Cathedral

In the last few weeks, and across many social media platforms and offline, one of the issues that have attracted serious discussion is succession in churches, especially Pentecostal denomination.

Many who commented on the issue argued that these churches are now family businesses. This argument owes much to development in Fountain of Life Church, Lagos, where, following the death of founder, Pastor Taiwo Odukoya, its board of trustees announced one of his sons as successor to oversee activities of the church.

The board of trustees did not stop there, one of the daughters of the late founder was also announced to deputise his brother as the associate general overseer.
To many observers, this is becoming a trend in Christendom, especially in the Pentecostal churches, where immediate family members of founder take over mantle of leadership after his or her demise. Family inheritance, father’s company, family business, family empire, father’s mansion were words freely used in describing their thoughts while criticising the action.

And those claiming that churches have become family business usually buttress their points with the examples of Victory Christian Church, founded by Hayford Anayo Iloputaife; Church of God Mission International, founded by Benson Idahosa and Synagogue Church Of All Nation, founded by Temitope Balogun Joshua. The wives of these men of God —- Margaret Idahosa, Nkechi Iloputaife and Evelyn Joshua —- took over the mantle of leadership of from their husbands.

Some even pointed to church leaders who they alleged have positioned their family members, especially their wives and sons, to take over the leadership of the church from them.

They said that many church founders now have their wives as co-senior pastors.
Nevertheless, there are those with alternative perspective. They argued that there are also examples of churches where the founders did not handover to family members while alive or after they have departed the world.

They pointed to what happened when Enoch Adeboye took over from the founder of Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Josiah Olufemi Akindayomi. They also gave the example of Apostle Samson Afolabi, the present General Overseer of Christ Gospel Apostolic Church (CGAC), Lagos.

It was said that Apostle Afolabi joined the CGAC in 1973, years after CGAC was formed. He was ordained a pastor in the church in 1987, but in 2014, Apostle Paul Okedoyin, the founder of CGAC anointed Apostle Afolabi as his successor, about five years before Apostle Okedoyin died in 2019.

Also, it is said that Pastor Obed Uzodinma, the founder of Ibadan-based Glory Tabernacle Ministry, died in April 2019, but eight years before he died in 2011, he handed over to Pastor Gabriel Akinbola to continue leading the church.

Similarly, on the international scene, Reinhard Bonnke, despite having a wife and children, in 2017, handed over to Daniel Kolenda, in Lagos, to continue to manage his ministry, Christ For All Nations (CFAN).

Another example of a church leader who did not handover to his family member is Charles Omofomah, the founder of The Carpenter’s Church. It was said that though Omofomah, who died in 2013, was married with children, the leadership of the ministry fell on his associate pastor, Nkechi Ene, after he died.

Like many others, reacting in a facebook post to the appointment of Jimmy Odukoya as the Lead Pastor of Fountain Church, Mr. Tunde Hundeyin asked: “What happens to all the pastors that have been there since the beginning of the church?
“In fact, the two will be ordained soon. What happens to all the pastors that have been ordained years ago labouring under their parents? It lends credence to the fact that these Pentecostal churches are pure family business.
“They never trust pastors who laboured with them from poverty to multibillion mega church. They know if an outsider takes over, the finances of the church will be exposed.”

Another facebook user, Kandy Obi Umoh, said: “We learned that church is not personal business, it was called House of God but unfortunately it is a direct opposite of it today and we still find scriptures to back it up. People need to ask questions when what they know suddenly changes and it is fine.

“Family business is family business, it is now hereditary, so, the members in the church should understand this and have peace.”

But Father Andrew Gboru said that the concept of family members succeeding founders of churches could vary widely depending on the specific religious tradition and its beliefs.

“In the Catholic Church, the belief is that the church is the mystical body of Christ, with Jesus as its founder. According to Catholic doctrine, no human person has the right to found a church in the same way that Jesus established the Church. Succession within the Catholic Church is typically based on religious hierarchy, such as the selection of popes, bishops, and clergy, and is not based on family lineage.
“This theological perspective emphasises spiritual leadership and divine appointment rather than familial inheritance. In the context of the Catholic Church, certain things are key to leadership and succession.”

