Back in 2021, I had the privilege of attending the New Room Conference for the first time. As a Wesleyan and Asbury Theological Seminary student, it felt like a rite of passage, an initiation into a holy New Room fraternity (much like a regular fraternity, except for racial and gender diversity and the lack of hazing, alcohol, and brightly colored 4″ inseam shorts… so maybe nothing like a fraternity).
Coming home, there was so much to process, particularly all of the wisdom that had been dropped from Spirit-filled speakers like Carolyn Moore, Kevin Watson, and Rich Villodas. The theme for the year was “The Door is Open,” building off Jesus’ words in Revelation 3:8 (“I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”)
The conference started with an opening message from Dr. David Thomas (no, not the Wendy’s founder… that’s Dave Thomas). Like many of the best sermons, it was both challenging and comforting, addressing the pain ministry leaders felt during the pandemic but calling us into the new life God is calling His church to.
(As much as I’d like to write something that is half as inspiring as David’s talk, I know the likelihood of that is miniscule at best, so feel free to scroll down and watch his message.)
In his prophetic way, David shared many of the things that the door is open to: humility, repentance, unity, and the global Church. But as I was sitting toward the back of the room looking at the backs of heads primarily filled with gray, white, or no hair, he shared something that resonated with me in a way that I’ve rarely heard in church settings: “Jesus has placed before us an open door to the young.”
I’ve been in church a while… my whole life in fact. I’ve heard many messages that encourage young people to “not let anyone look down on you” and that talk about Jesus’ arms being open to little children. However, most of these messages have been in youth group or at churches with a significant number of young people present. But it’s different when someone says to a crowd of people who have been in ministry longer than I’ve been alive:
“Anybody in this room, maybe 45, 50, or older, we should do nothing except beside or behind a young leader. We’re out of time for building our careers. That stuff just does not matter anymore.”
Hearing those words gives me goosebumps. Too often, I’ve seen churches—loving, healthy, Christ-following churches—express the desire to have young people engaged in their church, but when you examine their decision-making leadership, there is an unsurprising lack of youth.
David’s message didn’t feel like the typical “We need young people in our church so our church can live on” message. It felt like a genuine desire—a plea even—for Christian leaders to realize that following Jesus means handing over power and leadership to those who may be less qualified or experienced than us. After all, it’s what Jesus modeled in the way He led His disciples.
But on top of that, I think David’s message resonates with the many churches who do genuinely desire to see young people actively engaged in their church, but can’t seem to figure out how. I believe there are very few panaceas in life, so don’t hear me say that this is one, but I can’t help but wonder: If each church and each ministry leader took David’s words seriously, would we begin to see our churches reflect what we believe God has called them to be?
I’ve asked myself the question: Why don’t more churches have young people leading alongside, or in front of, experienced leaders? There are innumerable reasons, and each church and leader has their own list of specific reasons why, but I’ve come up with four reasons the door is blocked to young leaders. Each reason is valid, but each one has its own flaws.
1. We should be serving young people.
There’s this concept in ministry that, at face value, looks to be a servant-hearted mindset, but I think misses the understanding of the life Jesus calls us to. I call it Service Provider Ministry: You show up, we give you what you need.
There’s something to be said for the low barrier of entry this creates for people to enter into the church. We shouldn’t create a list of requirements to be met before people attend church. But what Service Provider Ministry does is create a group of passive consumers, who come to believe that the call to faithful discipleship is a call to come and receive the good gifts of God without any buy-in on your part. Messages about taking up our crosses seem antithetical to everything they’ve come to believe about church.
Moreover, most people—young people in particular—don’t want to just come and consume. We live our lives in a consumeristic society; we don’t want a consumeristic church too.
A church I’m well-acquainted with has been one of the fastest growing Methodist churches in the nation for several years. It’s “the” church in its town. You know which church I’m talking about; the one that, when those who don’t attend church decide to try out a church, is the first one that comes to mind. When I was talking with one of their pastors several years ago about how they have been able to sustain such attendance growth, he said that they ask people to serve. It’s actually quite a simple concept: “The first week, we give people a free pass. The second week they come, we ask where they’d like to start serving.”
Churches have convinced themselves that what’s best for young people is to create a place they like to come to and be served. I submit to you that what young people want (and more generally, what people want) is a place where they can connect with and worship God, have meaningful relationships, and have a sense of purpose.
In fact, that formula is quite similar to a formula for happiness, as expressed by author and professor Arthur Brooks. Granted, I don’t think the purpose of church is to make people happy, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that people will stay in a place that makes them happy.
If we want young people to be in our churches, we have to give them a sense of purpose and not simply think that they want to come and be served.
2. It takes too much time.
David used a phrase about young people in leadership that I think speaks to a core concern of those who are currently in positions of leadership. In describing young leaders, he used the phrase, “bumping around in kingdom work.”
I like that phrase. I’ve done my fair share of bumping around in kingdom work.
As much as I describe churches that don’t have young people in leadership, I’ve been exceedingly blessed in the churches that I’ve attended giving me leadership opportunities (and honestly, maybe that’s why I’ve found myself at those churches: because they wanted to have young people in leadership). I’ve made poor decisions, preached bad sermons, and offered unhelpful advice more times than I can count. I’ve bumped around in kingdom work like a pinball. But each time I’ve bumped around, there has been a pastor or mentor there to help me process and course-correct for the future.
The key to helping someone bump around in kingdom work is the willingness to spend the needed time it takes to let them bump around. Sometimes, as the experienced leader, you will feel like you are wasting your time, having to help a young leader in a task that you could complete in half the time. A typical meeting will suddenly require double the time commitment because you’ll go back and help the young leader process what happened in the meeting.
