Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Ansah Highlights Mentorship and Succession at Kanisa Bora Summit 2025

Nairobi, Kenya – August 22, 2025: The curtains have closed on the Kanisa Bora Summit 2025, a three-day continental gathering of church leaders, scholars, and administrators held from 19th to 21st August at CORAT Africa, Nairobi. The summit, themed “Rooted in Faith: Empowering Leadership and Stewardship for a Thriving Church in Africa,” brought together voices from across Africa to reflect on the future of the church in a rapidly changing world.

One of the key highlights of the summit was a presentation by Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Kwabena Ansah, Convenor and Executive Director of the Kingdom Equip Network (KEN), who spoke on “An Overview of Mentorship and Succession in the Ghanaian Church.”

In his presentation, Rev. Dr. Ansah underscored the importance of intentional mentorship and structured succession planning for the sustainability of the African church. Drawing on biblical examples such as Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, and Paul and Timothy, he stressed that mentorship is not only a relational process but a spiritual imperative that safeguards continuity of vision and leadership.

He reviewed the history of church leadership transitions in Ghana, pointing out how the absence of deliberate succession frameworks has often led to leadership disputes, schisms, and weakened witness. Rev. Dr. Ansah cited both painful lessons from churches that experienced protracted conflicts and encouraging examples such as the Full Gospel Church International and Fountain Gate Chapel International, which successfully managed leadership transitions.

“Poor transitions compromise pastoral care, weaken evangelism, and undermine the credibility of leadership,” he cautioned. He called on African churches to institutionalize structured mentorship programs, develop context-specific succession policies, and strengthen leadership education in order to avoid recurring conflicts.

Delegates at the summit received his presentation with enthusiasm, sparking conversations on how churches across the continent could integrate mentorship into their leadership models.

The Kanisa Bora Summit 2025 concluded with a renewed commitment by participants to empower African church leadership through faith-rooted governance, stewardship, and inclusive mentorship.