“LAID AT THE APOSTLES’ FEET”: ADMINISTRATION AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE EARLY CHURCH AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR THE APOSTOLIC CHURCH LAWNA TERRITORY, NIGERIA

Abstract

Discourse on apostleship has been robust in academic domain, paying much attention to the subject matter’s historicity, the continuation or cessation of the apostolic office in the contemporary time as well as the description of the social life of the apostolic community in the earliest century of the Church. However, little or no attention has been given to the old apostles’ administrative and accountable leadership particularly with regards to The Apostolic Church LAWNA Territory Nigeria (TACLTN), a contemporary Church-denomination that patterns itself on the heritage of the first century apostles. The problem of bustling Church membership called for the provision of the basic material needs of the teeming but poor members in the early Church. The issue was resolved through the cheerful donation of public-spirited individuals in the early Church’s community; the donated booties were aptly attended to through the accountable administration of the apostles. The donations, “laid at their feet,” were fairly distributed to the community’s needy; hence the phrase, “laid at the apostles’ feet,” occurs severally in the early chapters of Acts as the members looked up to the apostles for responsible management of the community’s affairs. The study objective seeks, by application, to view how much of this ancient apostolic administrative and accountable virtue can be put into place in the contemporary TACLTN to boost its systems and polities. The paper opines that TACLTN will flourish more in its ecclesiastical polities should it internalize the transparent administration and accountability sense of its forbears in Acts. The essay employs observation method and relevant literature on the subject matter to arrive at its goal.