Pamela .O. Ijeoma Student Number: 10618236
Supervisors: Dr. Marleen de Witte; Dr Linda van de Kamp
Dr. Vincent de Rooij Amsterdam, August, 2017
M.Sc. Thesis: Cultural and Social Anthropology
University Type the company name]
“Power Must Change Hands”
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―I hereby declare that this thesis meets the rules and regulations for fraud and plagiarism as set out by the Examination Committee of the MSc Cultural and Social Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. This thesis is entirely my own original work and all sources have been properly acknowledged.‖
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents ... 3
Acknowledgements ... 5
Thesis Summary ... 6
Chapter one: Introduction ... 7
1.1 Problem statement ... 7 1.2 Theoretical framework... 8 1.3 Research question ... 14 1.4 Key concepts ... 15 1.5 Methodology ... 16 1.6 Road to investigation ... 18 1.7 Thesis outline ... 19
Chapter Two: Field Work Setting ... 20
2.1 Introduction ... 20
2.2 The MFM church and its history ... 20
2.3 Population of MFM Members, Amsterdam Chapter ... 21
2.4 The Nigerian community in the Netherlands: immigration history and present population, living and working conditions ... 23
Chapter three: Teachings of the MFM, beliefs and practices ... 25
3.1 Introduction ... 25
3.2 MFM Teachings ... 26
3.3 Beliefs of the MFM ... 27
3.4 Confession of a non-member of MFM ... 28
3.5 Practices of the MFM ... 28
3.6 Power must change Hands ... 30
3.7 Conclusion ... 31
Chapter Four: Women in Leadership and their Practices ... 32
4.1 Introduction ... 32
4.2 Pastor Rose‘s Story ... 32
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4.4 Leadership Role of Women at the MFM--Women‘s Perspective ... 35
4.5 Mrs. Juliet‘s story ... 35
4.6 Biblical Conflict ... 36
4.7 Conclusion ... 40
Chapter Five: Biblical and Gender Ideologies of the MFM ... 41
5.1 Introduction ... 41
5.2 Religious values of the MFM ... 41
5.3 Spiritual nurturing ... 43
5.4 Cultural Gender Ideologies ... 44
5.5 Gender Stratification in Nigerian Culture ... 44
5.6 Marital Status and Female Leadership Roles at the MFM ... 45
5.7 How Gender roles differ at the MFM ... 46
5.8 Conclusion ... 47
Chapter Six: Conclusion ... 48
6.1 Final reflection and limitations ... 50
References ... 52
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Acknowledgements
My unreserved and sincere appreciation goes to my supervisor; Dr. Marleen De Witte. I am indeed humbled by her humility. She is more than a supervisor to me. As my academic mentor, she continues to inspire me to be a better writer. She gave me timely corrections, guidance, warnings, and suggestions which greatly enriched this research work. To you Marleen, I say a big thank you. To my second and third thesis readers; Dr. Vincent de Rooij and Dr. Linda van de Kamp, I am truly grateful for all your efforts in making me realize my dreams. I am also grateful to all the lecturers, non lecturers that crossed my path at the UVA. Thanks for affecting my life in one form or the other. And to my family and friends; thanks so much for your support and love.
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Thesis Summary
The roles of women leaders at the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry (MFM) are different compared to that of men in the same church. For example, the highest role a female leader could attain in MFM is that of a prayer group leader, or women and children leader. Contrastively, men occupy visible roles like ministering to the entire congregation irrespective of gender or class category. The fact that women can attain leadership roles at MFM Pentecostal church is an exhibition of the principle of gender equality compared to other churches like the Catholic Church which do not allow women to become priests. Women who have attained religious positions in the Catholic Church would rather be honorably called ―reverend sisters‖ than any other high profile titles. MFM church chooses both men and women to lead, making it possible for both men and women to be leaders. But at the same time, the church is sensitive to roles women should occupy as leaders in the church. Women are not given the opportunity to occupy visible leadership roles thus; men occupy visible roles such as head Pastors of the entire congregation. There are two overlapping principles on the reasons why men occupy superior leadership roles than their women folk at the MFM. Firstly, there is the reference to the bible by members of the MFM as a reason behind such action. Secondly is the reference to ‗African culture‘ as also the reason for placing men atop leadership positions at the MFM. Both are ideologies which presents conflicting forms of power overlap. Women at the MFM are allowed to become leaders but male leadership roles are more visible than women as the result of ideologies. The ideologies set out have only made the actualization of gender leadership equality at the MFM unrealistic.
Keywords: Leadership, Women, MFM (Mountain of Fire Ministries), Normalization, Pentecostalism, Migrant Churches, Gender Inequality.
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Chapter one: Introduction
1.1 Problem statement
Mrs. Juliet is a 50 years old Nigerian woman leader at Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry (MFM) in Amsterdam Zuidoost. The Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry (MFM) located in Amsterdam Zuidoost is a Nigerian Pentecostal church attended mainly by Nigerians and open to people of every nationality. In this church, both men and women are given leadership roles. Mrs. Juliet has been serving God and the church since 2009 and has attained ―low pedigree‖ leadership positions but has never risen to the position of a head Pastor. People she knew when they started ministerial work in the ministry like Mr. Andrew, a 45 year old Nigerian Pastor has risen to the post of head Pastor. According to Mrs. Juliet, she is not the first female leader who to not attain the post of head Pastor. Mrs. Juliet‘s story summarizes those of many other female members of the Mountain of Fire Ministry who never advance to higher leadership positions in the ministry.
Van Klinken (2013:241) in his study of Zimbabwean male headship in Pentecostal churches refers to the above described situation going on at the MFM as ―the Pentecostal gender paradox‖. The term Pentecostal gender paradox was coined by Bernice in Martin (2001). This paradox is commonly used to illustrate the complex relationship of Pentecostalism in Africa and elsewhere in ‗modernity‘. Visible in the MFM is such complexity which is postulated in the Holy Bible in 1 Corinthians 11:12 that; for as woman was made from man, so is man born of a woman and all things are from God. The same Holy Bible preaches in 1 Timothy 2:12 that it is not allowed for a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is made to remain quiet when a man speaketh. Such complexities discussed above are visible at the MFM.
