Key to Success for the Young African Pastor

Abstract

Youth is full of strength and new ideas. Age is full of experience and established tradition. More often than not the two conflict rather than compliment each other. There is an awareness that the continued growth of the church in Africa will come as a result of complimenting each other and not conflicting with each other. Yet conflict is still a more common phenomenon than compliment. Some have argued that the problem cannot be solved because there will always be a generation gap. However, it does look to me like the Scriptures take the position that this can be overcome with the result that the young man becomes influential even in the midst of older people. The writer recognizes that the problem is shared by both the older and the younger generations but what he intends to do in this article is to address himself to the responsibility of the young in solving this problem. The procedure will be to exegetically examine one of the key passages speaking to the young pastor on being successful. Success will be dealt with in two categories, namely, 1) success in getting the respect of the older generation, and 2) success in accomplishing the task of the pastor.