Dari Suksesi Personal ke Pemuridan Multigenerasi

Rekonstruksi Model Kepemimpinan Paulus dalam Kisah Para Rasul 20:18–35

Abstract

Leadership transition becomes theologically problematic when a church’s continuity depends primarily on the continuing influence of its founding leader. This article reconstructs the leadership model in Paul’s Miletus speech in Acts 20:18–35 and considers its implications for Indonesian churches facing personalistic patterns of authority. The study employs qualitative theological library research, combining syntactical-theological exegesis, socio-rhetorical interpretation, and critical contextual engagement with the academic sources selected for this study. The analysis identifies four interrelated shifts: from personal control to accountability before God, from exclusive loyalty to the founder to dependence on the word of grace, from concentrated authority to shared pastoral responsibility, and from replacing a prominent figure to transmitting faithful patterns of ministry. These shifts do not amount to a complete constitutional model or an explicit multigenerational curriculum within the passage itself. Rather, they provide a theological basis for three contextual proposals: structured multigenerational discipleship, accountable shared leadership, and phased succession. The article argues that relational cultural resources can support these proposals when critically evaluated by the gospel. Their effectiveness in Indonesian congregations remains a proposition requiring empirical investigation.