Many people have assumed leadership positions in the Church based on the claims that they had a "call". This 'call' has been generally understood to come from God, which made it quite easy for them to be accepted as leaders. But Oswald Sanders said, in his book 'Spiritual Leadership', that, "in many cultures today where Christian leadership carries prestige and privileges, people aspire to leadership for reasons quite unworthy and self-seeking."1 Such people hide their true motive under the guise of 'call'.

It can be proved from scripture that God has been calling people to be leaders, but the way the Church understood and acknowledge the call has given rise to misinterpretation and misunderstanding. Merrill F. Unger, in the New Unger's Bible Dictionary, classified the biblical concept 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 further divided the divine call under three sub-headings: a) In the sense of 'to name' or to designate (Gen: 16:11) and in the sense of 'to be' (Isa. 9:6);b) In the designation of individuals to some special office or work, as the call of Bezalel (Exod. 31 : 2)), of Judges, prophets, apostles etc. and c) A condition of life (1 Cor. 7 1 Cor. 7:20)2

N.R.W, Farrer, in his article in the New Bible Dictionary, further commented on the divine call. He pointed out that when God called an individual to serve in some capacity and for some particular purpose, that call both described and indicated a relationship between God and that individual or group, e.g. as in the case of the nation of Israel.3

With this background idea of the concept 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 selected 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 commentary on Genesis, cites Gen. 12:1-9 as the call of Abraham. He states that the passage recorded how God called Abraham out of a pagan world and made astounding promises to him, promises that later became part of the formal Abrahamic covenant.4 In addition 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 passage reveals that God had a personal encounter with Abraham and told him to leave his country and people and go to a place he would show him. The Hebrew text reveals that Abraham obeyed. But as Harrison further 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 article 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 important 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 person to be discussed in this group is the apostle Paul. In Act 9:1-9, the Bible describes a remarkable encounter that he had with God. F. Foulkes agreed with the biblical writer of Acts that Paul's encounter was an experience 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 further 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 expected 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 addition they were given specific instructions as to what they were supposed to do. It was upon the basis of these experiences that these men accepted 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 chapter David was identified as the son and anointed. In his commentary on the text mentioned above, Eugene H. Merrill said that, "Samuel was commissioned to seek out the one who would succeed 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 people 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 faithful minister 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 prominent leader in the early Church. Merrill F. Unger, in his article in the New Unger's Bible Dictionary, acknowledge that James was indeed a prominent person 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 surface as a leader during 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 essential qualifications of the apostolic office. He continued by saying two men were qualified for the post, but the ultimate decision was referred to God himself by the casting of 'lot' and prayers. Unger further commented that nothing reliable 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 indeed 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 experience that Samuel had whilst serving Eli. He was asleep and he heard a voice calling him by name. He thought 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 article on Samuel in the New Bible Dictionary, commented on this strange experience 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 appropriate 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 appropriate to examine this same concept from the contemporary African Church's perspective. In doing so one must take into consideration that the Church is also an institution. As an institution 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 actually 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 considered 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 approach of the Church with respect to these leadership positions have always been two fold:

a) To select or appoint the person qualified to fill a post;
b) To select or appoint the person highly 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 another 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 structure with an individual leader at the top. This leader may be referred to as Pope, bishop or archbishop. Sometimes distinction 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 association 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 either elected or appointed and they represent 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 simply 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 little authority over who should govern the Church.

In summary a question can be asked, How does the Church understand the concept 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 people aspiring for that position. Depending upon the kind of Church government and constitution, someone will either be appointed or elected into that position. In the end it would be concluded that God has called that person to that particular leadership position. On the contrary, most independent Churches in Africa started when an individual 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 people into leadership. When he called an individual, he always gave clear instructions as to what he wants that particular individual to do. He does not look for qualified men but rather men who will be obedient to his will.