul. Later in that same lesson David was identified as the son and anointed. In his annotation on the text mentioned above, Eugene H. Merrill said that, "Samuel was commissioned to seek out the one who would corollary Saul on the throne of Israel. This one had already been identified as a man after God's own heart". David had been chosen from eternity past to be ruler of Israel.12 One could rightly say that David did not have a direct encounter with God but his call to fulfill a particular function in life came from God through Samuel.
Joshua
Four other citizen carried this name in scripture. The Joshua to be discussed was the one called Hoshea in Num. 13:16. He was the assistant and successor of Moses. From Deut. 31:14,23, God revealed to Moses that he would soon die and that he should appear with Joshua before him in the tabernacle. It was in the presence of God that Moses gave his just priest his commission. Joshua was told that he would lead Israel to the promise land, which he later did.13
God's call to Joshua was mediated through Moses, and it also carried with it instructions for Joshua to take up a new position within Israel and a charge with the responsibility to take Israel to the promise land.
C. Group Three
The third group comprises leaders who were called to leadership in response to a need. In this group James and Mathias would be discussed.
James
According to Gal. 1:9, James, the Lord's brother was an apostle. When or how he got his apostleship was not recorded in scripture. However, he featured as a leading leader in the early Church. Merrill F. Unger, in his narrative in the New Unger's Bible Dictionary, answer that James was nothing else but a leading man in the Jerusalem Church (Gal. 2:2), was president of the council (Acts 15:13) and with the elders received Paul upon his return from his third missionary journey (Acts 21:8).14 Two things can be said about James: first, that his leadership role was recognized by the other elders and those he led; second, that he outside as a leader while a time of need or crisis.
Mathias
In Acts 1:15-26, Mathias was chosen as an apostle to replace Judas. As it is rightly pointed out Peter laid down the necessary qualifications of the apostolic office. He continued by saying two men were excellent for the post, but the extreme decision was referred to God himself by the casting of 'lot' and prayers. Unger additional commented that nothing trustworthy was recorded of his (Mathias) life, nor was he mentioned again in the New Testament.15 No one can deny that Mathias held a leadership position, but again no one can truly account for what he did, nor point to his following.
D. Group Four
The fourth group of leaders God called through visions or dreams. Joseph, son of Jacob, and Samuel would be discussed in this group.
Joseph
R.K. Harrison rightly stated that Joseph was appointed ruler over Pharaoh's house and over all the land and in actual fact was next to Pharaoh.16
According to Gen. 37:3-11, Joseph had two separate dreams, which his brothers and parents understood to mean that he would rule over them. It happened that nothing else but he became ruler. It should be observed that Joseph's brothers and parents understood the interpretation of the dream and noted that God had that personal unique encounter with Joseph. So Joseph maintained a good spiritual relationship with God throughout his lifetime.
Samuel
In I Sam. 3:1-9, the Bible recorded a strange taste that Samuel had whilst serving Eli. He was asleep and he heard a voice calling him by name. He conception it was Eli. Later, after Samuel had gone to Eli twice, Eli realized that God was the one calling Samuel, so he instructed Samuel as to how he should respond. Merrill F. Unger, in his narrative on Samuel in the New Bible Dictionary, commented on this strange taste that Samuel had. He said, that at the time when Samuel served the lord before Eli, both as a boy and as a young man, word from the lord was rare and visions were infrequent.17 It seemed that the medium God used to speak to Samuel was very proper and necessary for that time.
The call of Leaders in the contemporary African Church
Having looked at 'call' from the biblical perspective, it would now be proper to contemplate this same conception from the contemporary African Church's perspective. In doing so one must take into observation that the Church is also an institution. As an convention there are laid down procedures for recognizing and accepting leaders. With the exception of some of the independent Churches, all Churches seemed to have been structured like western Churches because they were nothing else but established by western missionaries. Therefore, in recognizing leaders three major things had to be given consideration. These are:
The kind of leadership position
The kind of Church government that exists
The constitution and bye-law of that Church. The three factors listed above
would now be examined individually.
A. The Leaders
Since the Church is also an institution, leaders are thought about in terms of offices or positions. Wilbur O' Donovan, in his book, Biblical Christianity in African Perspective, observed that there are two types of leadership positions in the Church, with qualification given for each position. These are the positions of elders and deacons. But he also said that some Christians feel that there are four positions of leadership mentioned in the New Testament. The additional two are that of bishops (overseers) and pastors.18 In the contemporary African Church the list of leadership positions would be much longer, e.g.,. Sunday school superintendent, women's leader, men's leader etc. The arrival of the Church with respect to these leadership positions have always been two fold:
a) To make your mind up or appoint the man excellent to fill a post;
b) To make your mind up or appoint the man extremely favored to fill post.
