One of the greatest gifts to the church of Jesus Christ is the emergence of so many gifted, passionate and Gospel-loving young adults in ministry leadership.One of the responsibilities – and joys – of older guys – like me – is to encourage, cheerlead, run interference for and guide young leaders.
Truthfully, I’ve learned so much more from young leaders than I have taught!
Sometimes, the established church demotivates, disenfranchises and disillusions young leaders.
Jason Stockdale, the Worship Pastor at Hope Church (a young pastor!) shared the following link with me.
Sadly, I believe the comments are on-target in so many churches. Gratefully, these tendencies can be guarded against and reversed.
Here are the Top Ten Ways to Ruin Young Pastors:
10. Promise big things in their interviews, and then pull back on those promises once the family is on site.
9. Do not bother mentoring them or investing in their personal or professional development.
8. Ask them to reach new people, but force them to think the same way as the existing staff.
7. Ask them to bring change, but do not allow them to do anything different.
6. Young Pastor’s Concerns = Never Valid. Member’s Concerns about Young Pastor = Always Valid.
5. Give them responsibility, but do not give them the authority to accomplish those things.
4. Give them greater workloads than other pastors, but also less respect.
3. Say one thing in private meetings, another thing in staff or elder meetings, and another thing in Sunday Worship.
2. Reject their ideas, tell them how to do it, and when it does not work … blame them.
1. Allow your personal insecurities to interpret the young pastor’s words and deeds as attempts to mock you or steal your job.
This post was inspired by some of my past experiences and the tragic stories of a number of friends who have entered vocational ministry with passion and commitment, only to be beaten down by leadership of their churches. Some of them have left vocational ministry, all of us have considered that exit. While these friends were not perfect in every situation, none of them were slackers, whiners, heretics, immoral or insubordinate.
[by Sam Shaw]