The MFM preaches gender equality and allows women to become leaders but at the same time, men are not equal to women in terms of leadership roles. Given that the MFM is a Nigerian church and patriarchy is a part of the Nigerian culture, it is therefore important to point out here that the issue of gender inequality in the context of Nigeria, which is the country of origin where women from the MFM mostly originate from, contrasts with the social contextual practice in The Netherlands (country of settlement). Historically in Nigeria, gender was not important in terms of referring to dominant category for example men are seen as the dominant category (Makama, G. A. 2013). From research, the Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa/Fulani who form the majority ethnic tribes in Nigeria, claim that age was of greater importance until the colonial period which brought ‗dual contact with the colonial state and with patriarchal religion in the
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form of Islam or Christianity that destabilized cultural norms, allowing men to assume new levels of dominance‘ (Harris 2012:213). Present day Nigeria has continued to embrace patriarchy to the extent that it has become a dominant element within the ideology of gender (in Cole et al 2007:245). In his recent article, Harris (2012:211) makes us understand that in studying gender, masculinity must not be left out; he studied the coping strategies of men in the Middle Belt geopolitical zone of Nigeria (Benue state, Plateau state, Kaduna state, Kogi state, The FCT-Abuja, Niger state and Kaduna state). He discovered that the control over women by men in religious settings such as Pentecostalism is more of a control mechanism used to keep women barricaded from self and group emancipation (Harris 2012:211).
Some African feminist scholars have been quite critical about the transformations in the configuration of gender in Pentecostal circles. South African feminist theologian, Nadar (2009:135) argues that ―Pentecostal interpretations of the Bible promote men as head of the family‖. Social scientist Mate (2002:50), in a study of gender and modernity in Zimbabwean Pentecostalism, discovers that churches‘ interpretation of modernity is that which uses religious ideology as a weapon of control over women.
It can therefore be argued that male dominance is highly embedded in major theological narrative of Pentecostal Christianity, which makes it a powerful notion that enable male leadership dominance. In this thesis, my goal is to explore the roles of MFM women leaders in the church so as to find out what room women have in a highly gender-unequal power structures (and ideologies) to develop and exercise their leadership capacities in the face of patriarchy; In the context of Nigerian culture, in which women are to be submissive to men, what does it mean for a woman to lead? And in what ways can she lead? My intention is to find out what it means to be a woman leader in a church that places male leaders higher than female leaders.
1.2 Theoretical framework
This research work is situated within three intertwined but coordinated theoretical frameworks. It brings together African Pentecostalism, gender, and migration, as shown in the sketch below:
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African Pentecostalism
3. Pentecostal migrant churches 2. Gender in African Pentecostalism
Migration Gender
1. Migration and Gender
Figure 1. Sketch of theoretical framework
i. Migration and Gender
Until the mid-1980s, migration was referred to as a male phenomenon. In contemporary times, women account for almost half of migration cases ranging from dependants, forced migrants in displacement situations, family reunification applicants and so forth. In this study, I look at the women leadership role at the MFM, wherein both men and women can take on leadership roles at the MFM but within those leadership roles, there are differences in equality.
The above accounts for what Ifekwunigwe (2004:399) in her article ‗‗Recasting ‗Black Venus‘ in the new African Diaspora.‘‘ refers to as the complexity of gendered life in the age of globalization and trans-nationalism, wherein the general conceptions of female migration is not same as male migration. There are underlying complexities that are far reaching. For example, just as female migration gives hope of better life to some families in the home country, at the same time, they are ideologies of what type of job a woman should take up in the Diaspora, and what she should not practice. Same is the case of women leaders at the MFM whereby becoming a leader as a woman at the MFM is already a possibility but ideologies of what a woman leader should do is not clear.
Topic:
Female leadership in MFM Amsterdam
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Women members at the MFM are allowed to become leaders, yet gender roles are manifested in the practices of leadership roles amongst male and female leaders at MFM Amsterdam. Transnational activities by migrants have brought about different cultures in the country of settlement. As argued by Bourne (in Faist 2000:217), the relationship that trans-nationalism and cultural adaptation share have unleashed a simple metaphor for understanding it, which is ―trans-nationality‖. This is because in a social space in which transnational activities take place, different cultures emanate from individuals of various backgrounds which are displayed and adapted by people who have common interest in such spaces (Faist 2001:190).
According to Hall (2010:127), transnationalism relates to cultural adaptation in the country of settlement on the bases of activities that are carried out by immigrants in the country of settlement which bring about multicultural ways of life as observed with the case of MFM; the country where the church originates and emanates is Nigeria, a patriarchal country where women do not have the authority to make decisions before men. It is not surprising that women leaders at the MFM are less visible as leaders when compared to their male folk.
In complement of my argument, Levitt and Schiller (2004) argue that in a social field, different people from different backgrounds dwell together and exhibit various cultures. These cultures have negative and positive contributions to the socio-economic structures of the country of settlement which have effect on both immigrants and non-immigrants. Religion is not left out in the exhibition of various cultures in the host country. In fact, the concept of culture as explained by Hofstede (2004:15) comprises of religion, language and other systems of symbols such as music and food. But the mystery remains how immigrants are able to bring with them their culture from their home country, and live side by side the culture of the host country.
Harris (2012:214) in his work confirms that Nigerian men feel uncomfortable to have women atop of them as breadwinners of the family. In Kaja (1992)‘s view, gender is not a natural occurring development although, it seem to be in existence from the time of creation of man. From sociopolitical view, gender is about power structures which place a certain gender above the other (Butler 1999).
The above paragraph, calls for an investigation into the leadership roles of women at the MFM, begging for an answer to the question of how women become leaders at the MFM and how women exercise their authority as women leaders, given that men are culturally classed superior.
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ii. Gender in African Pentecostalism
The significant rise of neo-Pentecostal or charismatic churches in the history of Christianity in Africa has been acknowledged by researchers in recent times (De Witte, 2008; Anderson 2002; Corten and Marshall-Fratani 2001; Gifford 1998; Meyer 2004), and worldwide (Anderson 2004; Coleman 2000; Martin 2002; Robbins 2004). Krondorfer (2009), in his book has proposed to call the new field of religious studies ―critical men‘s studies in religion‖. ―By the use of the term ‗critical‘ he wishes to emphasize that ‗bringing gender consciousness to the analysis and interpretation of men in relation to all aspects of religion is indispensable‖ (Van Klinken 2011:108). For the author, it is important to alert the dominance of men in the sphere of religion otherwise, the world might remain in a long tradition of reiterations of male dominance within the sphere of religion (Krondorfer 2009). In my opinion, to understand the leadership role of women in Nigerian Pentecostal churches, issues of gender imbalance, sexism and cultural biases must be acknowledged.