At the point of deliberation to fill a particular post, an aspiring candidate may indicate that he or she had been called by God to fill that post.
B. The Church Government
The Church government is other thing that needs to be taken into account in recognizing leaders in the African Church. Again Wilbur O' Donovan, cited three main types of Church governments. These are:
a) The Episcopal - This type of government is hierarchical in buildings with an personel leader at the top. This leader may be referred to as Pope, bishop or archbishop. Sometimes incompatibility is made between clergy and laity. Roman Catholic, Anglican and Methodist Churches have this system;
b) The Congregational government - this form of Church government as O' Donovan stated, has a strong relationship with the political idea of democracy. In this type of government, Church administrative business is carried out in congregational meeting in which everyone has an equal vote. The Baptist and most independent Churches have this system.
c) The Presbyterian government - This form of Church government relies on the
leadership of a group of elders in each local Church.
These elders are whether elected or appointed and they describe the interest of the rest of the congregation in Church business meeting.19
No one can assume leadership position in the contemporary African Church by naturally declaring that God has called him. Every aspiring candidate for leadership positions has to go through the filter of the Church government.
C. Constitution and Bye-Laws
These are Church drawn documents necessary for both administrative and legal purposes. These documents have been a major tool to enthrone or dispose of leaders. Church constitutions and bye-laws have been used in such a way that the Bible is left with exiguous authority over who should govern the Church.
In overview a quiz, can be asked, How does the Church understand the conception of Call, with respect to her leaders? It seems to be understood this way: there must be a vacant position in the Church and there must be citizen aspiring for that position. Depending upon the kind of Church government and constitution, man will whether be appointed or elected into that position. In the end it would be finished that God has called that man to that particular leadership position. On the contrary, most independent Churches in Africa started when an personel said he had a personal call from God to start the Church. Most times they start, as a small ministry, which ends up, being a comparatively big Church.
Conclusion
It has been seen that in Bible times God used divers ways, such as personal miraculous encounter, vision, dreams and human mediators to call citizen into leadership. When he called an individual, he always gave clear instructions as to what he wants that particular personel to do. He does not look for excellent men but rather men who will be obedient to his will.
God still calls citizen to leadership today. But the administrative buildings of the Church and polices make it very difficult to rule those who have been called. In fact documents like the constitution and bye-laws make it difficult for the Church to give considerations to individual's personal call. The documents seem to have a higher authority than the Bible in choosing Church leaders. This may be one of the main reasons why the Church still suffers from lack of God called leaders today.
End Notes
1 Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership (Chicago: Moody Press, 1994), P 14.
2 Merrill F. Unger, Abraham: The New Unger's Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988), P 119.
3 M.R.W. Ferrer, Abraham: New Bible Dictionary, second 00. (Leicester: Inter-varsity Press, 1982), p 199.
4 Alan P. Ross, Genesis: The Bible Knowledge annotation (Colorado: Chariot Victor Publisher's 1984), P 46.
5 R.K. Harrison, Abraham: The New Unger's Bible Dictionary (Michigan: Moody Press, 1988), P 12.
6 Alan P. Ross, Genesis: The Bible Knowledge annotation (Colorado: Chariot Victor Publisher's 1988), P 47.
7 K.A. Kitchen, Moses: The New Bible Dictionary. Second, ed. (Leicester: Inter-varsity Press, 1982), P 794.
8 John D. Hannah, Exodus: The Bible Knowledge annotation (Colorado: Chariot Victor Publisher's 1984), P 111.
9 Howard F. Vos, Moses: The Bible Knowledge annotation (Colorado: Chariot Victor Publisher's 1984), p 887
10 F. Foulkes, Paul: The New Bible Dictionary (Leicester: Inter-varsity Press, 1982), P 890.
11 Stanley D,Toussaint, Acts: The Bible Knowledge annotation (Colorado: Chariot Victor Publisher's 1984), Pp 375/7.
12 Eugene H. Merrill, I Samuel: The Bible Knowledge annotation (Colorado: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1984), p 447.
13 Merrill F. Unger, Joshua: The New Unger's Bible Dictionary (Leicester: Inter-varsity Press, 1982), P 714.
14 Merrill F. Unger, James: The New Unger' Bible Dictionary (Leicester: Inter-varsity Press, 1982, p.
15 Merrill F. Unger, Matthias: The New Unger's Bible Dictionary (Leicester: Inter-varsity Press, 1982), P 827.
16 R.K. Harrison, Joseph: The New Unger's Bible Dictionary (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1982), p 711.
17 Merrill F. Unger, Samuel: The New Unger's Bible Dictionary (Leicester: Inter.Varsity Press, 1982), P 1121.
18 Wilbur O' Donovan, Biblical Christianity in African Perspective (Carlisle: Paternoster Press, 1996), P 17o/1.
19 Ibid. P 168/70.
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