By Elijah Zehyoue
One of the coolest things about being a post-seminary young minister is that I get to spend a lot of my time engaging with and often leading other young ministers and young leaders. And while this can often be something like the blind leading the blind, there are a few moments of sight that can be illuminating. One of those moments of “sight” is this: the future of the church rests on whether or not our generation believes in the church and (more importantly) if the church believes in us.
Many trees have been killed trying to figure out the different aspects of the Millennial Faith Problems like why we don’t go to church, why we are so “strange” about our beliefs, and why all around we are so different from the generations before us. And while interesting questions still remain on all these fronts, I think the more interesting question is the one posed above (but repeated here for emphasis): Does the church believe in us?
I ask this question because of both my own experience in church and my (probably) hundreds of hours in conversations with other young ministers. Many of us are anxious for opportunities to lead, but rarely get the chance until we fulfill some unwritten (serve as an associate pastor for 10 years) and often unattainable requirements (many of us may not last that long in ministry for various reasons).
Even though some of us are fortunate enough to work in good starter jobs, we still struggle to lead. One of the nagging questions that many of us have is, “will anyone trust me to actually lead them?” I know this may sound silly, but it is for sure a question I ask daily, especially as I near the end of my Residency. I know that I am a passionate pastor, a thoughtful and engaging preacher, and I think of myself as capable of leading. But I also know that I may just be a strong committee of one.
For the 10 years since I’ve answered the call to ministry, folks in the church around me have repeatedly told me how great and excited they were that I answered a call to ministry. Others told me that it gave them hope to see a young person plant their feet in the solid rock of the church. Others said that the church would be better because people like me were helping to lead it. Obviously, my ego very much so appreciates these truly affirming words, but 10 years into ministry, 5 years out of college, a year and half out of seminary, and still being three months shy of 27, I am more often reminded that I am young and my leadership and ministry will be more impactful in some distant and ambiguous future.
But If I can be honest with you friends, I must say I am over waiting for the future to lead and minister, I am ready to lead and minister now. And fortunately I don’t think I am alone in this. This is the hot conversation between my fellow young ministers and me. We get first row seats to debates about how churches are dying and changing, about how we are in the midst of a “Rummage Sale,” a “Third Great Awakening,” a “Post-Protestant Reformation (my term, clever right?); and while those ideas rightfully excite so many, it seems like churches are ignoring the very obvious missing pieces to these problem. Stated plainly, it is hard for young ministers and seminarians to hear, witness, and experience the church changing in ways that strongly resemble the trends and strengths of our generation and yet still see that we aren’t given the opportunity to lead these institutions even though we might be the best fit for this time.
On behalf of young ministers and young leaders let me say this to the churches and institutions we hope to lead: We are tired of waiting on some distant future, you have trained us up well in the way of the Lord, we are well read, well practiced, well prayed, and well “ready”; give us the chance to lead today!
Earlier this week, I came across a few lines in a book that I am re-reading entitled Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leadership. In this book, two Harvard Professors convey much of their own experience in leadership and share the wisdom and insights of many other leaders across disciplines and fields including churches and nonprofits. The lines that particularly spoke to me and are relevant for all who read today are this:
To lead is to live dangerously because when leadership counts, when you lead people through difficult change, you challenge what people hold dear — their daily habits, tools, loyalties, and ways of thinking — with nothing more than a possibility. … To persuade people to give up what they know for something they’ve never experienced means convincing them to take a leap of faith.
These two academics come to the same conclusion about leadership as Jesus. In Mark 10:35-45 when James and John asks Jesus to sit at his right hand and his left hand, they are really asking him a question about what it means to be a leader. Jesus doesn’t rebuke them because he wants them to be a leader and wants them to have the tools to be his effective successors. So he says to be his disciples, we are called to be a leader, but as leaders we must know that the role is dangerous and risky because we are asking people to have faith in a new possibility.
I believe that the church really is experiencing a paradigmatic shift; and this shift, like all change is dangerous and risky. We are trading what we know for a future that is uncertain and unstable. But in the midst of this danger, we are still called to faith in a new possibility — in what God can do, in her church, and even in our young leaders. I also believed we are called to something else — a faith that the future is today and that young ministers are willing and ready to lead us in and through it. Believe it or not my generation is living out our faith in the church ever day, the real question is do you have faith in us?