Sacrificial Succession

Sacrificial Succession #20 – Mission Accomplished? “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” Judges 17:6 • President George W. Bush’s iconic speech on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003 with the banner ‘Mission Accomplished’ behind him sent the wrong message, even though what he actually said was, “Our mission [in Iraq] continues.” • Joshua, too, may have sent the wrong message by sending home the eastern tribes during the conquest of Canaan (22:6-8). The job was not yet finished because not all the territory promised by God had been conquered, yet they were having a succession ceremony. • Another weakness was that Joshua did not prepare successors like his predecessor Moses prepared him and Caleb. One of the consequences was the period of the Judges in Israel, when there were no successors. • Judges descended into a time when everyone did as they saw fit (Judges 21:25). Judges is a stark reminder of the unintended consequences of NOT preparing successors and giving them time to prove themselves before handing over leadership. • In a Sacrificial Succession the mission is accomplished when at least three generations of leader: Predecessor, Successor and Disciple are generationally involved in a transition in an ongoing way (2 Timothy 2:2). • The point of the many Sacrificial Succession analogies shared in the book about serving, sacrificing and sustaining successors is that practicing each of these principles indicates the likelihood of your successional mission being accomplished. • There are four roles and functions required of sacrificial leaders in a Sacrificial Succession: 1) Successors serving through their leadership roles (deakonos), 2) Disciples serving without expectation as servants do (doulos), 3) Incumbents serving successors by sacrificing their leaderships (lytron) Matthew 20:26-28 and 4) Sustainers as advocates for current leaders (paracletos, John 14:16,26) were all modelled perfectly by Jesus. Sacrificial Succession Podcasts • Note that the sacrificial analogy here is that of freeing a slave or a victim of a kidnapping by paying the ransom price. The price must be acceptable to the one in authority, like Aslan’s sacrifice in Edmund’s stead to appease the White witch. • The minimum criteria for ongoing success in a Sacrificial Succession is three generations of leader: 1) Predecessors, 2) Successors and their 3) Disciples, working together in relationship and partnership of serve, sacrifice for and sustain each other in the succession. • Apostle Paul explains this inter-generational dependency and relationship to his successor Timothy: “And the things that you [Timothy, 2nd Generation] have heard me [Paul, 1st Generation] say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men and women [3rd Generation] who will be qualified to teach others [4th Generation] as well, 2 Timothy 2:2). • Incumbents model and make known to successors everything they have learned from their predecessors. Helpers actively guide, and directly model sacrificial qualities to, successors throughout a leadership transition. • How is your successional mission being accomplished? What steps are you taking to serve, sacrifice for and sustain successors? • If you are not doing that, what must be done to accomplish a Sacrificial Succession? • Lord, help me to continue my mission of Sacrificial Succession till it is finished!” Resolve to continue your mission of sacrificial succession till it is finished

Day 18 – Dangerous Dynasties “Warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will claim as his rights.” 1 Samuel 8:9 It is worth noting that Israel’s demand for a king came in response to the prophet Samuel’s failing family dynasty. He allowed his evil sons to succeed him. They turned aside toward dishonest gain, accepted bribes, perverted justice. (1 Samuel 8:3) I wonder if he would have allowed someone else’s sons to behave so terribly? Probably not and that is the point about dynasties. We should not show favouritism (James 2:9) because it distorts our judgement of people, which is a sin. God’s warning about dynasties are as pertinent today as they were then. They must be taken seriously, especially in successions, because precedents set about favouritism due to family and ethnicity have immediate and generational impact. Favouring successors due to family, ethnic or professional factors are a challenge for all leaders. Sacrificial succession cannot endorse dynasties because of the danger family favouritism poses to unselfish motivations for sacrifice. There is no evidence of family dynasties in the early Church, neither should there be in ours. Jesus confirms this truth in Mark 3:35, “For whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother.” What dynasties have you experienced? How do you avoid this form of favouritism? Practically, we outwork this true succession principle in our projects by requiring our predecessors to personally prepare successors that they have discipled themselves from the target nation that they are impacting. To avoid biological conflicts of interest such as dynastic nepotism, in most of our projects, predecessors are explicitly forbidden from discipling or handing over leadership to successors who are family members. Preparing successor candidates from their own ethnic or professional group, when we are working across cultures and professions, is also discouraged. Dynastic relationships through marriage and family ties are complicated and often compromised by the strong potential for favouritism due to this kinship. Therefore, we cannot endorse this model of leadership for Sacrificial Succession, despite recognising that there are and can be exceptions to this rule, especially in family owned businesses. Biblically, dynastic succession is not God’s original will, yet something that He allows, with the caveat being that favouritism and self- interest will always be a risk, 1 Samuel 8:10-22. A study of the dynasties of Israel confirms these risky consequences. Less than a quarter of these kings were good. There is no precedence for nor evidence of dynastic successions in the New Testament other than (maybe) James the brother of Jesus being a leader of the Jerusalem church, Galatians 1:18. However, it is unlikely that James was a physical brother of Jesus. More likely he was a spiritual brother or a relative. Lord help me to not be dynastic by showing family favouritism in leadership.

