This past weekend I had the privilege of spending some time with a young preacher working with a church in Southern California. I was impressed by his sincerity, humility, and total lack of cynicism. He has a tremendous future as a minister of the gospel.
I hope the church he’s serving recognizes this and takes his potential seriously.
When I spoke to the church on Sunday morning, I took a few minutes to preach a mini-sermon before the sermon about their responsibility to this promising young minister. I said something like this:
Someday, God willing, (Name) will be an old man. He could very well end up being a cynical old (ex) minister because of the way a church treated him when he was a young man. Or he could end up an energetic, old, but still young-at-heart minister because of the way a church loved him when he was a young. He has a responsibility to you, the church he serves. But you also have a responsibility to him. You are going to play an important role in shaping his future as a minister. From what I can tell, you all are off to a great start together.
It’s increasingly popular for churches to invite young (under 35) preachers to preach for them. They believe doing so will increase their chances of reaching young adults. They see it as a growth strategy. Too few also see it as a stewardship.
A young preacher will bring life and energy to the Body. But he’s also going to make mistakes. He’ll demonstrate his inexperience in embarrassing ways. His naivete and half-baked ideas about life will at times be hard to take. This is what churches sign on for when they hire a young preacher. Many churches are willing to do it because young preachers can be a huge blessing to an aging church.
But how many aging churches are ready to be a blessing to young preachers?
In my next post, I’ll share some ways churches can bless their young preachers. Til then, do you think it’s a wise move for aging churches to hire young ministers as a growth strategy? Why or why not?
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
I think it depends on the individual church. Having always lived in the south (Texas, VA, Mississippi & Louisiana) and in mostly small communities and churches (the one exception was for about 6 1/2 with the Falls Church, VA congregation years ago), it’s been my observation that many small and/or aging churches lack the leadership necessary to be stewards to a young minister.
In fact, in my lifetime, I’ve seen ministers gobbled up and spit out by these churches who cast them aside when the group tired of them because they weren’t “doing enough” or were not mature enough, whatever.
In the early 90s and into the mid 2000s I was blessed to be part of two different churches, one a plant and the other a long time church that was undergoing big changes, in which there was growth and where during part of that time there were young ministers treated well. However, even in those places, the young ministers ended up having to leave because of church “politics” within the group and/or lack of money to keep paying them what they needed to live.
I guess, to answer your question – based on my own life’s experiences – it would be no. Mainly because (at least the way you framed the question), too many times aging churches really want to “use” young ministers up without taking part in trying to change themselves to bring growth.
I probably sound cynical, but really I think I’m a realist from experience. God bless that young man. I’m looking forward to hearing more from you on this subject, Wade.
Thanks Dee. I’m afraid your experiences are far too common.
Amen! You are spot on, Wade. Look at Paul’s work with Titus, Timothy, and especially John Mark. A young preacher made even Paul and Barnabas implode. But sixteen years later, once he got it figured out, John Mark was useful to the old man. It is crazy to hire a young guy for his energy and vitality, then blame him for being energetic and vital. What a blessing your homily was to that young California preacher, if the church has ears to hear it.
Kim! Great to hear from you bro. Thanks for jumping into the conversation. Dang, I’d love to have a cup of coffee (or fancy tea) with you soon.
Good stuff, Wade, on a subject close to my heart. Keep writing on this. r
I really appreciated your words on Sunday and I’m glad you are going to write more about it. It was a blessing to get to know you.
Hey Wade,
This goes right in line with several posts I have done over the last week from Mark 9 and how Jesus’ handled the mistakes of his young disciples. I think young people have so much to offer our older members and older members to our younger members (and ministers). We just have to get past differences, fear, etc in order to love and embrace each other in a Christ-like manner. Thanks for sharing these thoughts.
we need more discussion about that, especially with the rate of ministers leaving “full-time” ministry