Now that is what we were saying. Neither the individual, nor the nation and those who rule her can afford to dichotomise their activities! Everything begins and ends with God. And by that I do not mean the practice of praying at the beginning of an event or meeting or project, shut Him out of things all through and then pray to Him at the end! The leadership style, the lifestyle model that we are canvassing here is one that puts God in the picture “every second of time and every inch of the way.” It is a leadership model that we think is exclusive to the clergy; but it is not! It should be the model for every one in any denomination or group, who name the name of the Lord.
We were saying the last time that there is need to ensure that everything we do is grounded in the spiritual otherwise, it would not endure. We quoted one of the founding fathers of the United States, George Washington as saying as follows: “And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds . . . reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail, in exclusion of religious principle.”
We then counselled that even in the determined effort to identify, develop, groom and mentor leaders, in a nation in desperate need of transformational leaders; a venture being boldly spearheaded by Senator (Dr) Ken Nnamani through his Ken Nnamani Centre for Leadership and Development, the place of the spiritual must be assured.
We argued that the current leadership buzz word in Nigeria, servant leadership does not have its origin in the works of some expert; it has its roots in the leadership style and teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. We wrote about “...the original servant leader; the one who washed his disciples’ feet; the one his followers could wake up from a well deserved rest with a sharp rebuke: ‘carest thou not that we perish’, and who woke up to rebuke the storm and not those who had rudely interrupted his sleep! (see Mark 4:38-39); the leader to whom his followers can say “what kind of question is that; don’t you see the crowd? (see Mark 5:30-32). The one who said, “And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: (Matthew 20:27);” If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all (Mark 9:35); And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all (Mark 10:44).”
We drew attention to the possibility that political correctness may have made an in-road into the conduct of our affairs, such that we compartmentalise events, settings etc as secular or spiritual and wondered whether that was why the speakers, including the chief host made no reference to their faith.
“No sir”, we wrote “every forum is God’s; the separation of the spiritual from the so-called lular is the mother and father of all lies! Man is first spirit before his is body! Nigeria might be a multi-religious State; it’s certainly not a secular one”.
We conclude with these words, lost to Gremlin, the infamous printer’s devil or one of his cousins, “This brings me to the following words of Howard Jeter: ‘…Nigeria’s geography has insulated it from many of the world’s most devastating natural disasters;…(the) combination of factors – size, dynamism, talented and energetic population and abundant natural resources – places Nigeria in a position to emerge as a great economic and political power, not only in Africa but in the world.’
“Now, think about that! He spoke of a “geography” that insulates from disaster and a ‘combination of factors’ that places Nigeria in a position for leadership, as if they were some accidental, fortuitous occurrence. No, they are not. Rather, they are the deliberate will of an omnipotent Creator who has a role for this great nation in His plans for His earth. Will KCNLD please factor these into its programming? A course on Spiritual Leadership Models will be a place to start.”
But since those words were written, I have had the privilege of coming across information, some new, some just being seen in a new light by me, that not only validate the points we sought to make but also confirms one of Ambassador Howard Jeter’s statements at the KNCLD launch that Nigeria need not look too far away for examples.
Incidentally, the KNCLD founder and chairman, Dr Nnamani himself fits the bill. He was a freshman senator who did his constituent, his nation and his faith proud by no displaying courage in the heat of tremendous pressure during the Third Term controversy.
I was also privileged to come across a book by a United Kingdom-based Nigerian Christian publisher, Pamela Chinekwe, titled “Ambassador Christopher Kolade in Britain.” The title tells the story of the content. The sub-title states it as “the dynamic story of how one man made the difference..” You need to get and read this book published Chosen Books in their Distinction Series to get the gist, but permit me to draw attention to Chapter Four of the book, captioned “High Commissioner Versus Man of God?”
The opening paragraph reads: “Something made me curious during the course of studying the life of His Excellency in Britain. It was the certainty and confidence in steps taken or steps about to be taken that things would work alright.”
When she put the question, Dr Christopher Kolade replied in these words: “My starting point is that there is nothing I am involved in that God didn’t lead me into. I took the role as High Commissioner because God indicated to me that he wanted me to take it. He gave me that indication because He already knows me very well and knows where I am coming from and where I am likely to go. He would give me an assignment or permit me to take it because He knows I will do my best to be faithful to Him. In my day to day decision making, my day opens with the conviction that whatever opportunities come to me that day must be used to serve God.”
Continuing, he said: “I must not assume that there are certain times of the day that I work for myself or I am working for somebody else because God is interested in everything I do; He can give me an opportunity to serve Him through anything...”
Now that is what we were saying. Neither the individual, nor the nation and those who rule her can afford to dichotomise their activities! Everything begins and ends with God. And by that I do not mean the practice of praying at the beginning of an event or meeting or project, shut Him out of things all through and then pray to Him at the end! The leadership style, the lifestyle model that we are canvassing here is one that puts God in the picture “every second of time and every inch of the way.” It is a leadership model that we think is exclusive to the clergy; but it is not! It should be the model for every one in any denomination or group, who name the name of the Lord.
Talking about the clergy and leadership brings me to the other information I was privy to during the week. And it has to do with the man Archbishop (Dr) Peter Jasper Akinola, Primate of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). If you are a regular reader of this column, you would have read about him a number of times before. You may recall how I had quoted the words of Pastor Rick Warren, the well known author of the prodigious book, “Purpose Driven Life” who writing for TIME magazine three or so years ago described Akinola as a “Model of Christian Leadership”. And so, I was really reluctant to “get on his case”, as it were again today. But, if you’ve been monitoring what’s going on in Jerusalem at a meeting of about 300 Primates of the worldwide Anglican Communion, known as GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference), you will understand why I succumbed.
Here is a meeting, put together under the leadership of about ten Anglican Primates from across the continents; he being the prime force, to contemplate the future of the second largest Christian denomination in the world against the background of satanic revisionism, compromise and relativism that seem to be getting the better of the Church. But the world knows that it had taken the courageous leadership of one man standing up for the faith; his resilience; his forthrightness to start this unstoppable movement towards changing the face of Anglicanism forever. That is leadership, at its transformative best and it is anchored on the spiritual. That is why it has endured; That is the kind of leadership that should interest KNCLD for it to make the difference in Nigeria and in Africa and become a model for even older centres to study and emulate. (Next: Gafcon & the Future of Christianity)
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