Allowing them to Lead

The emerging generation will be inspired if they are given the opportunity to demonstrate leadership. It is a difficult transition for the older generation to relinquish control of how things happen. It means that changes will be instituted that make older adults uncomfortable at times. The strongest leaders will be those who can speak in the multiple “languages” necessary to communicate to everyone. This is usually not something that can be learned, but is an intuitive aspect of growing up as a bicultural kid. Consider the process of older adults learning to use a smartphone. They don’t turn to their spouse for help, but rather their children or grandchildren. These kids know how to operate the technology, as well as how to communicate to the adults about its use.

As the culture continues to evolve, younger people understand it innately and how to explain to previous generations what is occurring. This is where bicultural communication is key for the church. The only ones capable of doing that well are young people. It means that if the church is going to evolve, emerging generations must be given the opportunity to lead those changes, helping to transform the church into a body better able to engage with its altered surroundings.

“Keychain leadership” is a term developed by Kara Powell and her team at the Fuller Youth Institute. It describes the willingness of those holding all the “keys”—of access, decision making, strategic planning, and critical roles or authority—to hand over the keys and empower multiple people in areas of leadership, including those within emerging generations (Growing Young, 2016). Often those leaders who fail to share leadership for various functions of the church are concerned with controlling what is produced and need to feel that they themselves are critical to the success of any venture. But the willingness to involve people at multiple levels, to encourage those currently in roles of passive participation toward invested responsibility, fosters a sense of ownership and belonging that is particularly attractive to young adults. The results of research by Faith Communities Today verify the assumptions behind keychain leadership. They found that emerging generations have a stronger commitment and connection to congregations when they receive multiple opportunities for involvement in addition to weekly corporate worship. (Engaging Young Adults, 2016)

This validates the idea that emerging generations desire to be more actively involved in their faith than may have been evident in previous generations. The authors of Neighborhood Church bear this out: “[Emerging generations] seek a way to incarnate their passions: passion for a just world, passion for a less judgmental church, passion for service that actually makes a difference, passion for a sustainable lifestyle.” (Neighborhood Church, 2019) Keychain leaders who recognize these desires, and empower emerging generations with opportunities to manifest them and lead others in the same, are far more likely to garner their commitment in all aspects of congregational life. Experiences are a powerful teacher and can be used by church leaders as means of discipleship and spiritual growth. As John Seel suggests, emerging generations “take their views from life, not authorities.”(The New Copernicans, 2019)

This need for the experiential corresponds with what Efrem has described as the church’s two-pronged focus to engage emerging generations. He said that the church must be committed to spiritual development as well as engaged in social causes that young adults care about. For them, engagement with a faith community requires both of these concurrently. Developing these areas synchronously will likely help retain those who already have some form of God-frame while also attracting those who are unchurched but are cause oriented.

This is why engagement with social justice issues must be more than simply doctrinal statements, but also provide actual opportunities for experiential immersion. This two-pronged emphasis is not suggesting that churches need to consider developing more programs. The primary concern should be about shaping lives. Finding contexts where relationships can be fostered on some form of common ground will reduce the need to develop something new.

The African American church, and specifically its involvement in the civil rights movement, is a great missional example of young people being empowered for transformative leadership. It was middle school, high school, and college students who were on the front lines of the civil rights movement with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other pastors in the 1950s and 1960s. It was girls like Ruby Bridges, who risked her life to integrate schools in the Deep South. It was college students who sat at lunch counters and were spit on, yelled at, and had hot coffee thrown at them. We consider these children and teenagers young heroes for God, giving of themselves to change a nation based on beliefs they learned in the church.

But empowering young people for leadership was not just a civil rights movement strategy. It’s a biblical one as well. The Bible is full of children and teenagers empowered by God for leadership. David killed Goliath as a boy. Josiah became a king at eight years old. A teenage girl named Esther became a queen and risked her life in approaching the king to advocate for her people. A teenage girl named Mary gave birth to the Savior. A teenager named Timothy was prepared by Paul to be a church planter and apostle. If only the church saw in young people what God sees.

At Midtown Church, we are leaning deeply into this challenge to see young people the way God does. We have teenagers and young adults on leadership teams of just about every ministry of our church. We are not just committed to being a multiethnic church but also an empowering, intergenerational church as well.

The multi-inclusive church will win this generation if it is willing to look beyond its traditions, embrace the concept of living in radical love, and celebrate the diversity—created by God—in its midst. This does not mean that all forms of church tradition should be eliminated. We simply have to be willing to consider their intended purpose and if they still communicate clearly in this generation. Many traditions continue to be important ties to the foundations of the church. There will also have to be a willingness to hand over leadership to those whose experience of the world comes from a different place but who nonetheless desire to share the gospel effectively in the new environment.

Perhaps pursuing the multi-inclusive church community is simply misguided hope; perhaps this generation is already lost, and no amount of transformation will sufficiently change the church into becoming something that will meet the needs in this new age. But to be paralyzed, afraid to do anything for fear that the little that remains will be lost, is resignation to inevitable decline. There remains hope for this generation and hope that the church can grow to become a meaningful contributor to fractured communities and broken individuals everywhere. That is a cause worthy of investment.

What is certain is that if the church remains static, unwilling to evolve or grow, it will only exacerbate the exodus of emerging generations. That won’t necessitate the death of the Christian faith per se, but will certainly speed up the decline of the institutional church structure.