Gender is culturally dependent. It is influenced by modalities such as religion and ethnicity in multicultural settings producing the co-existence of different sets of norms that influence each other to a greater or lesser degree‘ (Harris 2012:212; Brusco 1995). In African Pentecostalism and in particular Nigeria, there is quite a substantial body of literature on gender in African Pentecostal which focuses generally on women but in recent times, the issues of male masculinity in African Pentecostal is taken into account. The central question in most literature, as postulated by Robbins (2009), is ―whether or not Pentecostalism in the west practice gender equality that is devoid of complexities. The answer to the question is ambiguous, reflecting the complex and ambiguous nature of Pentecostal gender discourse, also known as the ‗Pentecostal Gender Paradox‘. According to Martin in Fenn (2001), Pentecostal gender paradoxes are forms of Christianity in which on the one hand women are elevated above men in the notion of spiritual gifts. For example, leadership roles that women take up enable the church to be up and running. If women are not there to lead and guide teenagers and children in the church during service, there will be no sanity in the church. Also, it is a spiritual gift for women to be able to minister in the choir, it is also a spiritual gift for women to be able to nurture children and teach them the principles of being a member of the MFM etc. On the other hand, Pentecostal gender discourse embraces traditional Christian views of gender which are embedded in patriarchal lines of reasoning. The Pentecostal gender paradox elevates women while morally restraining the traditional autonomy of the male masculine power. Thus, it is important to observe ideas about masculinity in order to study female leadership.
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Keeping in mind that the MFM is a Nigerian church operating in a patriarchal cultural setting informed by the colonial times, it is important to note that male dominance came into existence in Nigeria through Islam and Christianity during the colonial era. Today, it is notable that masculinity represents the culture and tradition of Nigerians. Pentecostal churches and reformist Muslims have emphasized strongly in their preaching about the superiority of male gender (Connell 2005 in Harris 2012:214).
Recent analysis of Gelfer (2004, 2010), incorporates Pentecostal and Catholic masculinity as a critical case study in pinpointing that male headship is a major theme in the sermons of these religions. According to Gelfer (2010), the meaning of male headship varies; he criticizes some nuanced interpretations from sociological scholars who understand the discourse on male headship in Christian men‘s groups in terms of ‗soft patriarchy‘. He posits that scholars should take the issues of male headship with seriousness (Gelfer 2004; 2010).
In contemporary African settings the men irrespective of taking up leadership roles at religious setting, are seen as leaders when in match with females (Lindsay and Miesscher 2003). Asamoah-Gyadu (2004) and Kalu (2008) are not in agreement with the above. They rather praise Christian innovative gender ideology in particular; Pentecostalism in transforming gender relations with women as benefactors of such innovations of uplifting the role of women. Kalu (2008) further postulates that ‗the complementarities in the Spirit between men and women could provide an exit from the shackles of patriarchy. Kalu (2008) calls on feminist theologians to acknowledge and appreciate the contribution of Pentecostalism in the transformation of gender relationships.
Another study by Parsitau in Freeman (2012) on female-led Pentecostal organizations in Kenya concludes that ‗women clergy leaders in Pentecostal churches are using their position as a platform for liberation from the shackles of patriarchy. Scholars such as Soothil (2010:87) are sceptical as to the totality of liberation as per whether other women in the movement are empowered, and whether the democratization of charisma is really a gender neutral phenomenon. In her scepticism, Soothil (2010:87) criticizes Kalu (2008) and Asamoah-Gyadu (2004)‘s articles by stating that; women have not been liberated. In her view, their writing is in conflict with spiritual and social empowerment of women.
The above portrays the continuous lingering tension on gender equality in African Pentecostal circles. For many Pentecostal women, ―the appeal of the Spirit lies not in its directives for masculinity politics but in its sanctions for monogamy, frugality, and abstinence
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from alcohol thus, it is believed that Pentecostalism provides powerful ammunition against machismo” (Gay 1991:260). Therefore, this raises the question of; in what ways have the MFM dealt with machismo in the face of leadership roles at the MFM? What leadership role do men and women play at the MFM? What differences and restrictions do female leaders at the MFM encounter? These questions call for further and more systematic empirical work.
iii. Pentecostal migrant churches
I wish to draw attention to migrant churches in the Netherlands, and how they have attracted anthropologists in recent times. In the history of migrant Pentecostal churches in the Netherlands, Nigerian churches are seen as the majority settling in the Netherlands (Knibbe 2009:136). Migrant Pentecostal churches perform crucial social functions which can be likened to NGOs that solve problems of its members (Trouw 11/02/06 in Knibbe 2009:136). It has in recent times drawn increasing attention in anthropology to the role of African Christianity in shaping the lives of Africans in Diaspora in recent years (e.g. Dijk 1997; Dijk 2001; Dijk 2004).
Literature on trans-nationalism points out to the various ways in which religious networks are salient as ‗social capital‘ for migrants to sustain themselves in host societies and become incorporated‖ (e.g. Schiller, Caglar and Gulbrandsen 2006; Levitt 2003 in Knibbe 2009:136). We now have insight to why Africans cap themselves in migrant churches because of the capabilities of such churches to understand their wants from the context of their origin and also, importantly, from the context of the challenges they face as African migrants in Europe such as how to obtain legal resident status and how to prosper in the host country. To possess social capital, according to Portes (1998:7), a person must relate with others, and it is those ‗others‘ who are the actual source of his or her advantage. Converts in Pentecostal migrant churches believe that their source of advantage in the form of Social Capital comes from devoting themselves as women leaders to religious activities of Pentecostal churches in their country of settlement.
The exceptional involvements of migrant members in Nigerian Pentecostal churches are quite obviously very successful worldwide. More Nigerian migrant churches are visible in foreign countries as seen in some literatures that have begun to emerge on this subject (Adogame 2004, 2009; Anderson, A.2002, 2004; Asamoah-Gyadu 2005; Ukah 2006). When compared with other migrant Pentecostal churches such as the Swedish Pentecostal Ministry, one will discover that Nigerian Pentecostal churches are on the lead in the Netherlands (Coleman 2000). In the Netherlands, there are three Nigerian Pentecostal churches on the lead in acquiring African
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migrant members: The Mountain of Fire and Miracle ministries (MFM), The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) and Christ Embassy. RCCG has the highest number of parishes with a total number of 19 parishes in the Netherlands (Knibbe 2009:142). The biggest of these three Nigerian churches are all headquartered in Amsterdam South-East. Africans dominate the churches because indigenes of Netherlands find it difficult to feel free in the church as it is not contextually appealing to them (Knibbe 2008a, 2008b).
The above relates to ongoing leadership issues going on at the MFM. Women are given leadership roles which are different form men‘s leadership roles. Their roles as women leaders are full of complexities. Scholars have shown that women leaders in Pentecostal churches are given leadership positions that are unequal to that of male leaders. For example, male leaders are head Pastors of the entire church while women leaders head areas like the choir and children group. (Brusco 1986, 1995; Chestnut 1997; Drogus 1997; Mariz and Machado 1997; in Robbins 2004: 132-134). Specifically on the study of the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries in The Netherlands and Ghana, Ajani (2013:188,189) pointed out that women are given opportunities for leadership positions in teaching unit but they do not grow higher than such positions of leadership. There is a lot of confusion among men and women about what the Bible say or does not say about the role of women in the church.
