Narration of Change of Senior Leadership in Hibret Amba Kale

Hiwot Church, Addis Ababa

Strategic Planning and Organizational Change

Course # LM604

Prepared by: Yared Ashagre

Submitted to : Lidetu Alemu (PhD)

Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST)

April 19, 2022

Contents
Abbreviations...................................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Mission and Vision of the Church...................................................................................................4
Change History in the Leadership Style of the Church...................................................................5
Against the Bylaw............................................................................................................................5
Conflicts and Flickering Ministry....................................................................................................6
Major Group-Conflict Calling for Leadership Change...................................................................7
A Path of Reform.............................................................................................................................8
SWOT Analysis of the Church........................................................................................................8
The Process of Change..................................................................................................................10
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................11
Bibliography..................................................................................................................................12

Abbreviations

Hibret Amba - HA
2
Kale Hiwot Church - KHC

Hibret Amba Kale Hiwot Church- HAKHC

Introduction

Hibret Amba is one of the oldest Kale Hiwot churches in Addis Ababa, and even in Ethiopia. It

has been established 50 years ago around Arat Kilo.

3
 The church began as a fellowship of believers that was overseen by SIM missionaries. As

the number of attendants increased and the ministry began to flourish, the then leaders of the

fellowship began discussing how the informal ministry structure could be changed to a formal

church organizational structure. That was supported by the SIM ministries and finally, Hibret

Amba was born.

Currently, the church has around 2000 members. The leadership of the church contains

11 elders including the senior pastor as a representative of the spiritual branch and the

administration and finance officer.

Mission and Vision of the Church

The mission of HA, as a member of the KH denomination, is “ to mobilize members and other

resources for evangelism, discipleship and church planting in Addis Ababa and its

surroundings.”1 Its vision statement is read as follows: “ to see the lives of people transformed

holistically through the ministries of HAKHC in Addis Ababa and its surroundings.”2

Change History in the Leadership Style of the Church

The leadership structure of the church passed through many changes before the current elder-led

congregational leadership style emerged. For a congregation like HA, the current leadership style

is a highly recommended structure.

There was however a subtle notorious movement in the church that succeeded in

changing the congregational leadership structure to a one-man-led structure practiced widely in

many churches worldwide.

1
Hibret Amba Kale Hiwot, “Hibret Amba Internal Bylaw” (Addis Ababa, 2000).
2
Kale Hiwot.

4
 This paper narrates the history of change that a team of elders initiated and accomplished

to restore the leadership style from a one-man-led structure to the elder-led form officially

endorsed by KH denominations and recommended for any large congregation. The change

narration is a story of two years process.

Against the Bylaw

Twenty years ago now, the senior pastor of HA left for another position by the assignment of the

KH head office and the church was met with a critical time of shaking. There was no leadership

succession plan in place and no one was prepared to replace him. Some blame the senior pastor

for the gap because he made a sudden decision to leave; others point to the guideline of the

church for its lack of succession plan in times of such leadership gaps. Whatever the case may

be, the church faced one of the critical times of test in its history.3

The gap was an opportune time for some to take over. There was a great competition

among prominent ministers to hold that senior position, some out of responsibility to lead the

church to a safe transition, keeping the bylaw in its place, while others wanted to maximize the

moment to usurp power and lead the church to the way they wanted, even against the bylaw.

One of the competing groups won the game and the church began to follow the path of

one-man-leadership style with the eldership at the mercy of the senior pastor. Many senior

ministers who served in HA for a long period left the church either by their decision or due to

disagreement with the senior leader. The senior pastor got the power even to choose who joins

the eldership. Hence the eldership became the strong tool of the pastor to maneuver the church

and all its ministries. The church began to take the color of the senior leader.4

3
Gizatu Chenko, Interview with Previous Pastor, June 2018.
4
Yohannes Ejigu, Interview with Previous Elders (3), October 2019.

5
 This state continued for almost 15 years and the church run its ministry under a one-man

leadership style against the bylaw of KHC.

