Leading Through Crisis

Church, Community, and Personal Reflections on Resilience in Africa.

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to equip church leaders, faith-based community organisers, and change agents with critical insight, reflection tools, and practical leadership skills to navigate crises in sub-Saharan Africa.

Grounded in real-life stories and reflections gathered across the region, this course draws directly from ongoing research exploring how the Church engages with polycrisis, human-made challenges, migration, cultural dynamics, and gender leadership barriers.

As you move through the course, you will reflect on your own context, experiences, and leadership choices, positioning yourself to:

Strengthen community resilience.
Promote inclusion and equity.
Align your leadership with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 vision for a peaceful, inclusive, and prosperous Africa.

Learning Outcomes

Develop a nuanced understanding of how crises impact African churches and communities.
Reflect deeply on your personal leadership experiences and biases.
Identify the role of inclusion, gender equity, and cultural dynamics in shaping effective crisis response.
Create a Leadership Reflection & Action Plan outlining how you will engage differently in future crises.

Content Outline

Session 1: Navigating the PolyCrisis

Session 2: Human-Made Crisis

Session 3: Migration and Cultural Dynamics

Session 4: Gender and Leadership

Assesment Criteria

A reflective essay and personal leadership plan (800 - 1200 words)

Session 1

Navigating the PolyCrisis

(25 - minutes)

Start

FTLT, in partnership with the University of Pretoria and multiple other networks throughout sub-Saharan Africa, is conducting a research project (2024–2026) to investigate and analyse the dynamic responses of the Church in sub-Saharan Africa to global crises.

For more information about the research project, you may contact either Adriaan Adams (FTLT) of Prof. Hannes Knoetze (UP).

Email: adriaan@ftlt.org / johannes.knoetze@up.ac.za
Tel: +27 82 770 5310 / +27 82 873 9122

About us

FTLT (Focus Team Leadership Training) is an organisation that was established in 2004 and is based in Pretoria, South Africa.
The vision of the organisation is to "Train the Mission Leaders of Tomorrow" with a mission to influence the upcoming leadership generation through specific training that will empower them to impact their sphere of influence in their own communities.