But, rather than wasting your time, you’re doing something so much more important: you’re investing your time. Most investments require a significant contribution up-front in order to see payoff for years—if not decades—to come.
I remember being at a church where a pastor that was helping me bump around (or, what others may call “mentoring me”) had to fire a staff person. He had enough on his plate, including looking for someone to hire to fill this critical position. But the next day, he met me at a Starbucks and explained what happened, explaining each miniscule step he took in the process that led to this final decision. He didn’t have to, but he invested his time in someone who would be launching into pastoral ministry having to make similar decisions in the future.
If we need a model for how to do this, look to Jesus. He took a ragtag group of average Joe’s and spent the time investing in them so that they could bump around (and bump around they did!) in a ministry he could have done with His eyes closed.
Often, it’s much quicker, more efficient, and of better quality when experienced leaders minister on their own. But you almost inevitably end up making less disciples that way. If speed, efficiency, and quality are your only measures of ministry, discipling the next generation won’t happen in your ministry. It takes an investment of time.
3. Young people don’t have the experience.
While my wife and I were living in Kentucky, we were in a Sunday School class in which the average age is my grandparents’ age. It’s amazing. My wife and I chose to attend this Sunday School class because of their wealth of life experience. We weren’t disappointed. Our fellow class members were such a gift not only to us personally, but to the church at large.
Most of the churches I have been involved with have been filled with experience-filled women and men who generously share their time and experience with the church and its ministries. Because of this, I’ve often noticed that church councils and committees are filled with people who have experience. But what’s lacking are the young people on these committees.
When I brought this up one time, someone (with lots of life experience) told me to find someone who had experience in one of the church committee areas and they’d be glad to add them onto the committee. Not only does that idea miss the point of what church leadership is (it’s not about making an All-Star team of leaders, but rather, making disciples) but it’s a losing proposition: in order to have experience, you have to have opportunities to get experience.
Thirty years from now, if I don’t have any opportunities to gain knowledge and skills in the areas that church committees cover, I’ll still be just as inexperienced as I am today. “Oh, but you’ll have opportunities to gain knowledge and skills in those areas, Hunter,” you may say. Sure, I’ll concede that. But not from the church. The church is saying: Go develop gifts elsewhere and then come share those with us.
Is that how the church is supposed to function? A place where we can’t develop gifts, only use them. What does that teach us about the God we serve? That He’s only interested in your refined gifts and not helping you refine them?
If that’s our understanding of how the church is supposed to work, I wonder if we’ve missed the mark about who the church is for. It’s not the place for those who have the experience and wisdom… it’s the place for all people of all ages and all skills.
4. Young people just aren’t around.
As I’ve mentioned, in the churches I’ve worshiped in, there has often been a desire to get young people involved in leadership… if not from everyone, at least from some key leaders. But they have often faced a difficult challenge: young people just aren’t around.
It’s a difficult challenge to overcome, no doubt. But it may be a chicken-and-egg situation. Which came first: there aren’t any young people involved to give leadership opportunities or young people aren’t involved because there aren’t leadership opportunities for them.
I’m a big professional women’s soccer fan. In 2015, the US Women’s National Team (USWNT) won the coveted World Cup, a feat that had escaped them for the last three World Cups. It was an exhilarating time for many, but no more momentous than for young soccer-playing girls nationwide. The World Cup win launched a rebirth of interest in women’s soccer across the nation.
During the final of the 2015 World Cup, an email chain was circulating between the “99ers,” the women of the 1999 USWNT, the last group of Americans to win the World Cup. ESPN published the email chain and one phrase stood out to me. When describing the impact this has on the future of women’s soccer, defender Kate (Sobrero) Markgraf said, “It’s hard to be what you can’t see.”
I think many churches have failed to understand that concept, particularly when it comes to young people in leadership. Young people read in Scripture a God that chooses young people—inexperienced, flawed, oft-forgotten young people—to lead. From pulpits, we are reminded about these young people and their faithfulness in serving, even though they were young. And yet, young people don’t have leadership opportunities in many of those same churches.
So they go to other churches. Churches that are led, at least in part, by young people. Churches where experienced people take young people under their wings. Churches that, at the churches young people are leaving, are spoken about with tones of jealousy and resentment.
Maybe it’s time that churches and church leaders take a look at their ministry. Are there young people on your committees (and, because I’ve heard this all too often, not just people in their 30s and 40s… people in their 20s or even in high school)? Do they have a say in worship planning? How much time are you spending with people younger than you in ministry? When was the last time you stepped aside for a young person to have a leadership opportunity?
If we want a generation of young people leading for Christ, we have to begin with one, then two, then three young people with leadership opportunities in ministry. It’s hard to be what you can’t see.
Soon after attending the New Room Conference, I was talking to a group of young people and hearing their feedback about their church. One of them mentioned that they wished they could have more involvement in their worship service. The leader of the group told them that they do have leadership opportunities; after all, Youth Sunday was coming up.
One Sunday isn’t enough to raise up a generation of young disciples for Jesus. Developing young leaders needs to become deeply ingrained in our churches and in the hearts of our ministers.
As I write this, two verses come to mind: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37b-38) There is a generation of young people waiting to walk behind, beside, and in front of you in ministry. My prayer is that the Lord of the harvest sends laborers in.
If you’re interested in reading more content like this, I’ve got a bunch more where that came from. Enter your email to subscribe to all my newest blog posts and check out my most recent ones below:
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Hunter Bethea 
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