DAI

New DAI Study Reveals Top Leadership Needs in Sub-Saharan Africa

DAI Staff — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 21:16:54 +0000

DAI is proud to share the results of a new research project by Dr. Kelly Kumbu, DAI International Strategy Director. Dr. Kumbu’s qualitative study reveals today’s most urgent leadership needs in sub-Saharan Africa, with special attention paid to women in leadership and youth leadership.

Read the complete study here:

Addressing the Urgent and Pressing Leadership Needs in Sub-Saharan Africa for Effective Christian Leadership

En français : Recherche – Besoins urgents et pressants en matière de leadership en Afrique subsaharienne

Abstract

This qualitative study investigates urgent leadership needs in sub-Saharan Africa. Additionally, it examines barriers hindering women in leadership and influence positions, offering practical insights that can pave the way for their access to higher leadership positions. The study also explores the knowledge and skills necessary to bolster youth leadership and the programs required to enhance their leadership capacity. Data were gathered through a focus group of pivotal DAI Africa leadership, a survey of 528 Christian leaders, and semi-structured interviews with 35 male and female Christian leaders serving across twelve countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The findings reveal that (1) integrity, (2) vision, (3) capacity to promote the development of others, and (4) trustworthiness are the top four qualities African Christian leaders view as critical for effective leadership. This indicates the importance of character in African Christian leadership. Also crucial to African Christian leadership are five essentials: (1) integrity, (2) listening to God, (3) conflict resolution, (4) servant leadership, and (5) communication skills. Furthermore, the study indicates that the five strategic areas where African Christian leaders would benefit from targeted capacity-building and training are as follows: (1) spiritual growth and soul care, (2) strategic planning and implementation, (3) communication and interpersonal skills, (4) governance and finance, and (5) leadership succession planning.

This study also uncovered five obstacles hindering women in leadership and influence positions: (1) gender bias, (2) family responsibilities, (3) restrictive policies regarding women in leadership, (4) less-developed female leadership networks, and (5) sex discrimination at work. Further, the study revealed that the means for providing women the opportunity and capacity to lead include (1) empowering women through leadership development and training, (2) building women’s confidence as leaders, (3) fostering mentoring relationships, (4) addressing bias and stereotypes regarding women in leadership, and (5) creating networking platforms.

Conclusions drawn from these findings are as follows: (1) character still matters in African Christian leadership, (2) doing leadership development holistically is the way forward in Africa, (3) empowering women in leadership requires a comprehensive approach, and (4) Christian youth leadership development is best achieved through a cyclical approach. These key insights assist leader developers in sub-Saharan Africa with strategies for developing and equipping African Christian leaders—including women and youth—to advance the missio Dei through Christ-centered leadership.

Dr. Kelly Kumbu previously served as DAI’s Regional Director of Francophone Africa & Haiti for six years before moving to his current role as International Strategy Director. He holds a master of arts degree in global leadership and a doctorate in intercultural studies from Fuller Theological Seminary. Kelly and his wife, Julie, live in Senegal with their teenage children.

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Reflections on Servant Leadership

Dr. Ashok Chacko, DAI Board Chair in South Asia — Thu, 08 Dec 2022 18:49:42 +0000

The term ‘servant leadership’ is very popular now in management books. However, the original concept was described by Jesus at the occasion of the Last Supper while he was sharing the Passover meal with his disciples. Luke records the incident in Chapter 22 of his gospel where Jesus institutes what is known as the ‘Lord’s Supper.’ Here he talks about His impending death and that the bread and wine were symbols to represent His body and blood, which represents the ‘New Covenant’ between God and His people.

On this solemn and historic occasion, we find the disciples arguing about more mundane matters related to deciding who would be the ‘greatest’ among themselves – fortunately falling short of making a declaration! Jesus responds to their discussion by stating that “In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’ But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.”

So, this is the first time in the world that someone links the two words ‘servant’ and ‘leader’ together. Jesus exemplified this title by being a leader who served His disciples and others, by caring for them, teaching them and even confronting them when needed. He demonstrated this practically in the symbolic act of washing their feet during the Passover supper and told His disciples to emulate His example by washing each other’s feet! Rather like throwing cold water on their heated discussion of who the greatest was!

As Jesus said and demonstrated, this attitude is the opposite of what we find in the world. However, in many Christian institutions we find people emulating the world rather than the words of Jesus and ‘lording it over the people’ (whether staff, a congregation etc.).