1.3 Research question
In the light of the above reviewed literature and theoretical framework, I have decided to focus this research on the following question:
How do women in the MFM develop and exercise their leadership roles?
To answer the research question, the following sub questions shall also be answered:
Sub questions:
i. How do women become leaders at MFM?
ii. How do women leaders at MFM exercise their authority as leaders in the church? iii. How do the leadership roles of women differ from those of men?
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v. What are the gender ideologies and practices in the MFM?
1.4 Key concepts
How do women in the MFM develop and exercise their leadership roles?
i. Leadership: According to House et al. (1999), the term leadership is the ability of an individual to motivate, influence and enable others to contribute in an organization effectively and successfully. It is in line with my definition and understanding of leadership which I understand to be the ability and authority to lead a group of people or an organization. Yukl (2002) confirms also that leadership is a process whereby one person intentionally influences others in order to guide, structure and facilitate organizational activities and relationships.
ii. Gender ideologies: According to Sidanius et al (2001:316), ideologies can serve as legitimizing instruments ―believed to be effective in regulating group-based inequality because they are often endorsed by dominants and subordinates alike. All other things being equal, the greater the degree to which both dominants and subordinates agree on the veracity of hierarchy-enhancing legitimizing myths, the more it gain grounds of existence‖ (Sidanius et al 2001:316). To relate the term Ideology as understood from the above definition to the Gender Ideology of MFM; Mountain of Fire and Prayer Ministries (MFM), is a Nigerian church which is conversant with the societal obligations of the gender roles of men and women in Nigeria in the sense that; the society is responsible for stratifying the roles of men and women like; this is what a woman should do and this is what a man should be doing. In reality, it is gaining grounds because the both parties (Men and women) consent to it to a greater extent.
iii. Gender practices: According to Martin (2003), Gender practices are the informed practices of gender ideologies. This goes in line with the definition applied in the thesis. Gender practices are the actuality of what men and women practice/do. In the MFM, women in leadership carry out their roles, but there are limitations to how far they can practice their leadership roles.
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1.5 Methodology
The research field work took off on the night of 31st December 2015 at the Mountain of Fire
and Prayer Ministries (MFM) Amsterdam. My first research was at the cross over night, a compulsory program for all members of the MFM who were alive to see the New Year. I was aware that the program was meant to last all night till the early hours of the morning thus I was well prepared to stay all night. I was also aware that members of MFM must dress according to guidelines such as; women must not wear jewelries. On my way to the program in the bus, I realized that I might be on the right track by starting my field work this way because I thought the program would assist me to find a key informant who would make my field work worthwhile. I had access to go into the field to carryout participant observation because I needed no informant in gaining access to the church. The church is a public place, although at MFM, one can easily differentiate a true MFM by the way the person is dressed. It was on that same night I met my key informant for the first time. She was well dressed like a member of the MFM. She wore a gown which covered her entire body. She also had a head scarf tied around her head. She did not wear makeup or jewelry. I normally see her at the Ganzenhoef metro station close to my house in the Bijlmer preaching to people. At the church that night, we were not opportune to speak with each other. I continued to attend weekly programs at the church in order to see if I could take advantage of snowball sampling amongst members of the church and to learn about the church, its teachings, practices and people. On the Sunday 5th of January 2014, I met and
spoke for the first time with my key informant. My first encounter with her at the church was kind of bizarre because she approached me on this day at the church, accusing me of never talking to her whenever I see her on the streets of the Bijlmer preaching. She said there were times she tried to say ‗hello‘ to me but I kept ignoring her. I tendered apologies just to align the way for my planned assignment. It eventually worked for me. For her to accept my request to be my gate keeper, I first had a general chat with her on her Christian views before I went into telling her who I am and what my research topic is all about. We had a general chat. She told me a little about herself; how she came to the Netherlands and what she does in the Netherlands. As we were diving deep into our discussion, I asked her politely if she would assist me in my project. She agreed but made it clear to me that she would not want her name to be mentioned in the research else she may be expelled from the church. I agreed to her terms because I knew it would be very difficult to find another viable member of the MFM to become a key informant. She was useful all through the research. She granted me a live interview which narrated a lot on women leadership in the church. My key informant played an important role in my research. She was important at pointing out people and Pastors she felt were important for my research.
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Basically, she did the pointing out while I was the one to find a way to approach them. I also used the snowball method to find other respondents for this research.
In total, I interviewed fifteen women and eight males. Five of the men are Pastors, while the other three are church members. I decided to involve male opinion during field work, to understand their opinion on leadership role in the MFM. I had in-depth discussion with eleven women. Three of them are female Pastors, all in child bearing age but most of them were in their forties. The one person that was not a Pastor was my gate keeper. She could grant me an interview because she is a staunch church member of the church, she is a preacher. She should be around her early fifties. All four women started by narrating their stories on how they became members of the church; how they were given leadership roles. The other four women I had informal discussion and chat with were just church members.
The male Pastors I interviewed seemed to be between the age of 45 and 50. I had informal discussion with two male church members during the field work period. Structured interview availed me the opportunity to think of the line of question to ask informants so as to enable me achieve clarity for the research question. Other qualitative methods I employed such as participant observation and unstructured interviews, also contributed to answering the research question. As part of participant observation, I participated in Sunday church programs, I participated in Power must Change Hands program, I also participated in church activities like children services, prayer group meetings and some other activities. It was easy for me to maneuver while in the field; because I live in the Bijlmer, and I am also a Nigerian. Although I am a catholic, a mother and a feminist, I also tried to understand the life of the people I researched through cross examining findings from the field in the way of triangulation. As a resident researcher, meeting and approaching informants was not so much of a problem. I will say I am familiar with my research setting.
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Methods employed in collecting data.
Ethnographic criteria for selecting informants for this thesis was made based on: Age: 38 years to 55 years
Place of residence: Bijlmer area of Amsterdam Country of origin of respondents: Nigeria
Number of years lived in the Bijlmer: 2001 to present Legal status: Documented and undocumented immigrants Religion: MFM members
I did not have any language issues because the people I interviewed speak English fluently. My only challenge in the beginning was convincing my informants that their identity was secured, which I tackled by assigning anonymous names to each informant.
I will say I didn‘t have much obstacle on the first days of field work. I was able to blend in through participating in church programs and at the same time, carrying out observation. I applaud my confidence on the ability to develop rapport with my key informant, and a female Pastor whom I had long wanted to meet before. Having this two people in my network in the first weeks gave me more confidence that I was going to be fine as per finding more information for the rest of the fieldwork that will help my research.
