If your ministry education is well behind you and are now a leader in a Christian organization, it’s easy to assume that the way ministry preparation worked for you is the same way it will work for the next generation of Christian leaders. But several factors in the culture and the church are colliding to make a perfect storm for the young adults currently considering ministry. If we're serious about the continuation of our mission, it’s important that we understand the times we face and the ways we can help.
1. Ministry education models are unsustainable.
The news has been filled with concerns about student loans outstripping inflation and those going into ministry are not immune from these factors. However, in addition to the usual concerns about debt, the field of ministry itself is in incredible upheaval, meaning that students entering ministry education often have little hope of paid or full-time ministry work to pay back those loans.
The field of ministry is in incredible upheaval, meaning that students entering ministry education often have little hope of paid or full-time ministry work to pay back their student loans.
A 2014 Atlantic Monthly article, “Higher Calling, Lower Wages: The Vanishing of the Middle-Class Clergy,” quotes a highly-qualified pastor from Lexington, Kentucky, who applied for over a hundred ministry roles but now works in ministry part-time.
"He loves his part-time job at the Methodist church, and he’s thankful that his nonprofit job allows him to minister to the homeless, even if he’s given up on the idea of paying back his six-figure debt. ‘Though I will likely not be able to pay off my loans, I am blessed that I found another job that connects so well with my work at the church and my passions, so I didn’t have to take up work in an entirely different field,’ he says. ‘However, I would love to see denominations and seminaries work out new and creative ways to train clergy at a more reasonable financial cost.’”
There are some potentially positive trends because some young Christians are preparing for ministry through studying other fields—leadership studies, sociology, anthropology, psychology, communications—and still others are looking for ways to make any field of study into a ministry—business, engineering, medicine. But there is also still a need for future Christian leaders to study the Bible, theology, church history. How will we help them do that without burdening them with a life of debt and little hope of ministry income?
2. Millennials’ disillusionment makes it hard for them to see themselves leading.
Much has been written about the “Nones” and the “Dones.” It’s good for us, as ministry leaders, to ask, “How do we create a church that is sensitive to the needs of millennials?” But we should also be asking how to develop the emerging leaders of that generation.
Many studies and blogs are reporting how “young adults perceive evangelical Christianity to be too political, too exclusive, old-fashioned, unconcerned with social justice and hostile to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.” They’re tired of culture wars, false choices, and inauthenticity within the church.
These issues are not unique to millennials outside the church. Many who stay in church are asking the same questions. And so, while they may still call themselves Christians, they’re working really hard to find a way to make this faith their own when so much in the church feels foreign. So, if they’re frustrated with the church, it’s only natural that Millennial Christians have a hard time seeing themselves leading it. It would need to look very different from the church they’ve known and the leadership they’ve seen. But it’s asking a lot of young leaders to have to reshape what they’re leading while they’re still learning what it is to lead. How will we give them space to vent and heal? How can we help them imagine a church that’s both scriptural and culturally relevant so that they even want to lead it? How will we walk alongside them into a future that’s unclear?
3. Emerging leaders often don’t fit existing leadership models.
Rex Miller, in The Millennium Matrix, describes a transition in leadership models that began around 2010. He says that in the broadcast era (from around 1950 to 2010) we were looking for a leader who was commanding and forceful. In this style, a leader’s influence was established by their achievements and rapport with others. But now, in a digital age, we look for leaders who facilitate collaboration and whose resource and relational network establishes their influence.
Since we find ourselves only five years into this digital era, the first generation will have the challenges of the pioneer—very few emerging leaders have had this kind of leadership modeled to them. And very few recognize this kind of leadership potential in themselves. If all their leaders have exuded celebrity and control, but millennials aren’t wired that way (in fact, they are put off by that approach), why would they feel called to lead? And why would existing leaders see leadership potential in them? How can we redefine leadership and broaden the expectations of how a leader looks?
Educators and visionaries are beginning to respond to these trends. Chicago’s Northern Seminary has developed a new M.A. in Theology and Mission with the aim to provide top caliber theological training, at the price of a monthly small car payment, with a class structure that allows students to stay in jobs and ministry. David Fitch, faculty member and founder of this program, says, “There’s a fast widening gap between generations when it comes to leadership. Meanwhile the resources for training leaders are shrinking, and the denominational structures for guiding and supporting them remain inflexible. It's hard to imagine the future when so many younger leaders are blocked from the former paths to leadership that worked for their parents and grandparents. We must begin now to rethink seminary education and the denominational structures that support leadership development for the new mission fields of North America.”
Chris Backert’s roles as national director of the Ecclesia Network and co-director of Missio Alliance allow him to watch this trend across denominations and regions. “The problem is the location of our ministry preparation. Most often it is housed within the academy when in fact we need it housed within the worshipping community. This is a call for a transformational shift, not one that alleviates the need for all the strength that our theological institutions provide, but one that re-locates the epi-center of where and how future pastors are trained. A growing number of church communities are sensing the movement of the Spirit to take up the vocation of apprenticing future ministry leaders—some have begun, others are on the way, and still more will soon join.”
There are also opportunities to learn from the example of other Western cultures who have a longer experience in post-Christian culture. Forge is an innovative mission training network that seeks to equip Christian leaders in a first world setting. Launched in Australia by Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost in 1996, it responded to “the dire need for Christians to go into the world, amidst the many cultural changes, and actively engage others with the Message of Jesus. In 2010, Forge America began rolling out to various cities such as Dallas, Kansas City, Chicago, Raleigh, Joplin, Sacramento, Portland, and others, aiming to bring about a shift toward a paradigm in which every member of the body of Christ is participating in the mission of God.”
And in England, Fresh Expressions UK has developed a whole new track for ministry certification called "Pioneer Ministry" within the framework of ordination in the church of England, appealing to people who would never pursue a traditional ministry call. Graham Cray, former Principal of Ridley Hall in Cambridge and long-standing leader of Fresh Expressions UK, will be talking with US leaders about New Frontiers in Ministry Formation at a special session before the Fresh Expressions US National Gathering in April, 2016.
So there is a movement afoot to adapt to the changing needs of leadership development in the North American church but there is still much to be done. Will we leave it to young adults to flounder alone through this transition in education, the culture, and the church? If we have an interest in continuing the Christian movement across the world, it is our responsibility to find and develop and encourage and fund them. What are we doing to find leaders (even if they don’t look like us), to give them permission to process their frustration with how the church is, help them find a way for them to lead what the church is becoming, and provide them with resources to be ready for whatever is ahead?
Mandy Smith is lead pastor at University Christian Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.