Conflicts and Flickering Ministry

The new leadership paradigm was established informally within the church. Full-time ministers

began to be hired and fired based on the individual interests of the leader, without elders

initiative.

However, it was not long after this paradigm change that conflicts began to erupt among

senior ministers. As we mentioned above, some were forced to leave while others could not

continue with the new style, and hence resigned.5 Still others persisted to confront the leader.

The KHC bylaw clearly states that Hibret Amba, as a member of the greater KH

denomination, is a congregational church led by elders. The highest authority in the Church,

presumably under the authority of Christ Jesus, the Head of the Church, is the eldership which

consists of 9 elected members. The eldership will lead the church for one term, which is 3 years,

and will have the chance to be reelected for another term if the congregation agrees. The pastors

and all other ministers in the church are to report to the board of elders.6

It was unfortunate that the one-man leadership installed recently did not have the chance

to change the bylaw of the church since it needs confirmation from the KH head office. That was

a barrier to the new paradigm.

In the meantime, many members left the church, and its ministry continued to dwindle.

Mission and discipleship were affected significantly.

5
Tsegaye Woldemariam, Interview with Previous Minister, 2019.
6
Ejigu, Interview with Previous Elders (3).

6
 This was the time for different groups to form opposing the new leadership paradigm.

These groups were in support of the official leadership style and wanted to restore the bylaw.7

Major Group-Conflict Calling for Leadership Change

One of the groups that were formed was led by another full-timer who wanted to overthrow the

dominance and replace that with his team. That led to a serious major conflict between two

major groups led by senior leaders in the church, in due course further damaging the church.

That called for a discussion among concerned members who were in the church for long.

This discussion group grew to be a challenging team that was free from personality bias but

called for a change in the leadership style as per the bylaw of the KH denominations everywhere.

The neutrality of the team gave it a great acceptance among members. That eventually

led to the formation of a new eldership which was elected by the direct involvement of the

congregation, in contrast to the hand-picked elders that used to be appointed by strong hands at

the back.8

The new eldership immediately suspended the top leading full-timers that became causes

of division for the congregation and led the church to a downward spiral of ministry. In place of

the new leadership paradigm, it installed a team leadership style for the full-time ministry under

the supervision of the eldership.9

7
Ejigu.
8
Eyob Woldetsadik, Interview with Previous Pastor, December 2020.
9
Mesfin Taye, Interview with Previous Elders (1), September 2019.

7
 A Path of Reform

The decision by the new eldership calmed down the church. The tension in the pulpits created by

antagonistic preachings stopped abruptly. The church was redirected to a path of reform.

The act neutralized the effects of groupism and set the path of the leadership on the right

track. Even though no new senior pastor was assigned yet, the impact of one-man leadership and

the conflict created due to an opposing view was paused for a time.

Elections were made in 2018 and a new brand of elders came to the board. This eldership

team further strengthened the change began by its predecessors.

SWOT Analysis of the Church

The first thing the board did was to take a time of prayer and fasting and analyze the state of the

church with its mission and vision statement as a standard of measurement. A team of three

people was given the responsibility to make a SWOT analysis and to identify the major

challenges the church was facing and make recommendations based on its discovery.

After two months of investigation, the team leader presented a paper based on a book by

Thom Rainer which they used for their investigation.10 The title of the paper was “Signs of a

dying church and a way to restore it.”11

The paper discovered the strengths of the church. One of them was that it was a missional

church trying to keep close to its mission even under duress and test. The other was the way it

handled its struggles without frustration to its members.

10
Thom S. Rainer, Autopsy of a Deceased Church: 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive (Nashville, Tennessee: B&H
Publishing Group, 2014).
11
Yared Ashagre, “Team Report,” Case Analysis, Signs of a Dying Church (Debrezeit Special Meeting, December
2019).

8
 One weakness was that the advisory committee of the board, a group of elderly people

comprising of long-term members, was not performing its duty of challenging the conflicting

parties to refrain from sectarian movement. That the committee was not actively on duty to

restrain the rule of one-man leadership was another weakness mentioned. The other weakness

was that there was no leadership development strategy in place in the church bylaw.