1.6 Road to investigation
Reflexivity is acknowledging that one is part of the world they study. Reflexivity and identity in field work matters a lot e.g., being female in a research can affect one‘s relationship in the field. It can be good or bad. For example, researching in a man‘s field and being female can portray one more as an outsider while being a woman and researching women activities can allow one good access (Rainbird 1990 in Hammersley and Atkinson 2007:74). In my case, being a migrant, having lived in the Bijlmer for reasonable number of years, enabled me to gather data easily via the stories I heard from informants during the field work period. The stories enabled and strengthened my knowledge of what I knew about the MFM and women leadership roles. Sunday services, programs, participant observations I took part in at the MFM enabled me to also gather rich data.
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1.7 Thesis outline
My research is an ethnographic fieldwork study upon which I investigated leadership roles of women at MFM. My thesis is divided into several parts, which I will elaborate shortly in this section.
The first chapter of this thesis consists of the introduction of the research, which you have read so far, the theoretical framework and research question/ sub-questions of the research.
Chapter two of the thesis is about field work setting. It builds the readers‘ minds to why the site is appropriate for the research. The chapter gives the reader a first impression of what the setting of the field work site feels or looks like. It also makes the reader to understand why the setting was chosen for this research. The chapter also gave me room as a researcher to reflect on my role in the field as a resident researcher.
Chapters three to five are the core chapters that explore the theoretical underpinnings of this research via empirical findings. Chapter three is about the belief systems, teachings and practices of the MFM. Chapter four of the thesis focuses on women leadership and their practices at the MFM. It also explores how women become leaders at MFM. Chapter five provides readers with a clearer understanding of biblical and gender ideologies of the MFM. It offers insight to a better understanding of the doctrine of the MFM. Women were the only chosen informants, to answer the question of the chapter given that the research is about women leadership roles. In this chapter, I also took a broader step on juxtaposition. Since women have voiced out their views as per the leadership role of women at the MFM, it was important that I listened to firsthand information on the view of Nigerian men in Pentecostal as regards the issue of women leadership role. I therefore interviewed men on different accounts with the aim of acquiring more information on female leadership roles at the MFM and how it is informed by Nigerian culture.
Chapter six continues with the discussion and conclusion of this study. First I will compare my finding from field research with my theoretical framework, and then I will continue with introducing the conclusions of my research. In this final part I will give a grounded answer to my research question and sub-questions. Furthermore I will critically reflect upon the executed research in theoretical and practical sense.
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Chapter Two: Field Work Setting
2.1 Introduction
The field work setting for this thesis was the Bijlmer area of Amsterdam Zuidoost, which has a high population of African immigrant settlers in the Netherlands. Many Pentecostal churches are scattered all over the Bijlmer Zuidoost. Examples of such Pentecostal churches are Pentecostal Christian Bible Church, the Pentecostal Revival Church in the Bijlmer headed by Rev. Pastor Emmanuel Koney. Pentecostal churches are visible in the Bijlmer with constant growth of new converts. The MFM left their old location; Verrijn Stuartweg 79 to Keienbergweg 101, all in the same Zuidoost area of Amsterdam due to expansion. The church needed a bigger accommodation for its ever increasing members. It is notable to mention that other churches like the Catholic Church do not attract members‘ as much as Pentecostal churches in the Bijlmer Zuidoost.
I choose the Bijlmer area of Amsterdam as the setting of the research because the MFM which is the focus of my research is located in Amsterdam Zuidoost and surprisingly, most Pentecostal churches in Amsterdam are resident in the Bijlmer area of Amsterdam Zuidoost thus the Bijlmer had the right population that I needed to investigate during my field work period.
Speaking on why the Bijlmer was a perfect choice for field work research, the multicultural and immigrant nature of the Bijlmer cannot be left out in describing my experience in the field as a resident researcher scientifically gathering data about my neighborhood. Immigrants with the majority from African/African American descends are obviously visible in the Bijlmer. In the Neighborhood of Zuidoost, one would find more of immigrants from African descend than other nationals. 64 percent of the inhabitants of the Bijlmer area of Zuidoost are non-Western immigrants. The majorities are Ghanaians, Nigerians and Surinamese. The final reason I chose the Bijlmer area of Amsterdam Zuidoost is that; my research question is on how women in MFM exercise their leadership roles; therefore, the majority of its members live in the Bijlmer which makes it a good idea to easily find and reach out to informants.
2.2 The MFM church and its history
The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) was first founded in 1989 by Dr. D.K Olukoya, with headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. Dr. D.K Olukoya, a specialist in Molecular Genetics, has been largely instrumental in the rapid expansion of the ministries, within and outside Nigeria. The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM), has various branches in
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different parts of the world. Aside Nigeria, the MFM claims significant presence in other African countries and in addition, the church continues to keenly negotiate space of religious activities in other continents of the globe, such as Europe, North America and Asia. The population of MFM comprises mostly of Nigerians as majority and other nationalities as minorities attending the MFM. Members and new converts of the MFM are drawn by the repeated emphasis on spiritual attack awareness in the church, the ability to evoke super natural powers to fight against the powers of darkness.
Figure 2. Map and picture of the church MFM Amsterdam.
2.3 Population of MFM Members, Amsterdam Chapter
The population/membership in Amsterdam MFM comprises of Nigerian Migrants but also open to other nationalities (Knibbe 2009:142). The estimated number of members in Amsterdam is 130-500 (Ajani 2013:119). Most of its populations are women, although over the last two years, a significant number of men have also joined the church. Women members at the MFM; Nigerian women in particular are disadvantaged because they are considered second class in relation to men due to cultural stratification in Nigeria. Teachings, beliefs and practices of the church have got a global theme. For example, the way women dress at MFM headquarters in Yaba, Lagos; Nigeria is the same way women in Amsterdam branch dress. Their dress is normally a flowing garment in the form of skirt and blouse or a gown. See below typical dress code of MFM female members:
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Figure 3: Typical MFM dress code. Photo by Odani.
Issues affecting the population researched include; illegality which seems to be relevant for Pastors in keeping their members and also converting new ones. For example, members of the MFM believe in miracle and deliverance from spiritual attacks that is hindering them from acquiring legal stay in the Netherlands. An informant once told me that he will never depart from MFM and its teachings because praying aggressively by the use of various violent languages is a sure form of confusing the devil. He confessed that he pity people who attend various churches that do not pray by ―fire and by force‖ because the few years he has lived in the world, he has witnessed things beyond the physical which he knows nothing about, attacking him. According to him, the devil never sleeps; he goes around seeking for people to destroy their God given destiny. In his words, he said; Thank God for Christ and the protection of the Holy Spirit which lights my path‘. In my analysis of my encounter with informants, I noticed that staying dedicated to the teachings and beliefs of the MFM, manipulation of members through beliefs and practices is key.
