Dr. Tom Cocklereece
Leadership
I look forward to the Tour de France every summer and have enjoyed following the cycling career and life of Lance Armstrong. He is never satisfied with his past performances, but is always looking ahead to do better. He sees his main competitor as himself rather than other cyclers. He has an amazing story of how he recovered from cancer and has gone on to win the Tour several times since. I wish churches and Christians were as diligent in training and running to win the Christian race.
I also wish people in the churches would ask the question at hand, “What is our legacy?” However, I offer a suggestion. Ask people in your church’s surrounding community about the legacy of your church whether they attend there or not and whether they are Christians or not. You might be painfully surprised as some will have never heard of or seen the church even though they pass by it daily. But it will also provide an essential insight into the legacy of the church. Long-time church members may be able to recount stories of great ministry achievements of the past, but younger members and people in the community may have no recollection of such a legacy. This is why our legacy is never finished during the earthly life of a person or church, and it is why accomplishments in recent years are for more important than those of years gone by.
Many are of the mistaken believe that legacy is defined by one’s greatest accomplishments, but that is not always true. In fact, legacy is as much about sustained growing character as much as it is about historical achievements. Jesus Christ challenged us in John 13:35 to let our intense love for one another to be a legacy that would attract others. But to become a part of our legacy, our love for others must be more than a few outreach programs, or caring events for the community around the church. Our love legacy must be a sustained growing identity of the church. One way to get to the heart of your church’s legacy is this question: “If our church disappeared tomorrow, would we be missed and for what would we be missed?” Indeed, would anybody other than the attending Christians even notice?
As we run the race of the Christian life, “Run to Win!” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27). Too many Christians seem to think they have served enough, so they will “retire” and wait for their last move—to the cemetery. Ironically, a new movement of civic agencies (Americorps and ACORN) have emerged that are moving in to the vacuum left as Christians and their churches are seemingly retreating into their sanctuaries. The new agencies are politically connected, well funded, and they are recruiting volunteers to do good works in the communities (http://drthomreece.wordpress.com/2008/09/12/volunteerism-and-civic-engagement-in-the-post-911-world/) . Where is the church? I think this is what is meant by the church being missional.
Elder generations need to do three things well: 1) mentor the younger generations but allow them to do biblical ministry their way, 2) pass the baton–many senior adults just will not let go unless the younger people do it the way we’ve always done it. When the younger leaders make the inevitable mistakes, the senior take back over, and 3) senior adults need to keep serving the younger leaders after they pass on the baton of responsibility instead of retiring. There is much to do before Jesus Christ returns. Be a legacy builder.
SD Blessings!
Dr. Tom Cocklereece
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GREAT article. I’ll be sharing this w/some leaders at our church.
I found you on LinkedIn, which I recently joined. Thanks for posting!
Lee