See, I am doing a new thing!
God, in Isaiah 43:18-19: "Forget the former things;do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."
He is always about doing new things. So it stands to reason that if we are His people, we should be all about doing new things! The question is how. A friend of mine attended the Catalyst event in Atlanta last week. He came home charged up and ready to lead forward. He is 20 years old, and he told me that Andy Stanley said that the new generation must lead the new generation forward. He also told me that he realized that his next 10 years or so would be his most productive for the kingdom and he didn't want to waste it. Now Andy Stanley is 50 years old, and I am 43. If what Andy says is true, perhaps Andy and I need to step aside so that the next generation can step in. And I'm serious.
In our denomination, United Methodism, we value age and experience. Now, we value that all-the-while seeing that our youngest pastors are generally doing the most kingdom-influencing work. That effectiveness wanes with age. For real. So when are we going to step aside to let the younger generation lead?
I have always prayed about what God has in store for me next. My friend's comments have really forced me to pray about that afresh and anew. What about you?
11 comments:
Not that I lack interest in what you are blabbing about in this post, but I looked to the right of it, and noticed the overuse of the word, "Mussing" from many of the WPUMC Bloggers. I am not finding the word offensive, rather a bit of an "old" word. Why would one use that word? Is it a theological word? One that people in seminary learn?
Curious, write back.
B~
Scary stuff, old man. A key role we should have, I think, is to mentor the younger folks, even while we're releasing them for ministry. I'm not sure how well we're doing that.
"Mussing" is something done to a person's hair--something that many of us older bloggers are sorely lacking.
"Musing," on the other hand, is to be absorbed in deep thoughts--which, again, many of us older bloggers are sorely lacking!!
But, Barbarosa, if it's any consolation, I have always found you to be extremely a-musing.
Barb...what Eric said.
Brett...
Not to put you on the spot, but do you have some ideas about how this "stepping aside" can occur in our denomination?
I agree with what your are saying about the urgency of allowing the younger generation to lead, but I am curious to hear more about your vision for how this might occur.
Is it primarily an appointment issue? Or a "recruitment" issue? Or, as Keith suggests, a mentoring issue? Or does it go beyond the office of the ordained and into the ministry of the laity? Or all of the above?
Thanks.
Eric,
Not putting me on the spot at all...after all, I brought it up! And yes, I have some ideas. I'm planning to retire from pastoral ministry by the time I'm 50. I'm going to do some other kind of work with my life. My accountability group is fully aware of this as I've discussed it with them many times.
I'd like to see our cabinet appoint young people to churches where it has traditionally served by the older elite. I like to see Chris Whitehead at Charter Oak and wish we could see this more often. Greg Cox at Dutihl or Tracy at Beaver or Kindle at Christ Community in Butler or St. Clair at Concord...and I'm talking as lead pastor.
I'd like to see us as pastors look to our youngest laity to serve in the key positions instead of "grooming them" into those positions over 30 years.
I'd like to see us as lead pastors intentionally step aside for younger pastors to take our place.
In our denomination, I hate to say it, but I have pretty much lost hope that we can recruit young, energetic, gifted leaders who can then help set the world of fire. The few we get, we give them a good dousing with a fire hose and then they leave to more thriving, Jesus-like types of ministry. Sad, but true.
I'm open to ideas...I'm just throwing concepts out there for some musing, or mussing, as the case may be!
Thanks for this, Brett. I think it's a huge ego issue on the part of older, more experienced pastors. I'll be honest and say that I struggled with that in my 10 years in mainline churches. I was young and passionate, but the senior pastors with whom I worked seemed more interested in "putting me in place" (since I was, after all, just a youth worker and not a real minister), rather than releasing me to use my gifts to the fullest.
Part of it is just natural human pride, in which the older ministers feel threatened when they see their younger "subordinates" thriving in ministry. This is understandable (although not excusable). But part of it is that senior pastors have real control issues. Their whole lives are wrapped up in their ministries and they are unable to release it to others. This is deadly, both to the church, and to the ministers themselves.
I like Keith's suggestion of being in a mentoring role. That is, after all, what Jesus did to His followers. But in doing so, older ministers must have the humility of Jesus, who said to His disciples: "The one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do GREATER WORKS than these, because I am going to the Father."
Can "elders" be humble enough to admit that the young might just be able to do "greater works" than we do? If we can, then mainline churches will continue to thrive.
Thanks for your good thoughts, Brett. I agree with them. All of the younger pastors that you mentioned (and others like them) would do well as "lead pastors" at any of our churches. They are as gifted as they are visionary.
My only concern, I suppose, is that we are replacing one idolatry with another. In other words, I am not completely convinced that the solution to the problem of the current denominational idolatry around "age and experience" is to be found in the acceptance of a new idolatry built upon "youth and freshness."
Plus, in my experience, I've met some thirty-year-old pastors who think, look, and move like sixty-year-olds. By the same token, I've known pastors in their sixties who seem to be blessed with the vision and energy of much younger folks.
None of this is meant as an expression of opposition to your foundational point. It is certainly the case that, far too often, we take some of our most energetic young pastors and put them in a setting that, spiritually speaking, beats the energy and vitality right out of them. I'm simply attempting to broaden the conversation so that we might see the "waning of effectiveness" that you rightly describe as being more vision-related than it is age-related.
By the way, I hear that you are a keynote speaker at the Washington District Helpshop in January. Great! I'm looking forward to it. I'll be "on the job" by that point!!!
Jeff...good thoughts indeed.
Eric...I agree. I'm not suggesting that these thoughts are universally applicable. There are always exceptions.
Thanks all for the dialogue!
Brett, some good thoughts...as usual...I miss the bantering we had at King's glad there is blog world out there. I was at my first Santa Barbara District Meeting today...a big difference in a good way (I'll have to share the thoughts sometime). Hope all is well and thanks again! Grace and Peace, John
...and yes I decided to take the a out of my last name...sounds more West Coast...Grace and Peace, John
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