1. The Importance and Complexity of Succession in Overseas Chinese Churches
During my years of serving in the church, several issues have repeatedly touched my heart and prompted me to reflect.
First, the loss of young people and the ageing of churches. Consider a church in central Auckland. It was located on a well-known commercial street with a dense population, convenient transport and easy access to daily necessities, and it had a history of more than seventy years. Because young people had not joined the church for a long time, the congregation aged severely. By the time the church closed, only a little more than ten elderly members remained, with an average age above eighty.
Second, the difficulty of appointing pastors for English-speaking congregations. To retain the English-speaking second generation, some Chinese churches with sufficient resources have established English congregations. Yet finding a suitable pastor for an English congregation is not easy. The expectations for spiritual maturity, theological training and pastoral gifts cannot be lowered, while churches often also expect candidates to have been educated locally, to preach in English and to communicate in Chinese.
Third, the lack of mutual understanding and trust between co-workers of the two generations. The second generation in overseas Chinese churches has largely grown up locally and absorbed Western culture, especially its emphasis on equality. The first generation, by contrast, is often deeply shaped by the culture of their place of origin, particularly the Chinese culture of honour and respect for seniority. Differences in age, culture and language can therefore create communication difficulties, misunderstandings and even a loss of mutual trust.
Fourth, the difficulty senior pastors face in handing over leadership. In some cases, pastors reach the appropriate age but do not want to hand over, for many reasons, one of which is a lack of confidence in others. In other cases, they want to hand over but there is no one ready to receive the responsibility. And sometimes, under pressure and with no good alternative, a planned handover becomes more like simply dropping the baton.
All four issues seriously affect spiritual succession in overseas Chinese churches. Reflecting on them has shown me not only the importance and urgency of church succession, but also how complex the issue is. It often involves challenges across many dimensions and cannot be solved by only a small number of people.
What, then, should we do? I believe every church must begin with itself. Every co-worker, including the senior pastor, should pray together for the rejuvenation and spiritual succession of the church, asking the Holy Spirit to work in the church, change and renew our thinking, and lead us to spend time learning and discussing the subject of succession.
Since the beginning of 2023, I have intentionally studied issues related to church succession. On the one hand, I have returned to Scripture to examine biblical teaching and examples of succession. On the other hand, I have sought to learn from the experiences and lessons of other churches and to exchange insights with pastors and co-workers in churches around us.
Throughout this learning process, I have kept asking one question: if we want to help overseas Chinese churches become younger and achieve healthy succession, what is the change we most need to make? I have found only one answer: humility.
2. Humility Is What Overseas Chinese Churches Need Most for Healthy Succession
From what I have observed, many older church leaders do not struggle to hand over because they are attached to power. Rather, they are not confident about entrusting responsibility to younger people. Why? They may say that young people are not mature enough spiritually, lack experience or need more training. The unspoken message behind these statements can be: I am much stronger than the younger generation. That is, in fact, pride. Therefore, if a church is to promote and implement succession, the most important step is for older co-workers to confess and repent before God of pride and self-righteousness, ask the Holy Spirit to change their old ways of thinking, and become examples of humble lives.
In Philippians 2:3, Paul says, “In humility value others above yourselves.” In the past, I tended to think that the “others” in this verse at least meant co-workers of similar age and experience. Today I believe that the “others” whom I should regard as better than myself must also include younger co-workers who have believed for a shorter time, have less seniority and still lack experience.
In Chinese culture, no matter how old children become, they are often still expected to listen to their parents. To some extent, this can reflect parental pride. Jensen Huang once said that even though he is in his sixties and is CEO of a company that became the world’s most valuable by market capitalisation, his father still often tells him how he should do things. My relationship with my own children used to be similar. One day, when I was giving directions to my daughter, who had already become a senior corporate executive, she said to me, “Dad, you don’t understand.” I thought, How could I not understand? I am Dong! I had always assumed I understood things, at least better than my children. Yet at that moment I had to admit: I really did not understand.
Those words, “you don’t understand,” were deeply striking. They helped me realise that my children had grown up. In professional knowledge, sensitivity to new developments and even the ability to handle complex problems, they had surpassed me. From that day, I began to examine my relationship with my children and intentionally learn humility at home, regarding them as better than myself. I moved from telling them what to do and expecting them to follow my decisions, to listening more and speaking less, respecting and supporting them as they followed their own thinking, and eventually to listening to them and acting according to their ideas. In other words, I moved from being the main character on the family stage, to gladly taking a supporting role, and even to enjoying being part of the audience.
The church is God’s family. If a church wants to retain young people and achieve spiritual succession, it also needs this kind of transition in roles. Older co-workers need to learn humility and gradually step back from the dominant position into a supporting role. They should not only allow younger people to participate in decisions, but gradually enable them to lead decision-making and implementation.
Of course, I am looking at succession from the perspective of an older co-worker, so I have focused on the need for older workers to change their thinking and humble themselves. Only when older co-workers become humble can they truly trust the younger generation and have the courage to entrust responsibility to them.
The younger generation also needs to learn humility and make changes. For example, younger people who grow up in a Western cultural environment need to understand Chinese culture and why older people may struggle when young people do not greet them when they meet. They should communicate proactively with spiritual elders when issues arise and take the initiative to learn from them. Honouring elders is not only consistent with Chinese culture; it is also consistent with biblical teaching. Only when both generations in the church humble themselves can we truly walk together across generations and advance spiritual succession.
3. What Should We Pass On?
When we talk about church succession, we inevitably ask, “What are we passing on?” People often think first of a senior pastor getting older and needing to find someone to take over.
But is succession mainly about handing over ministry positions? I believe spiritual succession in the church goes far beyond transferring roles. It should include at least the following areas:
1. Spiritual character is the core and key of church succession.
If older co-workers do not provide a good example of spiritual life, there is no foundation for succession. Humility has already been mentioned. Older co-workers need to pursue humble lives so that the younger generation has an example to follow and the church can continue, generation after generation, building spiritual lives that please God.
2. Passing on the mission of the church.
For EFCCA, discipleship and mission through church planting are long-term directions for the church. We need to continue teaching and advancing these priorities so they are passed from one generation to the next.
3. Passing on church governance systems and structures.
EFCCA has developed a team-based governance structure and a small-group discipleship and pastoral-care structure. These two structures have helped identify and encourage co-workers from different age groups to participate in ministry and to experience God’s transformation and growth through serving. They are worth passing on.
4. Passing on a culture of loving one another.
EFCCA’s vision is “Loving One Another, Blessing Each Other.” Through building a small-group-based church, a culture of mutual love has become deeply rooted in the hearts of members, and it should be passed on.
5. Establishing and passing on the conviction that ministry teams should become younger.
If the church wants to attract and retain young people, it needs to increase the proportion of younger co-workers in its ministry teams.
Yongjun Dong
August 2026