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Colin Hansen has a great piece up on the Gospel Coalition website on Gospel Integrity and Pastoral Succession.  He begins with the stark reality that “History tells sad stories of good churches that calcified as monuments to former pastors.”  He notes that, “Many large, thriving churches today have been blessed by God with gifted preachers whose ministry spans the globe. As those preachers approach the end of their pulpit ministry, however, local churches face difficult questions about how they should prepare for life after their leader leaves.”  In a bold diagnosis of this problem, Hansen writes:

Senior leaders don’t want to let go. They realize too late that they’re slowing down, a process that begins in many cases around age 60. Various aspects of the church’s vision become neglected, and the church stagnates. The senior leader’s gifting and experience mask underlying structural weaknesses, as in the case of Spurgeon. Meanwhile, younger leaders don’t want to wait around to take charge. Many capable young leaders know the long odds of a successful succession. So they prefer to plant their own churches or invest in smaller ones they can grow by God’s grace. ... Even before the senior pastor steps down, generational tension may be evident as a warning sign that succession will be a struggle. The senior pastor with a long tenure may surround himself with leaders around his same age. Preaching load, administrative tasks, writing commitments, and even personality traits may inhibit him and his colleagues from investing in younger leaders who can eventually take their place. Conscious or not, Hezekiah syndrome sets in, and older leaders leave major problems for the next generation to tackle. “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?” (2 Kings 20:19) 

In a refreshing exception to this trend, he profiles the Succession without a Successor plan underway at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan under Tim Keller’s leadership.  (Shameless plug - Tim Keller is one of the plenary speakers at the 2011 Anglican 1000 Church Planting Summit ... Register here today for early bird rates! ... end of commercial)  Since it is always difficult for a successor to follow a tremendously gifted leader, Redeemer isn’t even going to try it!  Instead, they announced this past June a decentralization plan to “eventually divide into four distinct but networked congregations, each of which will try to plant another church. Redeemer leaders selected four pastors—David Bisgrove, John Lin, Scott Sauls, and Leo Schuster—to lead these neighborhood-based congregations. But for now these men will share preaching and leadership responsibilities with Keller, who will mentor them closely.”  Tim Keller said: “My ‘successors’ are a new generation of a half-dozen to a dozen pastors ... The difficulty is that to even talk of this as a ‘succession plan’ gives the impression I’m stepping out of my job and retiring soon, but I’m not. I’m 59, and we expect the transition to take eight to ten years. So we don’t call it a succession plan, but that’s what it ultimately is, among other things.”

How is your church preparing for pastoral succession?
Is their intentional mentoring and leadership development?
What are your thoughts on this?

Posted on September 7, 2010

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