The population of the church has in one way or the other experienced hardship in various forms for example; a neighbor of mine who lives just next doors to my house told me she started frequenting MFM when she was in search of resident documents. She has been a member of the MFM since 2009. She received her legal stay last year with the believe that her aggressive prayers for the past eight years at the MFM that is responsible for granting her legal stay permit in the Netherlands. Another neighbor of mine joined the MFM because of poverty. My in-laws are also members of the MFM because of childlessness. The issue of spiritual warfare
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continues to attract large followership of members who find the teachings of the MFM relevant to their life struggles and experiences.
2.4 The Nigerian community in the Netherlands: immigration history and present population, living and working conditions
From my investigations, Nigerians living in the Bijlmer are mostly undocumented immigrants. Documented Nigerians legally living in Amsterdam/Netherlands are really acclaimed hardworking and highly educated.
One of the few options for Nigerians and other non-Western citizens to come to Europe regularly is through family re-unification/formation provisions. Documented migrants under some conditions are able to arrange for migration of family members through legal and regular procedures. One of these conditions in the Netherlands is that the applicant who invites his/her marriage partner to the Netherlands must earn more than the 120% of the minimum salary, which in 2017 is 1.551,60 Euros per month. In 2003 the migration motives of newly arrived Nigerian migrants in the Netherlands were as follows: establishing a family (33%), asylum application (25%), labour (17%), family reunion (9%), studies (8%), family member (5%), and other (4%) (Van Heelsum and Hessels, 2006: 79). These figures indicate that almost one out of two registered Nigerians came to the Netherlands claiming family purposes. Lastly, there are several Nigerian young women who are trafficked into the Netherlands and are forced to work as prostitutes. These young women are recruited by family members, friends or acquaintances that sponsor their trip to Netherlands. In return, these women agree to work for them in the Netherlands until they pay back the amount, which varies from €90,000 to €60,000.
According to official statistics, inflow of Nigerians into Amsterdam has been increasing from the 1990s to date. The number of Nigerians legally registered is 1136 people in Amsterdam (O+S, 2014). For many reasons, the official statistics of the Nigerian population cannot depict the real demographic characteristics of Nigerians migrants. The composition of the Nigerian population in Amsterdam is quite diverse in terms of professions, economic backgrounds, educational backgrounds and sex. The Nigerian population in Amsterdam is very diverse in terms of economic background and patterns of migration. For the church; MFM, one cannot say of the socio-economic profile of its members because the church does not allow affluence display. It encourages its members to be humble at all times.
The variety of migrants in Amsterdam includes well-paid professional migrants who have worked for international companies. Nigerian students at Dutch universities, undocumented and
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documented Nigerians who have invested all their life savings and had support others to gain entry in the Netherlands are also part of the populace. Trafficked young girls and women who are from very poor backgrounds in Nigeria are also not left out.
Highly skilled migrants gain entry to the Netherlands via international companies or Dutch companies. This was the case for many Nigerians who worked at the headquarters of Heineken and the Royal Dutch Shell Oil Company. Many of them were already working at the Nigerian branch of Heineken and Shell and were posted to work in the Netherlands. Nigerian Heineken (Nigerian breweries), Shell employees and other highly-skilled migrants were a vivid part of the Nigerian community in the Netherlands, particularly in The Hague. There were also several Nigerian students at Dutch universities as international students. Both highly-skilled professional migrants and students had a privileged status in the Netherlands compared to the other status of residence of non-western migrants, and they could easily avoid most of the bureaucratic procedures that were required for entering the country. In addition, their prospective companies and educational institutions supported them in submitting their applications and obtaining accommodation and in other issues related to their arrival. Although professional migrants had an important role in the community life of Nigerians in Amsterdam, they were numerically fewer than those Nigerians who worked in lower-skilled or unskilled jobs, either regularly or irregularly.
Most of the Nigerians I spoke with came to Amsterdam with valid visas, some of them have overstayed. Some of them had well-paid jobs in Nigeria; others came from families with good and high socio-economic backgrounds. Their expectations of better perspectives in the Netherlands did not come true for all of them, and they had to work in the informal sector as manual workers or in the formal sector using papers (work permits, passports, social-fiscal number, etc.) they rented from look-alike documented migrants.
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Chapter three: Teachings of the MFM, beliefs and practices
3.1 Introduction
In this chapter, my goal is to explain the teachings, believe practices of members of MFM so that readers can better understand and imbibe ideas of what is going on at the MFM by understanding their doctrine and teachings. The mission of the MFM is the devotion to the revival of apostolic signs, Holy Ghost fireworks and the unlimited demonstration of the Power of God; to deliver to the uttermost. MFM and its branches worldwide preach the same theme. Members are trained to wage spiritual warfare with hands and fingers. MFM members believe in the use of prayer as a weapon to kill whosoever that wages their prosperity spiritually. The name Mountain of Fire was given to the church for the following reasons;
Mountain- the word mountain which forms part of the name MFM means a high place which co notates victory in relation with the bible; Moses in Exodus 24:18 prayed and fasted for forty days on the Mountain top and God gave him the 10 commandments. Elijah also prayed for 40 days and nights at the mountain top, and when he came down from the mountain, he was full of power to conquer his enemies(1 Kings 19:8) The mountain part of in the name MFM is believed by members as a high place which is above every power of darkness.
Fire- The fire in the name MFM signifies fire like the event that occurred on the Pentecost day (Acts 2:1-16) whereby fire came upon the apostles of God and they began to speak in tongues. They were filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. Another significance of fire in the name MFM is the contest of Elijah and Baal prophets. Fire was used to find out in 1Kings 18:38-39 whether it is the God of Elijah or Baal that is the true God. Fire of God descended to prove that the God of Elijah is the true God.
Miracles- The word miracle in the name MFM is powerful and unusual. It is believed that only God in his invisible ways can perform miracle. For example, the story of the Israelites crossing the red sea is mysterious. This informs the belief of MFM member in mystical powers. They believe that their life in the time of good occurrences is as a result of the manifestations of miracle by the power of God. Source; (www.mfmfinland.org June 19th 2017).
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3.2 MFM Teachings
MFM members are taught of the miraculous powers of God, the only powers which can match the powers of darkness. For such powers of the highest God to be ignited, there is the need to pray aggressively. During one of the days I attended service at the MFM, I witnessed how teenage members of the MFM were nurtured into religions values of the MFM at an early age. They were taught how to pray, what to pray about and how to dress like MFM members. They were taught about the church‘s doctrines, ideologies, and practices of the MFM. Pastor Bridget, a female Pastor in charge of teenage group at MFM Amsterdam, made it clear during the spiritual nurturing session of teenagers that unbelievers (unbelievers is used to refer to non-members of the MFM) would at every opportunity, choose to criticize the teachings and practices of the MFM based on their own doctrines and system of praying aggressively. With reference to the bible, Pastor Bridget quoted the book of Matthew 6:9-13 on how the son of God 'Jesus' admonished and taught his disciples to pray not like the hypocrites who stands in all corners of the street to be noticed that they are praying, or stand loud in the synagogue lamenting in prayers. To counter the teachings of Matthew 6:9-13, she told the teenagers that the present 21st century does not accommodate praying in a way that encourages ‗sluggishness‘. It is either one is too hot for the devil to handle or one is too cold for the devil to penetrate.
