Passing the Baton: Can You Help Us?

Mature and seasoned members can play an important part in the Church's efforts to mentor and begin passing the baton of leadership to our younger generation.

by Richard Pinelli

This period in the history of God's Church finds us facing a challenge—one of ministerial manpower. As our ministry and Church leadership grow older, we need to prepare the next generation to take over our responsibilities within the Church. If we truly understand the prophecy of Malachi 4:5-6 concerning turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, we then must understand this to be one of the most important responsibilities entrusted to any group of people.

Ever since the days of Jesus Christ and the apostles, God's work has always been hindered by a shortage of qualified workers. As Jesus said: "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few" (Matthew 9:37). Many of us see this as the need for new donors, coworkers, members and even ministers.

God's Church may have entered into its most critical period in witnessing, warning and calling to conversion those individuals God wants to turn to the hearts of the fathers.

So, how can you help us? Many of you have been in God's Church for 30, 40 and 50 years. You have been sound, solid and faithful members. You have been a wonderful support system living and serving as examples, servants and leaders. Often we have wanted to say, "Thank you for fulfilling these very important responsibilities. Keep up the good work!"

But your most important work and service may still be ahead of you. Can you help us? Let me tell you what need I see.

Mentoring in the Old Testament

In Numbers 8:24-26 we read how God organized the Levitical priesthood. From age 25 to 30 the young men were mentored in the service of the tabernacle and temple. From age 30 to 50 they did the hard work of serving in the tabernacle and temple, handling the sacrifices, washings and all the areas of worship. From age 50 until death they continued to function as priests, but not in the extremely hard work of the temple.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's Commentary said they became mentors to the younger, "instructing, directing, and superintending important trusts."

Ephesians 4:11-16 talks about ministering (not just ordained ministers) to the Body of Christ. "But, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies" (verses 15-16).

Your Challenge

I am asking you to go one step further than most of you have gone. I am challenging each of you to follow the example and precedent God gave the Levitical priesthood. Since many of us are aging, I'd like to remind you of how important it is to think in terms of preparing those who may be replacing you and me as future servants, leaders, deacons/deaconesses and elders.

Can we begin to mentor the next generation by interacting with the younger members of the Church, by developing relationships with them, by involving them in responsibilities, by teaching and mentoring them as Paul told Titus in Titus 2:6-8?

Not only did Paul admonish Timothy to "hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me" (2 Timothy 1:13), but he went on to say, "and the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others" (2 Timothy 2:2).

Paul was instructing Timothy to mentor future leaders for the Church. In essence Paul was telling Timothy to prepare men who would in time replace himself and other leaders in their Church duties.

Since the Levitical priests gave their jobs away by passing the baton to and nurturing the younger ones to serve as they did, can you and I follow that example by passing on our responsibilities to the next generation? You and I are a part of a foundational generation Christ used to preserve His truth from heresy, and now our duty is to prepare the next generation to fill our jobs and responsibilities within the Church.

I count myself blessed to have attended the early years of Ambassador College. It was there that I had the opportunity to sit at the feet of Herbert W. Armstrong to hear about his many experiences and to learn how he handled so many things in the Church. Many of these experiences were later written in his autobiography.

Many a winter's night while I was driving in the outback of Canada, these examples came back to my mind like a flashback. Without having heard Mr. Armstrong's experiences, it would have been almost impossible for me to make some of the decisions necessary as a church pastor.

Finding Future Leaders

In our attempt to identify potential leaders and ministers, we have surveyed the ministry for names of the leaders in the local congregations. We have surveyed the ABC instructors to see which graduates have potential to serve the Church. We have followed up with the graduates of our Leadership Workshop program, and we have also surveyed the camp directors to learn who has demonstrated leadership among the camp staff.

We are doing what we can to identify future leaders for the Church. The next step will be to mentor and prepare them for more service.

God is calling us all to service. This mission continues through a process of conversion that requires us to serve God and others. Our young adults are a vital and valued part of the Church, and God wants us to be developing potential leaders.

The Church is committed to helping young people connect with the work of the Church. Unfortunately, we've heard of some cases where our young adults have wanted to serve, but they've actually been discouraged from serving by someone saying, "that's my responsibility." Some young adults may want to serve, but they're afraid to or lack confidence to ask if they can help with certain responsibilities.

If we are to follow the biblical example of mentoring the next generation for service, we need to give these young people a chance to show they are a valued part of the Church, and that we recognize them as our future leaders.