Among the opportunities of the church, its location at the heart of Addis Ababa was

mentioned. That was a unique chance to bring a city-wide impact. The other was that it has a

land given from the government free from lease, which if used for building a school that serves

the community may add value to the mission of the church.

Among the threats mentioned was the groupism and conflicts underway that had the

potential to divide the church.

The major problem for the weakness of the church as identified by the team was a lack of

leadership with a caliber to unite, teach and feed the flock and lead the church out of the mess it

was in.

Hence the suggestion was to look for a leader with the charisma and timely knowledge to

lead the church faithful to the church’s bylaw under the supervision of the eldership.

The Process of Change

The board endorsed the assessment of the assigned team and formed a pastoral search

committee. The committee began its work in January 2019 by calling continous meetings with a

few concerned members and sharing the analysis of the board. That was a wise step to make the

congregation part of the change process.

9
 The team then came to a step where it had to search for a leader (senior pastor) with a

caliber that will unite the church, someone who will get respect from all sides and show the

maximum effort to reverse the downward spiral of the church.Required qualities were specified.

Names of potential nominees were accepted from full-timers, representatives of members, and

even from those problematic leaders.

Finally, in December 2020, almost a year after its installment, the team presented the

names of suggested potential leaders. The board of elders had to use its selection mechanism

including interviews according to the bylaw. After a thorough discussion and prayer, the board in

January 2021 appointed a senior pastor to be the spiritual leader of the church under the rules and

regulations of the Ethiopian Kale Hiwot Churches’ Manual. 12 Most of the congregation agreed

on the decision and it was a great relief for the church.

The new pastor presented his proposal for bringing the required change in the church.

The board fully endorsed his proposal and he began his job as a pastor and is working hard to

reverse the situation. There are visible changes effected by his ministry. Groups are almost

totally eliminated. The church mission is revived and discipleship groups are being established.

Recommendations

As a leadership student, I recommend that the church draft and implement a leadership

succession plan with the development of leaders as its focus.

Besides this, the leadership should make strategic planning that incorporates strategic

thinking and leading a priority, rather than engaging itself with daily routines. The pastor should

work on coaching the young generation towards successful leadership.

12
Admin and Finance, “Hibret Amba Elders Meeting Minute” (Addis Ababa: Hibret Kale Hiwot Church, December
30, 2020).

10
 Bibliography

Berhanu, Leykun. Interview with Church Admin, June 2018.

Chenko, Gizatu. Interview with Previous Pastor, June 2018.
“Church Meeting Minute.” Discussion Minutes on Leadership. Addis Ababa: Hibret Kale Hiwot
Church, October 2019.
“Church Meeting Minute.” Addis Ababa: Hibret Kale Hiwot Church, January 2019.
“Church Meeting Minute.” Debrezeit Special Meeting: Hibret Kale Hiwot Church, December 2019.
Day, David V., Stephen J. Zaccaro, and Stanley M. Halpin, eds. Leader Development for
Transforming Organizations: Growing Leaders for Tomorrow. LEA’s Applied Psychology
Series. Mahwah, N.J. London: Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004.
Ejigu, Yohannes. Interview with Previous Elders (3), October 2019.
Fantaye, Hailu. Interview with Previous Elders (2), December 2019.
Finance, Admin, and. “Hibret Amba Elders Meeting Minute.” Addis Ababa: Hibret Kale Hiwot
Church, December 30, 2021.
Kale Hiwot, Hibret Amba. “Hibret Amba Internal Bylaw.” Addis Ababa, 2000.
Taye, Mesfin. Interview with Previous Elders (1), September 2019.
Tilahun, Dereje. Interview with Previous Pastor (2), January 2020.
Woldemariam, Tsegaye. Interview with Previous Minister, 2019.
Woldetsadik, Eyob. Interview with Previous Pastor, December 2020.
N.d.

11
12