CATCH THEM YOUNG
By Bishop Mike Okonkwo
Saturday March 11, 2023
“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2 (KJV)
One of the things everyone, particularly leaders must take seriously is succession planning. The work of the kingdom should not stop because there is a change in leadership. So as leaders, you must be ready to teach those in your team. Don’t just learn for yourself, teach others. Do not raise followers, raise leaders. Your task is to ensure that there is continuity in that group or ministering arm you are leading. This does not apply only to the church; the same thing in your workplace. When you learn to raise leaders, you will be surprised at the kind of result those empowered followers will give to you.
There is no success without a successor; so being a lone ranger, who knows how to do everything but teaches no one is not leadership. A leader pays the price to raise other leaders. A leader teaches others what he or she knows and passes the baton effectively to the next generation. When I talk about the next generation, it starts from the nursery – every parent should consciously disciple the children that the Lord has committed into their hands. Do not be in a hurry to drop them off in the Sunday School for the teachers so that you can enjoy the service, you are their first teacher, prepare their minds before they come to church. Teach them to prepare their offering from home and pray over it. Teach them to tithe. Find out from them when they get back home what they learnt. Explain it further to them. Let the same thing happen when they come back from school. Be there for them and be a part of their growing years.
Find someone to mentor. As a successful man, find a younger man to mentor. Also, successful ladies should find a younger lady to mentor. In mentoring, you are sharing your experiences with them and because of that, what took you 10 years to achieve, they can achieve in 2 years. Be committed to the success of the coming generation because without a successor, there is no success.
Further Reading: 2 Timothy 2:1-7
Daily Bible Reading: Morning – Deuteronomy 13-15, Evening – Mark 12:28-44