Give young people real responsibility in your leadership.
I’ve been trying (unsuccessfully) to track down the article I read a few months ago, but it mentioned that one of the reasons the 18-30 demographic is the segment most rapidly leaving the church is because they don’t ever have the opportunity to see themselves leading and shaping it. They are so vastly under-represented in church leadership, and I think the Church misses out big-time on some unique characteristics this life-stage can bring. Such as:
1. Chronologically, people in this demographic are often the closest to their own life-shaping decisions for Christ. As we frequently see in Scripture, those who recently had life-changing encounters with Christ, can’t help but go and tell others. They are passionate and compelled to talk about their real, tangible life change. Now, this is just my personal experience, but when I got serious about re-ordering my life with God as the top priority in my late 20’s, I was going through so much life change there was no way I could keep it bottled in. And I didn’t even have to try. The people who were around me noticed a marked change and wanted to know why. When they asked, I told them, or when they confided in me over their own lives, they welcomed me explaining what I had discovered about the relevance of God for me in this day and age.
My world is a little smaller today. Now, I’m on staff at a church. Most of the people I know are already Christians. I’ve gotten married and started a family, so my circle of relationships outside the church is smaller than it used to be. After 10+ years now of lending to the effort, my opportunities to actually witness to non-Christians with whom I have deep relationships is less now than it was when I came to all of this. Previously, I was in the business world and had all manner of influence with co-workers, bosses, people in the industry, etc. It didn’t take me 10 years to share what Christ had done. Some were intrigued by what I experienced and have taken their own paths to Christ, while others just moved on. My point is that the Church is often missing out on the influence of a younger generation who has recently made life-altering decisions about who Christ is going to be in their lives and the power and the passion that comes along with that is too often absent or not allowed greater influence.
2. Good ol’ idealism - Remember how black and white things were when you were younger, and how your mind was made up that as soon as you finished school and could begin to affect some change in the world, you were going to do it? Well, the further we get along in life, the more words like manage, cope, and compromise enter our vernacular. I don’t think that’s accidental. We learn that to get along, you often have to learn to play along. Plus, you throw in family responsibilities and the amount of time invested in our careers, and it’s clear to see that we become increasingly risk-averse in the choices our idealism likely requires. Again, this isn’t in all cases, but importantly, most of you with families of your own and mortgages get what I’m saying. Man, I think the Church benefits greatly when there’s a contingent of idealistic people who believe “this should and must be done”, and we’re the ones missing out when the demographic most likely to produce that idealism isn’t welcomed and allowed voice in the Church.
3. Hunger to learn and explore - This is not a rampant condemnation of older generations in the Church. Heck, I’m 37 now, so I don’t even get to be “cool” and jump with this key 18-30 generation. I’m just observing that some of the coolest things going on in the Church today are being empowered by a younger generation that is so hungry to learn and explore what it means to follow Christ, and rather than simply having only older generations who’ve been at this “God-stuff” longer, as the sole voice of leadership in the Church, it is vital that church leaders be intentional in seeking out young staff and inviting young volunteers into the discussion so that this generation can see they have a place and voice that’s welcome.
Oh, how I miss my Land Cruiser! I can’t wait to get it back in a few years. But, driving Blurple around the Atlanta area has been a great lesson in humility.
Boy, I’m having fun. Please, please send me your reminders of even girlier cars, you know like a Volkswagen Rabbit Convertible (sorry to all you guys driving one of those).
Hi, I'm Scott and this is my bio attempt. God has a sense of humor... I work at a church. That's not the path I figured coming out of grad school, but when He called, thankfully I didn't try to win a battle of merits between my plan and His. So, how'd that play out? Well, in 2001 I left commercial real estate and went on staff at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, GA. This place captured my heart the first time I walked in the doors. God, thanks for letting me do this for as long as you let me do it!