Gboru listed them to include Apostolic Succession of the laying n of hands during ordination; Selection of Leaders- leadership positions within the Catholic Church, such as bishops, archbishops, and cardinals, are typically appointed based on qualifications, experience, and spiritual calling, rather than familial relationships.

“Papacy: The Pope, as the Bishop of Rome and the leader of the Catholic Church, is elected by a conclave of cardinals. While there have been instances of related individuals becoming Pope in the distant past, it is not a common occurrence in modern times.”

He added that practices may differ among various Christian denominations, and family succession in religious leadership may be more common in particularly in smaller, independent churches or denominations who are yet to grasp the formation and mission of the church.

“They have reduced it to mere family investments and business ventures,” Gboru stated.

Also speaking, Reverend Bola Nuga noted that family members succeeding church founders are more in the Pentecostal or charismatic churches, because they are young establishment, arguing that with more years, the trend will change.

He, however, argued that the when the laws of the Corporate Affairs Commission and the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) are implemented fully the toga of personal or family business that churches especially Pentecostal carry will give way because the board of trustees would begin to play its role rightly as prescribed by the laws.

“This means the founders or General Overseers would no longer be the alpha and omega in decision making that is the case in many Pentecostal churches when it comes to the activities of the churches.”

He added that a look at the laws about the establishment of churches did not provide room for a single person to run the church but board of trustees.

“And there are rules how succession should be. But because people reason like a business person, not because the church itself is a business, especially when these founders look at how far they have taken the church, the fear of being high jacked by any other person, may be why they may appoint family members as head.
“However, the board of trustees still runs the church, and it is the key thing. The family members just get the headship. If you look at the setting in the orthodox churches, aside it was brought into the country; it was not one person that started the church. The process of succession is a bit different as it is not one person that determines it.”

Nuga, nonetheless, observed that things would begin to take proper shape may be in the next 20 to 30 years, as some of these things will begin to ease out.

“Before now, most founders do not reckon with their board of trustees, they were the alpha and omega until the last five years or thereabout when the Financial Reporting Council made some pronouncement about church leaders and its structure. Before that pronouncement, the law was just on paper, it was not applied. The founder believed that it was a one-man business, and he was the law but that is changing gradually.

“There is need for the board of trustees to take their proper place, because the church cannot be registered without a board of trustees. Churches are registered like charity organisations and cannot be registered by a single person. Now, the consciousness is there, people are beginning to look at the books. So, when the rules are being applied seriously things would function the way it should be,” Nuga stated.

Weighing in on the discussion, a marketing communication executive, Kayode Adebiyi, said: “We need not deceive ourselves, most fathers who are well known for a particular vocation, business or industry, always pray and train their children, especially their sons in the same line they are into so that the son can continue with their legacy.

“Even when they did not voice it out to the child, their body language says it and these sons always take the cue and feel they can’t afford to fail their father.
“I have read and listened to so many opinions about the well-known tradition within the Pentecostal churches in Nigeria about how one of the children of the deceased founder is often the one that inherits and takes over the leadership of the church after the father’s passing.

“This tradition is not synonymous with the Nigerian Pentecostal movement. As we all know, it is the same in the US and around the world. Some people have christened this tradition as sons taking over their father’s business. In other words, they use the word “business” to mean that these churches are mere business enterprise hence it can be inherited just like children of Dangote, Otedola or Bill Gates can inherit their father’s business conglomerate.
“Really, I have no issues with this tradition within the Pentecostal churches. It does nothing to reduce my faith in God, nor stop me from listening to sermons preached by these founders or their children who took over the leadership of these churches. In actual sense, God’s work is a business! Jesus said to His parents; “Why did you seek me? Did you not know I must be about my father’s business? So, God’s work is a business – a business of winning souls and taking people onto the path of righteousness.

“I also understand that people see all these in terms of the monetary reward and financial standing of a few of the founders of these mega churches. Yes, a lot of money passed through these churches, just like a lot of money is also utilized by some of these churches to do a lot of good things. Yes, it can be a little bit lopsided considering the poverty we see around us. While it’s easy to knock these few mega churches, but there are thousands of other churches and Pastors living from hand to mouth, in church buildings without windows spread across this country, yet not wavering in doing the work of God.

