14 Things Older Leaders Should Know About Younger Leaders

I did not write this, but I want to share it with not only the older leaders of the Church but also for the younger leaders of the church.  Also for anyone who has ever entered into Church.


I am going to pull a few of the points from the original post and add some comments. 


2. Willing to work together. Twenty- and thirty-somethings are more willing to collaborate than any other generation before. They trust each other. Really. And see collaboration as the starting point, not some grandiose vision of teamwork that is far off in the distance. Collaboration is now the norm. It’s hard to believe, but it’s true- young leaders don’t care who gets the credit. For the next generation- it’s way less about WHO and way more about WHAT.

While this is a bit rosy of a picture, I am going to have to agree with this comment/observation.  Most of the young adult church leaders I encounter are in a constant state of healing from allowing the church to break our hearts.  Most of the time these heartbreaks come from un-wanted egos of others dominating the Church in a way that leads to divisive leadership and a cementing of the Church in a dead custom that is masked as "tradition".  I cannot tell you how many times we share ideas with one another and how few of us get really get credit.  

3. Generosity and sharing are the new currencies of our culture. In business, relationships, networks, platforms, technology, distribution, content delivery, etc., open source is the new standard. This new wave of leaders has tools/resources such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, and tons more social media tools that make influencing much more readily available and easier than ever before. The currency with all of these social mediums is being generous. Sharing your ideas, sharing links, sharing friends, sharing networks. This is a complete paradigm shift from 30-40 years ago.

One of the things that I hope to help change in the Church is a movement away from being nice and move toward generosity.  Friendly means we are nice in as long as we are not troubled too much.  Generosity comes at great cost and expense of the generous one and it is these sacrifices which carry more weight in a world which we "millennials" feel there is an abundance for all.  

We need to be considerate of other generations

There are things that happen in the life of a church in which the staff need to address.  Some of these things involve changes to the way things go or happen in the life of the church.  

Many times in these conversations I hear a voiced concern that we ought to be careful not to leave anyone out as we make changes.  If someone does not have a computer or email then we have to be careful to make sure that even those people keep getting notifications and publications by standard mail.  

I get it.  We do need to be considerate of generations. 

The problem I have with this "consideration" is that it is really care for one generation at the expense of others.

While we are slow to adopt new technologies and changes, for fear of leaving behind some in an older generation, we are also loosing the young generations who look at cumbersome changes as un-engaging and ill-relevant.  

It seems as though young generations are asked to tolerate the slow changes and status quo for the sake of others, but I do not see much reciprocation from other generations.  Not upsetting one generation becomes the expense of losing another generation.  

So yes, we do need to be considerate of ALL generations.  

Alternate idea for Children's church

My son is 2 and 1/2 years old and my wife is a preacher in Arlington.  Jude, our son, is as active as any other kid his age and he has that overwhelming stigma to overcome of being a DOUBLE preacher's kid.  Here is a picture of him in worship a few Friday nights ago.

He sits by himself next to Mrs. Virgina Thompson who is a saint of AHUMC.  Literally he sits there the entire time and I am not even around.  

It got me thinking about how much I appreciate the fact that AHUMC does not have "Children's Church" during worship.  

Each week my son sits with a saint of the church (either at AHUMC or at First Arlington UMC) and participates in worship.  He has different models around the church, not just his parents, guiding him and helping him.  Notice Mrs. Virgina holding the song sheet for Jude to see.  He does not sing just yet (his daddy is not much of a singer either), but she sits with him and shows him "how we worship" together.  

I was thinking what if at church we had parents partner up with older adults to sit with children and model "worship" for these little ones?  I know my son is much better "behaved" for others and follows others better than for Estee or me.  What if children were being mentored in worship by saints of the Church each week?  What if parents sought out mentors for their children (such as Mrs.Virginia) to help them grow in the faith?  What if all parents were as active in our children's faith development as we are in their soccer development?

Anyway, in case I never said it before, I thank God for Mrs. Virgina.

Who are mentors to you or your kids?