Women in the Power Structure of Selected African Indigenous Pentecostal Churches: Practices, Implications and a Brief Theological Appraisal

Abstract

This study examined the presence of women in the power structure of some indigenous Pentecostal churches. Data for the work were collected from primary and secondary sources. The primary source comprised interviews while the secondary data came from articles, magazines, books, and the Internet. After a brief survey, the research dealt critically and extensively with the practice of women in
church power leadership among indigenous Pentecostal churches in selected West African communities. The data gathered were subjected to socio-theological analysis. The analysis revealed four patterns. There were churches founded by men, the leadership of which their wives took-over after the husbands’ death and there were churches founded and controlled by women who founded them. There were churches that limited the power of women in their leadership structure but compensated the women’s husbands for their wives’ contributions by promoting the husbands and, finally, there were churches jointly founded by couples but in
which the wives were more prominent because of the women’s charismata. Where women were “General Overseers”, such women wielded great power. It was concluded that, whenever a person with the required ability is put in a position and others cooperate with him or her, the church would progress and that while the church may make available to both genders equal opportunity in its power
structure, appropriating that opportunity is more complex. For African Indigenous Pentecostal Churches AIPC, spiritual gifts of Christian women are ultimately the game changer in the women’s upward placement in the power structure of their
churches.