The Biblical Concept of Integrity in Pastoral Leadership: An Obligation for Religious Office Holders in Nigeria

Abstract

The necessity of integrity cannot be over emphasized as far as Religious Office Holders and leadership is concerned in Nigeria. But many Nigerian leaders lack integrity and this has affected leadership badly. Many leaders do not assign responsibilities to their associates and subordinates due to fear of failure or distrust. The purpose of this work is to correct the misconceptions and call religious office holders to sit up and be faithful in their offices. The work is done by way of biblical methodology with literary and documentary analysis alongside the review of relevant literatures. In this work, the word Integrity and its derivatives are defined and its applications seen from the biblical point of view. Also, Integrity is portrayed as the most important quality of leadership that Nigerian Religious Office Holders must imbibe to make leadership more effective. Servant Leadership is discussed and applied to the Nigerian Religious Office Holders. The blessings of leading with integrity and the hazard of lack of integrity are also presented. More to this, the wrong motive of seeing leadership as the right to control and dominate is corrected. The work identified two bases of leadership development which are mostly ignored by most Religious Office Holders; these are mentorship and delegation. It is discussed that integrity is not the same as sinless perfection but to be blameless in the sight of God. Six points recommendation are proffered at the conclusion of the work.