What does this strange concept of ‘servant leadership’ look like in real life?

Like Jesus, a servant leader would keep his eyes on the vision and outcomes without neglecting the people he has to lead. Jesus, while being focused on fulfilling the Father’s purposes for His life and the goal of going to the Cross, did not neglect His disciples who followed Him. He loved them to the end and even reinstated Peter, who had betrayed Him three times, by having breakfast with him on the seashore (as recorded in John 20). A servant leader would thus care for his staff and colleagues by supporting them, holistically encouraging them to grow in their knowledge and skills, providing emotional support and enabling them to care for their families as well. The needs of the organization or institution would not supersede the needs of the staff or congregation!
Secondly, he would create an environment of grace to enable staff to persevere in spite of their mistakes, developing loyalty and commitment.
Thirdly, he would encourage them to contribute to the institution/organization by actively participating in the development and decision making of the organization, by sharing their thoughts and creative ideas. He would be an excellent listener, listening even to the least of the staff.

A lot of leaders get influenced by the worldly styles of leadership, which tend to be top-down. However, the Lord wants us to make the two great commandments (loving God and loving neighbour) a reality in our leadership. This involves caring for the people whom we lead as we focus on the vision of what God wants us to accomplish.

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Celebrating First Fruits

Dr. Ernest Clark — Fri, 15 Apr 2022 18:09:12 +0000

Days are lengthening; the air is warming. The first signs of life begin to appear: buds on branches, daffodils in the garden, Easter eggs at the supermarket.

The absurdity of bunnies laying eggs (whether chocolate, plastic, or hard-boiled) and the familiar commercialization of another holy day may raise doubts about the timing of Easter. ‘It is unlikely that Jesus was born “in the bleak midwinter”. Did he really rise from the dead in the spring?’ But Jesus’s resurrection does indeed have more to do with the new life of spring than does his birth with the long nights of winter.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus’s supper with the twelve was a Passover meal. Jews from near and far had thronged Jerusalem to appear before the Lord for the first annual festival. They gathered to celebrate God’s salvation, their redemption from slavery in Egypt during Aviv, the first month of their year.

Jesus shares the bread and cups of wine with his apostles. He calls the bread his body and the wine his blood. Breaking body and shedding blood were steps in ‘cutting’ a covenant, as God had with Abraham and Israel, when he promised his people a special relationship of love and faithfulness (see Genesis 15 and Exodus 24.1–11). Now at Passover, Jesus cuts a new covenant with his people. Tonight, they eat bread and drink wine. Tomorrow, the Lamb will be sacrificed. The lifeblood of God’s Firstborn smeared on a beam of wood will rescue God’s people from death.

Passover is thanksgiving for new life, for the beginning of the seasons of a new year. The day after the Passover Sabbath, people bring the first sheaves of the barley harvest. The priest raises these first fruits and waves them before the Lord (Leviticus 23.9–14). They are an offering of thanks for the first evidence of God’s provision and an expression of hope that he will fulfil the rest of his promise.

The women who follow Jesus watch him being laid in the tomb, and then they rest on the Sabbath. The day after, the first of the week, they return to the tomb, only to discover that Jesus has been raised!

God has raised his own Firstborn, Paul will reflect later, as ‘the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep’. Jesus’s resurrection is the beginning of a whole new creation. It is the first evidence of God’s power to give life to his people, an expression of hope that he will raise us too. Our mortal bodies will be sown like seeds in the earth, but, in the resurrection, we too will ‘sprout’ as glorious new bodies fit for eternal spirits (1 Corinthians 15).

Spring’s flowers bloom this week and fade the next. But it is at this time of year, two millennia ago, that God raised his Firstborn as the Firstfruits of the new creation. So we exult this day in the hope of the glory of God, for we too will be raised to live with him and die no more.

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Leading in Times of Crisis

Gbenga Owa, DAI Nigeria Board Member — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 23:19:31 +0000

The COVID-19 pandemic which began in China has since crept into every nation of the world, causing different levels of socio-economic and humanitarian crises. The dawn of 2022 is a stark reminder of the protracted nature of the pandemic; and the need for courageous servant leadership has assumed a new dimension of urgency. As we all know, one of the tests of quality leadership is crisis management. In particular, courage in times of crisis is one of the qualities of true leadership. The same crisis that reveals the strengths and true credentials of a good leader also ultimately exposes the weaknesses and wrong mindsets of self-seeking leaders. In John 10:11-13, Jesus describes the good shepherd as one who cares for the sheep and lays down his life for them, while the hireling is portrayed as a self-absorbed man who flees and abandons the sheep in the midst of danger or crisis.

