Zambia Hunt

Brothers, so much depends on how the person handing off handles this transition. Do not underestimate the weight of the responsibility that you have in the handing-off of ministry.

Two Critical Dangers

Danger One: Moving too quickly. Putting someone into leadership who isn’t biblically qualified due to spiritual immaturity or failure to meet scriptural qualifications. The desire to see indigenous leadership can tempt us to move faster than wisdom allows.

Danger Two: Never hand off at all. Having qualified, godly men ready to lead, but refusing to release control. Some put the requirements for leadership so high that even the Apostle Paul would not qualify.

Between these extremes lies this truth: you must trust that God will build His church. It’s His church, not yours. It’s not about you. There is a

Three Non-Negotiable Principles

First: Be humble. Be willing to listen and learn. Bring the godly men in your ministry into the decision-making process. Seek their advice. Value their input.

Second: Once the handoff is complete, be quiet. Don’t offer opinions to anyone except God in prayer. Step back and remember the bigger picture: this ministry will continue even when the next leader does things very differently from you would have. When the ministry faces struggles, cast that burden on God. Do not—I repeat, do not—rush back in to “save the day.”

Third: Trust the process you’ve established and the man God has raised up.

An Encouraging Exhortation

Brothers, here’s the uncomfortable truth: a truly successful handoff means the ministry might look different under new leadership, and that’s okay. In fact, it should look different (and will look different) in some ways. The new leader will have different gifts, different cultural insights, and different relationships. If you’ve done your job well, the faithfulness to Scripture, gospel clarity, and genuine discipleship will remain. But the methods, the emphases, even some of the ministries may change. That is ok too!

This requires death to self. Death to your ego. Death to the need to be needed. Our identity cannot be tied up in the work we have done, but in our eternal relationship to Christ.

And there is a rich reward in all of this! When you step back and watch God work through the leader you’ve invested in, see the church continue in faithfulness and even flourish under indigenous leadership, and realize the gospel is advancing without you at the helm, you will experience the joy of participating in something far bigger than yourself.

This is what it means to decrease so that Christ might increase. This is what multiplication looks like in the kingdom.

So, ask yourself: Are you preparing to hand off well? Are you willing to trust God’s work through another man, recognizing that He is able to do through this brother, what He did for you? Are you ready to step back when the time comes, and are you being intentional in that process?

The future health of the church you’ve served depends on how you answer these questions.