RAISE THE FUTURE ROB HOSKINS
We’ve often heard the illustration of passing the baton in a relay race to illustrate healthy leadership transitions. Making sure that the “old” leader is careful to pass the responsibility on to the new leader, that they do it in a timely manner, and that they run at the same pace for a certain amount of time. Although there are some good transition lessons to learn, I also feel that the baton-passing metaphor can break down or not fully capture some unique challenges and opportunities we face in our ministries and churches.
Implicit in the illustration is that once I’ve passed the baton, my part in the race is over. It also implies that leaders have their prime time to run at an optimum speed until they can’t sustain a certain pace. I’ve often heard the illustration used in relation to a leader’s age: As they grow older it’s time to pass the role to a younger leader. These assumptions can actually be counterproductive and, in many ways, aren’t very theologically grounded. Biblically, our relationships are not so much framed corporately but in the language of a missional family. We are brothers and sisters; we have spiritual fathers and mothers. Even the Godhead itself is framed as a holy family with the Father and Son and a very personal Holy Spirit.
A Faithful Example
I’ve been incredibly blessed by my father walking alongside me in ministry. My dad started OneHope more than 35 years ago to help the next generation experience God’s Word. After learning and serving alongside him for years, I became president of the global ministry in 2004. In humility and care, my dad shifted his responsibility to a support role without an ounce of selfish pride that could have interfered with the ministry transition. He simply wanted to see OneHope keep flourishing for the sake of the kingdom. My dad was wise and self-aware enough to recognize the rising influx of technology in the early 2000s would require the ministry to change dynamically and that he wasn’t the person best suited to lead as president moving forward.
I launched the ministry into several new film and digital ventures shortly after that. My dad never retired in the traditional sense. Now at almost 90 years of age he remains active in the ministry, traveling to different nations worldwide to visit our expanding team, and imparting advice and council to me, our board and our leaders at every level of the organization. In your transition, don’t overlook the older members in your organization. They have a wealth of wisdom to impart to younger generations.
Young people today have the most access to knowledge in history, but they don’t have the same level of wisdom and life experience as older generations. Intragenerational leadership brings the wisdom of mature generations together with the knowledge and fresh ideas of younger generations. We can navigate an incredibly fast-paced dynamic world together.
At times, the lack of coherence between younger and older voices in organizations can seem daunting. Younger leaders can feel disempowered or distrust older leaders who may be reluctant to change. Older generations want to protect values they think may be diminishing. Thankfully, strengths lie in all generations, and our organizations thrive when everyone has a place.
Healthy Succession
In the next couple of years I hope to pass on the CEO role to a younger, and in many ways more relevant, knowledgeable member of the team. This does not mean that I or my dad have stopped running, nor should we, even though we serve in different roles within our missional family.
Gen Z and Gen Alpha value transparency and authenticity. They expect leaders to be self-aware of their strengths and weaknesses. Acknowledging what is the highest and best role I can play at different stages of my ministry life should be my humble response of effective service to the mission and vision.
Having a team of intragenerational leaders with differing strengths bolsters organizations, as the perspectives, wisdom and knowledge of all allows for diverse outlooks and intelligent decisions. It also alleviates the pressure on any one leader, with built-in measures of accountability. I encourage you to revisit your transition plan and structure to make space for intragenerational leadership.
Perhaps a better illustration for healthy ministry transition is more of a long-distance cross-country team than a shorter distance relay team. Instead of passing a baton we need to allow different members of the team to keep the pace, depending on the terrain and our abilities. But all of us should be encouraging one another to run in unity with the strengths the Lord has given each of us.