God-image of Servant King as powerful but vulnerable and serving: Towards transforming African church leadership at an intersection of African kingship and biblical kingship to servant leadership

Vhumani Magezi

doi:10.4102/hts.v71i2.2907

Abstract

Christianity is mediated through culture and people’s cultural practices. One such cultural practice is African kingship. African kingship conveys on the ruler sovereignty, power, authority and supremacy over people under one’s jurisdiction. Intricately linked to respect for elders and those in power, African church leaders are at an intersection of the African kingship leadership style and the biblical kingship leadership style. Consciously or unconsciously, church leaders tend to embrace the African kingship approach to leadership and to a lesser extent biblical servant leadership. In such a situation, what God-image of biblical leadership could be discerned for constructive church leadership? In response, the God-image of Servant King as all powerful God, although vulnerable and serving, provides the framework for a transformative approach to church leadership in Africa.

Highlights

Introduction and backgroundLeadership is a nebulous concept, yet fascinating
Parents refer to some children as leaders of other children either for good or bad; youth groups claim to engage in initiatives to develop leaders; churches focus a great deal on efforts to develop their leaders, while organisations expend significant resources on leadership development
Van Dyk and Van Niekerk (2004:1) observe that leadership is a popular topic because of the assumed role it plays in group and organisational effectiveness

Summary

Introduction

Introduction and backgroundLeadership is a nebulous concept, yet fascinating. Implicitly, every institution and social unit attests to the pivotal role of leadership. Or unconsciously, church leaders tend to embrace the African kingship approach to leadership and to a lesser extent biblical servant leadership. The God-image of Servant King as all powerful God, vulnerable and serving, provides the framework for a transformative approach to church leadership in Africa.

Results

Conclusion