Sustaining Pastoral Excellence

Pastors are faced with a difficult task in connecting with church members of all ages. Many churches hire children’s and youth pastors to take on the special needs of those age groups. But within the adult population there is also a wide spectrum of ages, ideas, and stages of life. A book published last year by the Alban Institute examines this phenomenon, and how to thoughtfully and productively reach the younger adult population in churches often geared toward those in the mid-to-late stages of life.

Tribal Church: Ministering to the Missing Generation
by Carol Howard Merritt
2007

We often disregard the important assets that adults under forty can offer us. In the denominational church, leadership positions are given to people who prove themselves in some way. Usually they’re people who have a great deal of influence, time, or money. This makes sense. As a church builds its leadership, as pastors and committees search congregations for elders and deacons, they look for the strongest possible links to make up that leadership chain, and if that person has established themselves in a community by gaining power, donating time, or giving money, then it’s likely that they will be a solid leader in the church. They will use their influence positively, put in the valuable hours, and devote their resources to the work and mission of the church. Every congregation needs these important commodities to minister effectively.

The problem is that young people usually do not have power, time, or money. But they have other things: potential, creativity, imagination, vision, and ideas. As the modern philosopher Hannah Arendt explains in The Life of the Mind, if we look at a person’s lifespan in a linear fashion, we can see that a person at the beginning of the line looks forward, while a person at the end of the line looks backward. Younger people have a natural orientation toward planning while older people have an inclination to reminisce. …

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