Pastor Bridget further supports her teachings to young MFMs‘ on the reason to pray very loud and aggressively by quoting Ephesians (Chapter 6: 11); ‗… For the battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against demons in high places‘. According to Pastor Bridget, St. Paul was not warning of the physical battle but that which cannot be seen with the ordinary eye. Effectiveness of prayers was taught to teenagers as the weapon to overcome spiritual attacks of the world such as; generational witch craft that follows people around waiting for them to have a breakthrough so that it can put asunder to such breakthrough.
Stressing the importance of prevailing prayer, the teenagers were taught that prevailing prayers brings about revival and miracles, which totally makes sense to me as the church is called ‗Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry‘, allowing for the believe possibility of that which is seemingly difficult to become possible. It is therefore established from the observation and participation in the service session that; authoritative, violent, fervent prayers at the MFM is a necessary belief for combating evil powers and taking charge over whatever ancestral curses from one‘s parent's lineage.
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In an informal discussion with a member of the church concerning the teachings of the MFM, I found out that members are taught that evil exist all around the world, even in the smallest places like in our offices, schools, street thus the need to be well vested in prayers and not just any prayer but that which commands ‗holy anger prayer‘ to break loose from the chains of the evil one; the type of prayer which does not allow the devil to engage one as his practical experiment. According to my informant, gone are the days where one goes to church to dance and sing praise and worship in the present times of spiritual battles. My informant continues to describe how many people dancing in churches are encountering one form of spiritual attack or the other. For these high profiled problems according to the informant, the MFM teachings such as the use of aggressive prayers to attack the attacker is the right weapon to fight battles and not by running to a pastor at the time of slight spiritual attack. Spiritual attack is the main principle to fight against at the MFM ministry. MFM members believe in spiritual manipulation of people by the devil thus the need to be taught to be a prayer warrior at the MFM. According to my informant, witches and wizard upgrade their power therefore humans must keep rising in their level of praying so that the devil can flee from them.
3.3 Beliefs of the MFM
Since I started researching the MFM, I have heard a lot about the MFM. A lot of people I know in my neighborhood also attend the MFM including my in-laws. My in-laws seldom visit because they are told not to associate with people who go against the beliefs and teachings of their church. I as a Catholic, have the liberty to dress and put on jewelries like it pleases me. I can understand why my MFM in-laws do not visit us like they should. An informant I interviewed in order to understand the beliefs of MFM members told me a whole lot about the MFM. She mentioned MFM members are not allowed to associate socially or otherwise with non members. According to my informant, spiritual deliverance from every spiritual problem is certain at the MFM because the prayer method of MFM is very powerful. During my discussion with my informant, it was interesting to find out that MFM members believe in praying so hard because they believe spiritual attacks, ancestral curses, powers of witchcraft, are not things to toy with. In my informant‘s words; ‗one must be spiritually sound to face evil manipulations‘. In my analysis, it can be seen that the MFM knows its audience as people in search for solutions to one spiritual problem or the other.
Dreams are another serious problem that members believe to be a sign of spiritual attack. If a member of the MFM sees anyone in their dream, it will be a serious problem that needs to be seriously prayed and fasted for. It does not matter whether the person seen in the dream is a
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member of the MFM or non-member but as long as the person has appeared in the dream of the MFM member, then it is believed to be a serious spiritual attack. Trust is another element. MFM members do not trust anyone. A Christian sister and member of the MFM who I overheard praying that someone should die or get paralyzed, told me after her prayers about a church member behind all the problems she is encountering in her life thus her aggressive prayers would be an arrow to destroy and paralyze the person behind her problems. Prayers targeted to evil suspects are the underlying target of MFM members and not the other way round (praying to solve problems). It goes to show that in the MFM, the suspected person causing problems is the target of their prayers; to destroy the envisioned attacker and not to solve the problem. For example, if one suspects her friend to be the cause of her childlessness, prayers are targeted to destroy the evil plans of the friend, with the belief that if the friend is not spiritually conquered, they will never become a pregnancy in the lifetime of the person.
3.4 Confession of a non-member of MFM
A non-member of the MFM that I engaged in an informal chat confessed to me that he is not a member of the MFM but immigration problems in the Netherlands made him to discover the teachings, beliefs and practices of the MFM. My informant has Spanish papers but lives illegally in the Netherlands. He was caught and deported to Spain but sneaked back to the Netherlands. According to him, it was his ancestors and enemies who were behind his bad luck in the Netherlands; they manipulated the police spiritually to nab him in the Netherlands. In his search for spiritual protection, he started following the teachings of MFM general overseer; Dr. D.K Olukoya on YouTube channel. According to him, he has downloaded and made use of many of MFM prayer points as written in the 'Sword of Spirit' (Bible is what he refers to as the sword of spirit), including fasting and prayer instructions to render Satan (enemy) void over his life. In his words ―I believe I am totally free from deportation because I have asked for forgiveness of my sins, freed my mind self accusations, fasted and prayed fervently like I was thought from YouTube videos‖. I could see the strong belief and connection tied to the doctrine of the MFM. If a non member of the MFM as seen above could believe that MFM prayers and practices can break all forms of ancestral, spiritual and generational curses, it is only logical that full members of the MFM would believe more.
3.5 Practices of the MFM
All prayers at the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministry (MFM) are aggressive prayers, garnished with words like; die, back fire, paralyze enemies. A clear observation at the church premises on a good Monday afternoon, I visited the mountain of fire. I entranced the church building through
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a glass door, leading to a small reception hall. On the floor of the reception is a grey rug, fully covering the entire floor of the small reception hall. On entering the main hall of the church, I saw two women with a little child singing praise and worship song; the first woman wore a beret cap covering her entire hair, a pair of blue jeans skirt, a black top and a red shoe. The second woman wore a black blouse, a white head scarf and a long white skirt. The both women did not have any form of jewellery on their body. I sat down on a chair behind the two women and listened to their song. They sang a song in Igbo; a local Nigeria language. While I sat at the middle row of the main church hall, I felt much energized because I was in the middle so I did not attract a lot of attention to myself from the two women. The women continued to sing without paying attention to the little boy on the floor playing, in about five minutes time, the boy started to cry, they ignored him and continued to pray. The boy continued to cry and fell asleep on the floor. I looked at my wristwatch and discovered that the two women have sung praise and worship song for over one hour. The two women started the main prayers by shouting die die die, by fire by force, they prayed for ten minutes and returned to singing hymns. The women sang and jumped, cried and expressed themselves so deeply in the fellowship of the church. They looked so dedicated to the church. At the point where I sat, I could hear the women speak in tongues, and all of a sudden they both fell on the ground rolling and shouting; the blood of Jesus, repeatedly. The woman in a white long skirt said she is sending death to anyone that thinks or have any plans to kill her. The other woman that wore a beret kept shouting die die die continuously. I experienced a first class feel of aggressive prayer experience at the MFM. In curiosity of my observations, I made an appointment to see a female member at her Kraainest residence. We spoke in general about MFM prayers. She was more than enthusiastic to teach me more about the prayers of the MFM. Her solidarity for the aggressive forms of prayers of the MFM was next to none. She preached to me that aggressive prayers are necessary in the world we live because the spiritual realm controls the physical. If one can conquer the spiritual then victory in the physical is sure.
