Abstract:
Leadership mentoring and succession programmes are critical in the development and
preparation of emerging leaders for leadership transitions. By virtue of their one-founderleaders
whose special leadership talents are usually celebrated by their followers, Charismatic
church leaders may fail to identify and develop young emerging leaders who may be equally
gifted to prepare them for leadership succession. This quantitative study investigated the
state of leadership mentoring and succession programmes in the Charismatic churches in
Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, South Africa (Bushbuckridge is one of five local municipalities
in the Ehlazeni District Municipality situated in the north-east of the Mpumalanga province in
South Africa. It borders private game ranches and the Kruger National Park). A population of
287 respondents drawn from 48 churches from rural and urban locations was assessed. Many
of them (85%) were reported to have leadership mentoring programmes in their congregations
and 72% of them reported that they had leadership succession programmes in place. Location
was found to have no statistically significant effect on leadership mentoring. Gender and
education levels were reported to have a statistically significant effect in describing leadership
mentoring. Charismatic groupings in Bushbuckridge believe and take the Bible seriously as
authoritative for faith, life and ministry. We therefore think it is appropriate to include in this
article a relevant illustrative text – 2 Timothy 2:1–3.