Here in the home office congregation, we have begun to reach out to involve and to train our young adults. Last year we started a Beginner's Sermonette Class. We invited all the men who wanted to learn to give sermonettes. No promises were made to put them in the pulpit, but they were given a chance to gain experience in speaking so that, if they went out into an area where they could serve in this way, they would be ready.

Twenty-three men volunteered for this class, and most were under 30 years of age. In this year's class we have more than 30 men (of which 13 are ABC students), and again the men are predominately under 30 years old. This is only a beginning.

The Law of Legacy

In John Maxwell's book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership he writes something important for all of us to understand at this time in the Church. Law #21 is the last and perhaps most important law, "The Law of Legacy— A Leader's Lasting Value Is Measured by Succession."

He said: "In 1997, one of the finest business leaders in the world died. His name was Roberto Goizueta, and he was the chairman and chief executive of the Coca-Cola Company. Making Coca-Cola the best company in the world was Goizueta's lifelong quest, one he was still pursuing diligently when he suddenly, unexpectedly died" (page 215).

Paine Webber analyst Emanuel Goldman said that Goizueta "prepared the company for his not being there as well as any executive I've ever seen." How did he do it? First, by making the company as strong as he possibly could. Second, by preparing a successor for the top position (page 216).

Maxwell, in his concluding remark on this 21st law, stated: "When all is said and done, your ability as a leader will not be judged by what you achieved personally or even by what your team accomplished during your tenure. You will be judged by how well your people and your organization did after you were gone. You will be gauged according to the Law of Legacy. Your lasting value will be measured by succession."

Maxwell writes this in his book Leadership Promises for Every Day concerning Moses and Joshua, "Of all the wonderful ways Moses expressed his leadership, the most strategic had to be his training of Joshua. He gave Joshua his time, his insight, a learning environment, an opportunity to prove himself and a strong belief in his future. The interaction of Moses and Joshua demonstrates that reproducing leaders is not a quick, simple process. It requires time, emotional investment and sacrifice.

"When you begin developing the next generation of leaders, recognize that your protégés will need certain things:

"1. From themselves: conviction, courage and obedience

"2. From their mentor: equipping

"3. From God: vision

"4. From the people: buy-in

"With time, investment and sacrifice, you will build a legacy of leadership."

Passing the Baton

Maxwell is describing the vital importance of mentoring. You and I, brethren, are part of a foundational generation Christ used to preserve His truth. We also have our part in passing the baton of truth to our younger people by our rock solid beliefs and examples.

Please also remember the biblical example of the Levites mentoring the younger generation for their service to God and to the nation of Israel. We also have the responsibility of preparing the next generation for service and leadership in God's Church. Yes, you can help us by what you are doing today and by following the suggestions in the sidebar, "Can You Help Us? Some Ideas."

Remember what Christ said, "Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest" (Matthew 9:38).

God has His part to do in this process, and so do we. Can you help? UN

Can You Help Us? Some Ideas

Many younger members, young adults and teens would be very happy to help if they knew the needs and felt welcome to volunteer. Others would be excited to help if they were asked.

But when everything seems to be going smoothly at church and help isn't solicited, it can take more courage and initiative for a young person to volunteer.

What can the senior members do to encourage and welcome more involvement from the younger ones? What can you do to help mentor the next generation?

Here are some ideas:

•Ask for help, either in person or in an announcement. If you are giving someone a ride every week, or running the sound system every week, see if there are younger people who would be happy to help or be trained to help.

•Talk about various members' needs. Maybe an elderly or infirmed member's lawn needs mowed, leaves need raked or sidewalks need snow shoveled off them. Ask for help for a work party for home improvement projects such as painting.

•Organize a program to visit elderly people and shut-ins. Encourage younger members to get involved. Help them get to know each other and feel comfortable with each other.

•Invite a younger person to come along when you visit brethren who are hospitalized or homebound.

•Work together to give a fatherless child some time and attention.

•Are there computer savvy young people in your area? Let them know how much they are needed! Maybe suggest they set up a team to help older members with their computer needs.

•If a young person expresses an interest in serving in the Church, suggest he or she ask the pastor what areas he thinks could use some help.

•Suggest expanding the committees for socials and fund-raisers to include more younger people.

•Everyone needs encouragement. Ask for the gift of encouragement and look for ways to use it. Give encouragement during the week, not just on the Sabbath.

•Be a friend. Give an ear. Communicate with and invite to your home or out to dinner the younger generation coming along in God's Church.