“If jet flying and SUV driving pastors is your problem, look for another church where the Pastor rides a motorcycle and can’t complete their church auditorium in 20 years. If we count the so-called rich Pentecostal churches and pastors in Nigeria, they are not up to 20, whereas there are thousands of itinerant poor Pastors and churches in towns and villages around us preaching the word, winning souls, and doing wonders.”

Adebiyi disclosed that his father, as a lecturer, got ordained a Reverend in the Anglican Church, but was not drawing salary from the Anglican Church, because he was a full time lecturer in a tertiary institution.

“Yet, friends knowing that my dad was a Reverend still tease me that my family is “eating” church money. That’s a cross every child of a pastor carries – the belief that there is free money in church for children of pastors. Ask anyone who grew up as a Pastor’s child, they would tell you that is their personal experience too.

“When a child is growing up, especially when that child has a father who is well known and good in his field, there is a tendency for that child to grow up to emulate his/her dad. In fact, the public often expects that child to follow in his father’s footsteps. I watched an interview of late Myles Munroe’s son, where he describes the kind of pressure people put on him to talk, speak, teach, and preach like his late dad.

“And when any of these children refuse to do what their father is doing, the same public will declare them a failure. My dad was an English Lecturer until he retired; I grew up in a home with numerous literature books and literary writings of my father. I naturally started reading novels and literature books from a tender age. My father bought me my first novel, a pacesetter, Evbu My Love, when I was in primary 3.

“Some are not surprised that I write and I have a novel published. They conclude that’s expected because of my father’s literary proficiency. Same way, up till now, some people still expect me to be ordained as a priest in the Anglican Church, just because my dad is a priest. My uncle, who is now late, was a Bishop in the Anglican Church. He had four sons, three of them are ordained priests; his three daughters are all married to ordained priests.”

Also commenting on the issue, Pastor Sam Chiaka, noted that when a pastor’s child refuses to follow his father’s footsteps, “you hear “what a shame, pastor’s son did this, pastor’s daughter did that” among other.

“When a pastor’s child takes after his father and continues the ministry work, you hear, they have turned church to family business. Please, what exactly is these wailers’ problem?”

Chiaka added that the ministry God called Abraham was passed on to Isaac and then to Jacob, which is one family.

“The priesthood was strictly given to the family of Levi, one family. Israel was practically ruled by one family. Moses, Aaron and Miriam controlled everything in Israel until their death, one family.

The priesthood in Israel was a family business (if you like to call it that), it was handed to Aaron and his sons and sons’ sons forever.

God told David that his descendants would continue on the throne of kingship of Judah forever. David ruled Israel through his lifetime, handed over to his son Solomon who also passed it to his son, one family.
Chiaka after corroborating his position with examples in the Old Testament of the bible, he also pointed to examples in the New Testament of the bible that supported family members taking the mantle of leadership of churches.

“John was Jesus’ cousin. You may not realise it, but John and Jesus were the only authentic prophets of that day, one family.
“Among Jesus’ disciples were brothers, James and John, Peter and Andrew. One of the most prominent Apostles of Jesus was his stepbrother, James. So, families can carry on ministry because families can carry on grace.
“Do you remember that one of the requirements to appoint an apostle to take the place of Judas was that he must have been present from the early days of Jesus’ ministry? This is because anyone who will continue a ministry must know the history of the ministry, if possible, by experience.
“And since sons are raised in the same home of the man of God, under same atmosphere, knowing the in and out of his life and history of the ministry like part of their life, is it any wonder sons are often in the best place to carry on the ministry of their father?

“Rather than asking, “is it now a family business?” You should ask “is the grace of the father also on the son?” “Has the son been diligent enough to serve his father and carefully follow his footsteps?” These are the important questions to ask. And if the answer is Yes, then it is right for the son to continue the ministry his father started.

“Now if the answer to these is no, and there’s someone else who has been more a son to the man of God than his biological son, who has been an integral part of the ministry from the early days of that ministry or from his childhood, has served and visibly carries the grace on the man of God more than his biological son, then that person should probably carry on the ministry instead of the biological son, just like Joshua carried on Moses’ ministry.”