In her words; we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against powers, principalities, and rulers of darkness of this world; against spiritual wickedness in high places." -Ephesians 6:12. She lectured on about people in the world who are possessed of evil spirits and that evil spirits pushes them to do wicked deeds thus if one can conquer that spirit through aggressive and violent prayers then victory is theirs on earth. There is the staunch believe among members of the MFM that there exist a physical world and a spiritual world. To connect with the spiritual world, one must do that through aggressive prayers else the devil will not be defeated.
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3.6 Power must change Hands
Deliverance, miracle performance are the belief and practices of the MFM. Power Must Change Hands program (PMCH) is a monthly fasting and prayer program that comes up every first Saturday of the month by 9:00am at the church premises. For one to take part wholly in the program, the person must fast for three days, breaking the fast on a Saturday with the prayer points provided for the purpose of the program. Just like the title of this thesis, Power Must Change Hands (PMCH), the MFM members believe in deliverance and miracle. In my quest to understand more about the teachings of the MFM, I decided to take part fully in the PMCH program by going on three days fast. I usually do not go on fasting as a catholic but this time, I needed to have a feel of how it goes in the church. Without food and water, I slept for only a few hours every day because I had to attend prayer meetings for up to three times a day. Some people slept in the church but I decided to come from home to attend the program.
Figure 4. Deliverance, Miracle, eliminating the enemy.
The main theme and content of the program which I participated in was all about praying against enemies from ancestral linage such as one‘s parents, relations etc. I encountered a prophecy in my life by one of the prophets in charge of the PMCH program. He told me my father in-law has familiar spirit and that my husband comes from a family of sinners, he further told me to be careful about letting my husband‘s relatives visit my home in Amsterdam. He told me to recite psalm 23 whenever people from my husband‘s family visit. I do not believe in prophecies and I have also read a lot about the prophecies of Pentecostal churches, thus I was
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not geared towards believing all his prophecies. Examples of prayer points at the PHCN program are; 1. Power of God; uproot every plantation of darkness in my life, in the name of Jesus.2. Powers, from my birth place, assigned to kill and destroy me, die, in the name of Jesus.3. Powers, submitting my name to death, your time is up, die, in the name of Jesus.4. Every evil bird, hovering at night against me, fall down and die, in the name of Jesus.
My encounter at the PMCH was that; one has to shake and jump, swinging arms into the air with force before one would be accepted as praying at the MFM. When I am praying silently, ushers would come to me and shake my body aggressively. I must confess that after that encounter, I promised myself never to take part in the full program especially the part of fasting.
The teaching of the MFM is about death of their enemies. They also practice spiritual killing because when they pray, they hit their hands in the air like they are attacking and kicking the air. At the MFM, they do not preach about love and humanity rather they preach about awareness of powers of darkness. Every negative happening around MFM members is believed to be the handiwork of their enemies. Including eating and biting your tongue, bedwetting, all is the handiwork of the enemy. Atypical believer of the MFM believes that the MFM ministry is God sent. My experience at the Power Must Change Hands program inspired me to title this thesis; ―Power Must Change Hands‖.
3.7 Conclusion
Based on participant observations, enriched with findings, I have been able to show in this chapter, the teachings, beliefs and practices of MFM followers. Power to MFM members is not physical but spiritual. Leadership roles at the MFM is also believed to be power enabled. Members of the MFM believe that leadership role is God given and not physical calling. For the question on how equity can be addressed in terms of leadership roles at the MFM, power beliefs should also be a consideration. For women to achieve leadership equity at the MFM, the belief system, of the church is vital because it can be an empowering factor and a hindrance at the same time. In this chapter therefore, it makes sense to say that I have been able to answer the sub-question; how do women become leaders at MFM?
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Chapter Four: Women in Leadership and their Practices 4.1 Introduction
In this chapter, I intend to understand the leadership roles of women at the MFM and their practices. I targeted MFM street preachers that are passionate about MFM evangelical work. I also had in-depth interview with Pastor Rose so as to understand how she became a member of MFM and what led her to become a Pastor at the MFM. My key informant, Sister Gloria was also helpful in this chapter in offering insight into leadership roles of women at the MFM and their practices. To further triangulate my findings in this chapter, I conducted an in-depth interview with other non-women leaders in the church like Agi, a wife of a Pastor at the MFM Amsterdam. Choosing Agi for a clearer understanding of what the doctrine of MFM depicts as a matter of choice, made me to understand women‘s believe in general. Given that this research is about the leadership role of women at the MFM, it was important to listen to women on the issue at hand.
4.2 Pastor Rose’s Story
On reaching the house of Pastor Rose, I met her in a long red gown preparing lunch. I greeted her and extended my hands to her and we shook hands. She offered me a seat in the sitting room. The kitchen is just across the sitting room but within the same space therefore we could comfortably converse. She told me she was almost through with cooking and at the same time, she apologized for cooking while anticipating my coming. I told her it was not a problem. She said she needed to cook so she can freeze them for the week. She asked me in a polite voice if it was easy for me to find my way to her place of resident. I told her it was quite easy to find her place but I had to ask two people I saw on my way to assist me find the street, and once I found the street, figuring the number of the house was not a problem At this point, she had joined me in the sitting room. She told me she was through with cooking and ready for our interview to begin. She asked me if I would eat or drink something. It was so early in the morning thus I declined to eat or drink. Pastor Rose went into the room, and brought out a piece of purple hair tie. She insisted I must cover it before we pray. I couldn‘t turn down the hair tie offer; I received it and placed it over my hair. After a short prayer in which the prayer point was to send death to enemies of progress, we settled down to continue the interview. I handed her over her head tie but she refused to receive it back, she insisted that my hair must remain covered while I am in her house to listen to her story.
