Church Leaders To Discuss Governance, People’s Devt

Over 1,000 pastors and church leaders from across Africa and beyond are expected to converge on Lagos for the inaugural Global Church Systems Conference (GCSC) to discuss governance and people development.

The two-day summit at Daystar Christian Centre is built around a single conviction: that churches don’t fail from a lack of vision; they fail from a lack of systems.

Themed “Building Sustainable, Scalable, Spirit-Led Church Systems,” GCSC draws on more than three decades of organisational systems developed at Daystar and distils them into a proprietary eight-part framework called the S.H.E.P.H.E.R.D. Model, covering everything from governance and people development to technology and succession.

According to the founder and Senior Pastor of Daystar Christian Centre and convener of GCSC, Pastor Sam Adey, growth is a blessing, but unmanaged growth becomes a burden. Too many ministries are still personality-dependent; when the leader is gone, the structure goes with them. This conference exists to change that. We are not here to inspire people for two days and send them home. We are here to help them build something that outlasts them.”

“We didn’t want another conference that people forget by the time their flight lands,” Pastor Sam Adeyemi added. “You leave with a plan, not just a feeling.”

In her remarks, the Co-Founder of Daystar and GCSC faculty, Pastor Nike Adeyemi, said the conference, scheduled for 16–17 July 2026, deliberately balances structure with people-care.

“Systems without people are cold, and people without systems are chaotic. What we have learned over thirty years is that the strongest churches are the ones where structure actually protects people, it gives them room to belong, to grow, and to be cared for, even as the church gets bigger,” she said.

Unlike conventional church conferences, GCSC is built as a working session rather than a speaker series. Every talk follows a Teach → Reflect → Discuss → Share format, with attendees placed in small table cohorts to diagnose gaps in their own ministries. Each participant leaves with a personalised 90-day implementation plan.