Moses had the threefold task of rescuing the Israelites from their life of bondage in Egypt, taking them to the promised land (Canaan), and helping them to settle into their God-given inheritance. In the course of fulfilling this challenging mandate, God instructed him to send twelve tribal representatives to spy out the land and to evaluate it (Numbers 13:1). Essentially, the twelve spies were delegates and tribal leaders of a theocratic nation, but they also exemplify two categories of leaders and their different responses to crisis situations. Some leaders are readily overwhelmed by contrary circumstances, resulting in fear, compromise and the derailment of God’s will and purpose; while others see the challenges in their path as opportunities for the manifestation of God’s glory. Caleb and Joshua belong to the second category. They were unique leaders who exhibited great faith, godly character and strong spiritual convictions.

Prompted by the prevailing circumstances, a majority of the spies came up with “an evil report,” advising against attacking the fortified cities or confronting the giants, or even venturing into the promised land. According to their report, the land was a good land, which flowed “with milk and honey” as God had indicated, but they could not bring themselves to embrace God’s promise to give the land to them. Based on what they had seen, they were no longer confident about their ability to dispossess the inhabitants of the land. Essentially, the leaders had a grasshopper mindset, as they saw themselves as grasshoppers in comparison with the giants in the land. On the basis of this report, the people were gripped by fear and discouragement, and were thus immobilized.

However, Caleb and Joshua saw things from a different perspective. Unlike the ten other spies, they had a spiritual focus; they aligned themselves with God and saw things with the eye of faith, and the result was a minority report in which they expressed a dissenting view. They believed that the awesome power of God would back up His promise to them. While calming the people down, Caleb said to them, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30). Two major functions of spiritual and servant leadership are, first, to impart faith in the people we lead, so they can forge ahead in times of crisis, and, second, to come up with the practical wisdom that is needed to navigate through the crisis. In times of crisis, we need the faith of Joshua and Caleb, mixed with the pragmatic wisdom of Nehemiah, under whose leadership the wall of Jerusalem was built.

God is at work in the nations of the world, doing great things and carrying out projects that have eternal significance. He is reaching the unreached, penetrating territories that are bound by the powers of darkness, rescuing the lost and raising up servant leaders. God is calling willing leaders to join the train of Christlike servant leadership. As we plan to deploy the resources of time, energy and money to various things in the course of the year, we should be asking ourselves a critical question: What percentage of those resources will go into improving our leadership skills? Again, as we lead our teams out in furtherance of various Kingdom assignments and objectives during the course of the year, we must learn to walk by faith. We must not be like the ten spies who came up with a negative assessment of the terrain and the task before them, leading to a mental paralysis and a crisis of monumental proportions. We must remember that the realm of God is a realm of limitless possibilities, for indeed all things are possible to those who believe.

The ten spies were guilty of assessing the task at hand vis-a-viz their natural resources and abilities. In so doing, they missed out on the entire purpose of the assignment, thus limiting themselves and the God that was mightily present in their lives. Conversely, Caleb and Joshua refused to assess the task and the challenge at hand based on their natural strength and resources. Rather, they assessed it with reference to God’s boundless riches and power. They saw the task and obstacles before them with the eyes of God, hence they arrived at a conclusion different from that of their brethren. The more we see God as He is, the smaller the challenges and obstacles in our path become. This will ultimately influence how we lead and the results we end up with.

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Homestay Turned Covid Community Kitchen

DAI Staff — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 21:58:12 +0000

A regional shortage of oxygen, hundreds of thousands of deaths, funeral pyres burning in the streets and millions of day laborers left without work and soon without food: the Covid-19 surge in South Asia last summer was among the worst anywhere, at any time, since the pandemic began.

In the midst of this, one couple sacrificially stepped up to serve their community.

Ashim was part of DAI’s first MAOL (Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership) cohort in his region. He and his wife, Awon, run a homestay (bed and breakfast) out of their home, but last spring they both fell gravely ill with Covid-19. Struggling to regain their strength over the weeks they battled the disease, they determined that if an opportunity ever came to help others make it through the virus they would not hold back.

Ashim and Awon’s homestay was already empty of guests during the pandemic, so they decided to transform it into a community kitchen, preparing meals for those too ill to cook. (Many in South Asia subsist on home-cooked meals, so if the family is too sick to prepare food, they often go without.)