Sacrificial Succession #18 “Investing in Who?” • “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.” 2 Timothy 2:2 • Billionaire founder of Christian Vision, Lord Robert (Bob) Edmiston once said, “When I am on my death-bed I am not going to be thinking about the last million dollars I made, but about my investment in people.” • Whether or not we make a million or billion dollars, the same principle applies to us. Who are we investing our lives and leaderships into...people or things? Jesus personally invested in 12 disciples. At least five times that number were sent out on his behalf (Luke 10:1). They changed their worlds. Apostle Paul had his Timothys and Tituses. • Even when imprisoned he wrote letters to the churches and pastors he was discipling. That is why we have Paul’s Epistles today. Investing in successors is the greatest legacy any of us can leave. Their impact is felt long after we have left this earth. • I have been blessed by some great investors in me, who have and are taking the time to help me invest in others. This mutual sacrifice of time between predecessors, successors and their disciples is what makes these human investments a legacy paradigm. • Paying this greater price, positionally, and practically, by serving, sacrificing for and sustaining successors can only be made by a predecessor personally invested in the process. A Sacrificial Succession is constituted by the total time invested in the transition by its practitioners plus the specific time allocated for each sacrificial stage. • Reflecting on his role of leading from behind, Pete says, “In many ways, I am more effective now that I am no longer top leader because I have more time to spend investing in younger leaders and helping other churches with their successions. Sacrificial Succession Podcasts • Despite the extreme political and social pressures many of our projects bring, we have always had many ‘friends’ supporting us who gave us good business and community intelligence about who is against us and for us in that nation. • As entrepreneurs, we intentionally use our resources to make friends for ourselves as an investment for support later. In everything that we do we aim to be wise in our dealings with our enemies without hurting them, confident that through our generosity and good conduct we will always have many [secret] supporters. • Jesus commands us to go out amongst the ‘wolves’ [our enemies] and to be smart about it like snakes, yet to remain as innocent as doves, Matthew 10:16. This is a challenging investment, which reaps great rewards when applied to successors. • Jesus goes on to say that worldly people are smarter in their business dealings with each other than spiritual people are and exhorts us to use the worldly things we have now to make ‘friends’ of unbelievers, some who as believers will welcome us later in heaven, Luke 16:8-9. • By faith, we can be confident that there are always people who have not ‘bowed their knee to Baal’ (1 Kings 19:18) and are [silent or secret] supporters of our mission as they were of Paul the Apostle, Acts 18:9. • Who are you investing in, yourself or others? How are your human investments going? • Thank you, Lord, for those who have invested in me and help me to invest in others, not things.

Jesus was betrayed by Judas. There is a high chance that you will be betrayed as well.Listen in as we discuss The Judas Principle.

Sacrificial Succession #16 - All the Tribes • “A tribe who...were always ready to aid one another, and to sacrifice themselves for the common good, would be victorious over most other tribes.” Charles Darwin • In a large-scale conflict having all the tribes fighting with you is vital for victory. This lack of tribal unity is one of the reasons why successive Afghan governments and foreign powers have failed to unify the country. • Winston Churchill wrote in The Story of the Malakand Field Force: An Episode of Frontier War (1898), about Afghanistan that except at the times of sowing and harvesting, a continual state of feud exists. Tribe wars with tribe. The people of one valley fight those of the next. • Joshua, a great leader of Israel who led his people’s conquest of Canaan, understood and applied this unifying principle of “all the tribes” by doing two counter-cultural things. • He said to his generals, “But all your fighting men must be armed for battle to cross over ahead of your brothers and help [fight for] them.” Joshua 1:14 • First, Joshua put those who had already won their inheritance out in front to fight for those tribes who were yet to win theirs. • Despite wrongly attributing altruism to ‘natural selection’, the naturalist Charles Darwin in The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871) astutely recognised that social altruism trumps selfishness tribalism. • While it is difficult to explain naturalistically why someone more important would lay down their life for someone less so, there is universal agreement that this unselfish sacrifice is the most perfect form of altruism and a virtue that ultimately builds the strongest organisations and societies. • Altruistic sacrifice depends more on emotional relationships rather than biological closeness. In other words, emotional bonds are ultimately stronger than family ties when it comes to sacrificial acts. See Paola Bressan, Stephen M. Colarelli and Mary Beth Cavalieri (2009) “Biologically Costly Altruism Depends on Emotional Closeness among Step but Not Half or Full Siblings.” Sacrificial Succession Podcasts • Jesus who modelled this principle perfectly by the propitious and vicarious laying down of his life for us, his friends, and commanding us to love one another in a similar way, John 15:12-13. Jesus also said that “those who hear the word of God and do it (Luke 8:21),” are his [true] ‘mother and brothers’. Reinforcing this truth, since then Christians have been martyred because of their love for Christ and their brethren, which is a greater love than even love for family, Matthew 12:48-49.)” • As Christians, we understand why the most perfect sacrifice is Christ’s unselfish sacrifice for us, because He is God…perfectly sinless and powerful. Therefore, sacrifices that are closer to this perfect sacrifice ideal than more unselfish ones will always prevail (John 15:13). • However, this altruism is not natural selection as Darwin wrongly implies, but unnatural selection modelled perfectly by Christ which can be imperfectly modelled by us through Sacrificial Succession and His Spirit’s leading. • Second, was Joshua’s use of a half-tribe, insignificant by numbers, yet vital in terms of unity. Leaders seldom put themselves in harm’s way for those yet to lead. • Nor is the small and insignificant often equally valued as the big and strong, yet both are vital to the success and sustainability of our largescale projects. • Having all the tribes [partners] involved in impacting a nation is the right approach to conquering our ‘Canaans’ of today. • Do you involve all the tribes in battle? Who fights for the last or least in your wars? Recognise that Sacrificial Succession is more about great teams than incredible individuals. • Lord, help me to remember that you are about teams not just individuals. 

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, on account of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Romans 12:1