Where are your next-generation leaders?
by Debbie Loh
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Rev Dr David Wong |
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AT a special talk in conjunction with NECF's 13th Bi-ennial General Meeting and 30th anniversary speaker Rev Dr David Wong asked this question: Who among the audience was age 29 or younger?
That no one in the crowd of about 200 people had been born after the year NECF was formed could be taken as a warning of sorts - can NECF stay relevant beyond the present cohort of members, whose leaders are in the age range of the 40s to 60s? However, finding and grooming next generation leaders is not a problem unique to NECF and is what many churches and ministry organisations face as well.
Wong, pastor of a church in Singapore and former vice president of the Haggai Institute, spoke on "Beyond Finishing Well", in which he said today's leaders must leave a legacy for their successors. It is not enough for one to have been a good leader if there was no one trained to continue the work. This means leaders have to share and delegate their work, teach and mentor others instead of completing tasks by themselves, have a succession plan and know when to leave the scene.
Drawing lessons from Moses and Elijah, Wong noted that both men reached the point of exhaustion and giving up because the burden of leadership had become too much to bear alone. Moses had to be shown by his father-in-law, Jethro, a better way of dividing and delegating work. Moses, in Israel's battle against the Amalekites, also had the help of assistants of different ages - his brother Aaron, a peer; Joshua, at least one generation younger than Moses; and Hur, believed to be even younger than Joshua. Forward-looking leadership will groom new leaders of different ages.
From Elijah, leaders can learn to prioritise the tasks that matter most in the long-run. Elijah, after God spoke to him in a gentle whisper at the cave in Horeb, was instructed to anoint Hazael as king of Aram, Jehu as king of Israel and Elisha as his (Elijah's) successor (1 Kings 19).
Of the three instructions, Elijah only did the third. By today's reckoning, Elijah could be deemed disobedient or unsuccessful because he did not do all God had told him to. But in doing what was most important for the long-run, the other two tasks were accomplished, not by Elijah but by Elisha (anointing Hazael, 2 Kings 8) and Elisha's associate (anointing Jehu, 2 Kings 9). Beyond finishing as a leader, good leaders will leave work for their successors to continue.
"Ministry has an end point and leaders should work towards it. Our mission should be to share the work so we are less needed and to help people in a way that they will no longer need our help," said Wong, an experienced mentor and leadership trainer.
For leaders, this also means releasing the self-worth and security one may find in being needed and re-orientating our self-worth in God alone. May today's ministry leaders and senior pastors heed the leadership lessons of Moses and Elijah for the sake of the Church in years to come. |