They began with a few families, but the demand quickly spread as more in their community learned about their service. Before long, Ashim and Awon were even delivering food to hospital Covid wards. Ashim shares, “The experience we had delivering the cooked meals to the hospitals was like no other. It felt like we were walking in the shadow of death. Everywhere we looked, everyone was so desperate to survive and live their lives.”

Ashim and Awon deliver a meal in the rain to a family sick with Covid.

The day after they began cooking, Ashim’s father passed away from Covid-19. Due to the lockdown, they had had no chance to visit him and could not even attend his funeral.

“We were very much in sorrow, but since we had taken the commitment to serve and help the people in need we did not take any break to grieve. It was not an easy decision but we had to make it nonetheless since the families now depended on us for food.”

Ashim and Awon served their community in this way, without stopping, until the surge abated. They had cooked and delivered over 500 meals in 51 days.

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A Servant’s Prayer

Kelly Kumbu — Sat, 20 Nov 2021 17:00:08 +0000

Dear Lord, rise! Rise and use the suffering that comes my way as chisel and stone to engrave upon my heart your priorities, that they may become my very own. Remove therein any and every desire of success and selfish ambition. Mark on my soul instead the word “service” that I may stoop down before you and my neighbor with towel and basin.

Dear Lover of my soul, rise! Rise and cover me with your everlasting warm embrace after the curtain of applause has been drawn back, and the uproars have faded in the background, leaving me cold with loneliness and yearning for the temporary warmth found beneath the blanket of the approval of men.

Dear Precious Savior, rise! Rise and glow brighter that I may see nothing but you and your saving grace when earth’s fleeting passions glitter so bright I am tempted to drink in the appealing sights they offer.

Dear King of my heart, rise! Rise and help your servant see through your graceful eyes; touch with your gentle hands; speak through your holy mouth; surrender to your perfect plan. Remove that which is a threat and rival to your rule and reign in my heart, that when everything is said and done, I may hear you say: “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

Dear loving Father, rise! Rise and help your child unceasingly abide beneath the shadow of your love where fragile hearts find rest and are secure.

Amen!

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Trauma Healing for Servant Leaders

DAI Staff — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 18:04:26 +0000

DAI has begun to offer trauma healing workshops to local Christian leaders.

The same leaders who have least access to leadership materials are often the ones who have the greatest exposure to trauma: war, natural disasters, violence, abuse and more. This has become especially evident these last two years with the pandemic’s devastating effect in the majority world, political instability and insurgency in Myanmar, Haiti, Ethiopia and more, and tragic natural disasters like Haiti’s earthquake in August.

Because of this, DAI is partnering with SIL International to bring their resources from the Trauma Healing Institute to leaders around the world. The course guides participants through biblical and mental health principles related to trauma and facilitates healing within a supportive Christian community. DAI’s first virtual trauma healing cohort brought together DAI staff from seven countries and now a second cohort is underway.

DAI Haiti is already demonstrating the powerful, transformative impact this course can have. Enel Angervil (DAI Haiti Ministry Center Director) and his team began training trauma facilitators earlier this fall and have already held workshops for over 160 leaders.

One course participant, Madame Casimir Evelyne, shared:

“I am a person who has met with a lot of things. My husband was killed by bandits. I lived through the earthquake of 2010 and saw many people die. In the earthquake this summer, the house I had just built in February was damaged and I saw many dead people in front of me. But after this training, I feel like a different person, for now I am healed. I am a teacher, and I will share what I learned with my students, other teachers and my community.”

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Read the Bible: An Invitation to Bible-Centered Leadership

Kelly Kumbu — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 20:16:30 +0000

I have been an avid reader all my life. And so, books have sown in me, producing convictions and opinions, lifestyle and character. Some have even influenced my worldview. In a sense, I am a product of books as writings have left their unmistakable fingerprints upon the doorknob of my personality.

Aristotle, Plato, Coleridge, Hugo, Dickens, C.S. Lewis, Wole Soyinka, and Chinua Achebe are some great names whose pieces of literature I have savored – each time with an unusual appetite – and which I have found particularly eloquent and thought-provoking. But none has changed me more radically than the Bible.

True, some have spelled out my need for compassion for my neighbor. Yet, none has brought me to the point of loving my enemy the way the Bible has done. Others have taught me to give, but only the Bible has profoundly compelled me to self-emptying. Some have promised hope for me tomorrow. Even so, only the Bible has guaranteed my tomorrow and my eternity. Many have encouraged me to strive for my own identity. As a leader, the Bible, on the other hand, has convinced me that what matters the most is “to desire that in the opinion of the world others may increase, and I decrease.”

