Lesson 5 - This is temporary…
JUNE 2023
In the burnt-out ruins of Coventry Old Cathedral is a Bishop’s stall, hand-carved generations ago for leaders who had huge influence and power, people who now are all but forgotten.
Standing next to it got me thinking… the seat outlives the sitter. Just like the 727-year-old chair used for King Charles III’s coronation, carved with ancient script, a seat that has outlived kings and queens for hundreds of years.
Leaders come and go; our tenure is temporary. We run with the baton for a moment, just a stage of the race; we feature in just a chapter or two of God’s story and then it is time for others to take the lead. It was ever thus.
25 years ago when we said ‘yes’ to leading Watford Community Church, there was a sense of an indefinite call, a privileged vocation that has been all-encompassing pretty much every day since November 1st, 1998. Serving this incredible church family, leading through times of expansion, building and progression as well seasons of stagnation, frustration and ineffectiveness, this has never been a job, nor something to do before retirement. It has been our life’s pursuit.
But one thing has been clear all along. This is temporary.
In 1999 I heard Danny Guglielmucci say, ‘your success is in your successors’ and from then on, our dream has been (in God’s timing) to hand over this church to the next generation. What a joy to be in this season of transition at Wellspring, passing on the baton to David Dodwell, a spiritual son and a spiritual father to the generation that will follow his.
Helen and I are more aware today than ever of the fleeting nature of our lives, let alone our ministries. We see leaders come and go; ministries rise and fall, and seats of influence change hands, but one reality overrules all this: The Lord Jesus reigns.
In a passage full of wisdom about honest fellowship in churches, care for the mistreated, and remembering to follow the good example of leaders, Hebrews 13 includes this mic-drop verse:
‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.’
It was ever thus. It will ever be.
The lesson?
The privilege and opportunity of any leadership role will only be yours for a season. Run faithfully, but hold the baton lightly.
The prayer?
Eternal Lord Jesus, Leader of leaders, we honour you. By Your Spirit, help us to love you with our whole hearts, serve you with our whole lives, and lead in such a way as others can truly succeed us. Amen…