Influence of the General Overseers' Leadership Styles on Mission Strategies and Infrastructural Development of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Nigeria 2010-2019

Studies on leadership have become a prominent scholarly and professional pursuit in an ever-changing, highly complex, and multi-dimensional globalized world. Despite the significant body of literature on leadership, its influence and different styles continues to remain to attract attention in academic research. Therefore, this study investigated on the influence of the leadership styles of the General Overseers of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Nigeria on mission strategies and infrastructural development of the Church between 2010 and 2019. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The sample involve 172 respondents who were randomly selected among the leaders in the church. Self-designed, segmented, validated instruments were used to collect data for this study: (a). Leadership Styles Adoption Questionnaire (LSAQ); (b). Mission Strategies Adoption Questionnaire (MiSAQ); (c). Infrastructural Development Adoption Questionnaire (IDAQ); and (d). Interview Guide for Organization Leaders (IGOL). Descriptive statistics was used for data analysis. The finding revealed that: the predominant leadership style adopted by General Overseers of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Nigeria between 1999 and 2009 were democratic and partly autocratic leadership styles because these leadership styles are the ones having many items above the weighted mean (of = 2.47). Similarly, the findings indicated that General Overseers of the Foursquare Gospel Church, Nigeria leadership styles of between 1999 and 2009 are impactful on medical services, treatment and provision of drugs etc. The study concludes that: the missionaries as leaders in the Church will have to develop leadership strategies that will enhance not only infrastructural facilities but also numerical and spiritual growth. The study recommends that: The leaders in the Church should be eclectic in their leadership style approaches as one leadership style cannot always suitable for situations in the Church, a mixture of democratic and autocratic leadership style will work perfectly in Church administration.