Someone has stated that the most powerful stimulus for changing a person’s mind is not a chemical, not an electric shock, not a baseball bat, but instead a word. I believe then that the words which fill up the Bible, although viewed by some scholars as covered with the cobwebs of time, are the only ones that can thoroughly and flawlessly effect change in a person in a positive way.

No doubt the Bible has no equal. Reading a book written by the most erudite of authors is like setting foot in a dark room with flickering candlelight. Conversely, reading the Bible is like slipping in that same room and turning on a spotlight instead.

Throughout the years, I have held to this biblical truth: “The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us do what is right. It is God’s way of making us well prepared at every point fully equipped to do good to everyone” (2 Timothy 3:16 Living Bible Paraphrased). I have also concurred with Martin Luther that “the Bible is alive; it speaks to me. It has feet; it runs after me. It has hands; it lays hold of me.”

Therefore, dear leader, read the Bible. Read it at daytime and you will be refreshed within your soul like when the floodgates of heaven cool a hot parched ground. Read it at nighttime and you will find yourself saying “Eureka!” about all the missing pieces of your puzzle of life. Feed on it now and then and it will quench your cravings till you want no more.

Yes, read the Bible. Let your leadership be informed by it. Seek to personally be shaped by the values it espouses. If you imbibe God’s word, you will be in a position to apply these values in all leadership situations and as a consequence have enduring results and impact others (Clinton 1997, 15)[1]. This is what a Bible-centered leader is and does. This is the type of Christian leader our postmodern world needs because “the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8).

[1] Clinton, J. Robert. 1997. Having Ministry That Lasts by Becoming a Bible Centered Leader. Altadena, CA: Barnabas Publishers.

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Raising Up Young Leaders in Palawan

DAI Staff — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 21:29:13 +0000

Mark James Ferrariz, DAI’s Ministry Center Director in the Philippines, has a heart for raising up Filipino youth to be leaders in their country. At a recent training, 90 students from over twenty rural and mountain churches across the island of Palawan attended. Virtual resources combined with plenty of in-person activities made the workshop engaging and impactful for young people growing up in a social media age.

Mark James shared, “I am amazed hearing their reflection on how this training opened their minds and hearts towards leadership. You can hear it in their declaration, that they will continue to serve and commit their life to God. They really feel that they are called to leadership.”

One participant named Michael traveled many kilometers over bad roads to attend the workshop. When he returned to his home church, the pastor asked him to share with the congregation what he had learned. The people were so stirred by Michael’s energy and conviction that word got back to his father, who never attended church with the family. Compelled by the transformation he saw in his son, he now comes regularly to watch him serve and lead in the church.

Four students share a creative presentation on what they learned from the leadership workshop.

When young people begin early to see themselves as competent, servant-hearted leaders, these lessons have a powerful influence on the men and women they grow up to be. With identities established in Christ and with an understanding and confidence in their gifts and calling, they become agents of change in their communities, churches and nations.

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The Launch of DAI Niger

DAI Staff — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 18:40:52 +0000

In April, DAI launched its 40th ministry center in Niamey, Niger. This has long been a dream of DAI’s Francophone staff because leadership development is one of the critical needs of the country’s Christian minority (Christians number less than 1% of Niger’s Muslim-majority population). Moreover, Niger is strategically positioned to engage Christian leaders in neighboring Mali and Chad.

This launch is the result of many years of prayer and hard work. In 2018, the DAI staff of neighboring Burkina Faso began to work with four MAOL (Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership) students from Niger to train leaders in their home country. They started by holding non-formal workshops in the capital city of Niamey and have since been able to train around 80 Christian leaders.

When a ministry center is established in a country, the Christian community then has a localized center which is focused on the unique needs of its leaders. Like all DAI ministry centers, Niger’s is an independent organization run by its own director and governed by its own board. The goal is to train local facilitators, multiply non-formal workshops and eventually be able to host its own master’s program.

Elisabeth, Hannatou and Marie, three facilitators for DAI’s nonformal training in Niger.

Hannatou (middle) is an MAOL graduate.

We are full of hope and excitement for Niger after this important development! The first step in bringing positive change in any situation is effective, servant-hearted leadership, and we can’t wait to see how God uses DAI Niger to bring about his purposes.

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