Abstract
The explosive expansion of Independent Pentecostal Churches (IPCs) in Nigeria has contributed significantly to the growth and propagation of the gospel in the nation. However, these ministries face crisis of sustainability due to the challenges of leadership succession. Unlike classical Pentecostal denominations that operate with defined, constitutional policies, independent ministries are heavily built on the personal charisma, authority, and control of their founders. The core problem stems from founder-centric leadership models, where the church is treated as a personal legacy or asset rather than a public institution. In this study, effort was made to examine the challenges of leadership succession in Independent Pentecostal churches in Nigeria with a case study of Revival Fire Ministries Inc., Minna, Niger State. The paper also highlighted the hindrances to leadership succession in Independent Pentecostal churches in Nigeria. The method of study adopted for this work is descriptive survey. Findings from the study revealed that one of the major challenges facing Independent Pentecostal churches in Nigeria is lack of structured, codified succession plans as well as the unexpected death or retirement of a founder which often results in bitter disputes, church fragmentation, and even civil litigation. The study concluded that to ensure trans-generational survival, independent Pentecostal churches must transit from founder-centric leadership models to legal-rational or policy-driven structures. It is strongly recommended that Independent Pentecostal Churches should have leadership succession plans by legally separating family wealth from corporate church assets.
Keywords: Leadership, Challenges, Succession, Pentecostal, Independent, Churches.
Vincent Etim Eyoh,
Department of Religious and Cultural Studies University of Uyo, Uyo
Emmanuel Okon Daniel,
Uma Ukpai School of Theology, Uyo
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23150569
Copyright © [2026] The Author(s). Published by the Journal of People and Worldviews (JPW). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are properly credited.