Default or reset? Missional leadership challenges for church leaders in COVID-19 en route to the new normal

Abstract

Peer-review declarationThe publisher (AOSIS) endorses the South African 'National Scholarly Book Publishers Forum Best Practice for Peer-Review of Scholarly Books'. The book proposal form was evaluated by our Theological and Religious Studies editorial board. The manuscript underwent an evaluation to compare the level of originality with other published works and was subjected to rigorous two-step peer-review before publication by two technical expert reviewers who did not include the author(s) or editor(s) and were independent of the author(s) and editor(s), with the identities of the reviewers not revealed to the author(s). The reviewers were independent of the publisher, editor(s) and author(s). The publisher shared feedback on the similarity report and the reviewers' inputs with the manuscript's author(s) and editor(s) to improve the manuscript. Where the reviewers recommended revisions and improvements, the author(s) and editor(s) responded adequately to such recommendations. The reviewers commented positively on the scholarly merits of the manuscript and recommended that the book be published.v Research justificationThis publication advances theological perspectives on the re-imagination of leadership within a post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) African context. Since the effects of COVID-19 are felt on various levels of society, which includes the believing community, a need was identified to provide guidance to leaders on various levels. However, the need for moral, ethical leadership in Africa could be identified even before the pandemic. In many respects, COVID-19 merely enhanced the inherent leadership crisis in Africa. While there are existing publications on the theological understanding of leadership, this book specifically focuses on addressing leadership in this unique time and space. The book consists of eleven chapters, in which the first five chapters provide bibliological perspectives on leadership (one from the Old Testament and four from the New Testament). Chapters 6 and 7 offer practical theological perspectives, Chapters 8 and 9 missiological perspectives and Chapter 10 an ethical perspective. Chapter 11 consists of a summative reflection and synthesis of the various contributions.Contributions in this book are based on original research, each from the field of expertise of each researcher. While the bibliological perspectives provide detail on the character and foundation of biblical leadership, the practical theological and missiological contributions mostly address the desired outcomes of moral and ethical leadership. An ethical perspective on leadership further argues the ethical and moral underpinnings of virtuous leadership. The main thesis of the book is that leadership in Africa should be selfless, just and fair, based on Jesus' example, flowing from a conversion experience and animated by the indwelling Christ, leading to spiritual maturity and, eventually, hope, transformation and emotional restoration.Methodologically, the work can be described as multidisciplinary, drawin...

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“…A side effect of these changes is a state of uncertainty (Coetsee 2023;Magezi 2023) that negatively influences the ability of church leaders to plan ahead (Magezi 2023). These changes emphasise the burning need to reconceptualise ecclesial leadership (Marais & Niemandt 2023;cf. Denton 2023).…”

“…A particular challenge that was pointed out is theological in nature. People thought anew about how to understand God (Marais & Niemandt 2023) and especially about the origin of evil and its relationship to God's sovereignty (Magezi 2023). According to Marais and Niemandt (2023, p. 145), leaders 'need to rediscover the grammar of trinitarian theology'.…”

“…As pointed out by Marais and Niemandt (2023), other challenges that church leaders face in the wake of the pandemic include the following: within the understanding that the church is an alternative community that is gathered by God into the life of the Trinity, amidst disasters an ecclesial challenge exists in which community is disrupted. The challenge is for a community to become more resilient in mutual and pastoral care, grounded in the communal life of the Trinity, in order to bring the good news of renewal during hard times.…”

“…Amidst the various challenges that Christians face in a so-called VUCA world (see above), which were accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Marais and Niemandt (2023) propose five innovative theological leadership characteristics in order to challenge church leadership:…”

“…God's preferred future is understood to be focused on the local congregation rather than in the denominational office. Marais and Niemandt (2023) argue that communal rituals are crucial for religious resilience in hard times. In these rituals, sturdiness and flexibility should be mixed.…”