BIBLICAL LEADERSHIP STYLES: IMPLICATIONS FOR CHRIST APOSTOLIC CHURCH’S ADMINISTRATION

(A CASE STUDY OF THE SOUTH WESTERN STATES OF NIGERIA)

By

Author

Presented To

Department of Education

ABSTRACT
Leadership is a universal phenomenon and necessity which cuts across all spheres of life. Wherever there is a structure or organisation, there must be leadership. At home, school, work, church, society and nation, leadership is inevitable. The call for improved and responsible leadership therefore becomes of urgent necessity. This was one of the reasons that prompted the researcher to embark on the topic of this dissertation titled ?Biblical Leadership styles: Implications for Christ Apostolic Church‘s Administration in the South Western States of Nigeria?. Basically, the focus was to identify the various leadership styles identifiable in the Bible; identify which biblical leadership styles had been adopted by Christ Apostolic Church; assess whether biblical leadership styles had impact in the administration of Christ Apostolic Church in the South Western States of Nigeria; and examine the implications of biblical leadership styles in the administration of the church in the South Western States of Nigeria. Independent sample t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to test the responses of the sampled 1200 respondents. A self-developed questionnaire and oral interview were administered. These instruments were vetted by experts in statistics, counselling, Psychology and Christian Religious Studies to ascertain their content and face validities. The items of the instruments were further subjected to pilot test. The data was analyzed, using t-test and ANOVA at 0.05 Alpha level of tolerance. Reliability co-efficient obtained from the pilot study was 0.918 and standard alpha level of 0.918. Four hypotheses were formulated in the null form. Hypotheses 1, 2, 4, were retained while hypothesis 3 was rejected. The result of the findings revealed that there was no significant difference in the views of respondents from the six South Western States of xiv Nigeria: Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo regarding the general implications of biblical leadership styles on CAC members. The implications were significant and positive as cumulative mean response of 2.5336 is higher than the decision mean of 2.5000. From the responses of those interviewed and administered questionnaire, it was revealed that the perceptions of male and female respondents agree significantly on the types of leadership styles that can be identified in Bible. Male and Female respondents also agree significantly on their perceptions on the types of leadership styles adopted by C.A.C. in the South Western States of Nigeria, which are: prophetic, coercive and servant-leadership. Also youth and adult respondents disagree significantly on the impact of biblical leadership styles on the administration of CAC in South Western States of Nigeria; while respondents from Lagos, Oyo, Ondo, Ekiti and Ogun States agree significantly on the implications of biblical leadership styles in the church. On the basis of the findings of the study, the following recommendations were made. That Christ Apostolic Church should continue to use prophetic leadership style to bring peace, progress, unity and sanity to the church. Leaders should also exercise caution in the use of coercion in church administration as it has led to withdrawal of members from the church. It is also recommended that servant–leadership style as taught and demonstrated by Jesus Christ should be emulated by Christ Apostolic Church leaders. This could be done through workshops and seminars.