Raising Up Ministry Leaders from the Next Generation

From The Forum Magazine, Winter 2025 - view the full issue here

Spark the imagination.  I’ve often told the story of my pastor chatting with me one Wednesday after 7th grade catechism and saying, “You’re going to be a minister when you grow up.”  Until that moment, I hadn’t thought about the ministry as a profession at all, let alone one to which I could aspire.  But he sparked my imagination and now, more than 40 years later, here we are.

Other pastors tell of a teacher, grandparent or youth pastor who said something similar to them: “Have you ever thought about being a pastor?”  “Could you ever see yourself working at a church?”  “I think you have gifts [in listening/teaching/public speaking/prayer] and God may invite you to use your gifts in the church.”  

The first thing it takes to train ministry leaders is to raise up people who want to be ministry leaders! That happens one conversation at a time, starting early.  Which 3rd grader or middle schooler or high schooler in your sphere of influence needs to hear from you?

Early Exposure.  Most young people (and many older people) have no idea what happens in a church the other six days of the week.  Calvin University runs a summer church internship course for students and invariably we hear the comment: “I had no idea so much happened at church during the week.”  Working daily at a local congregation allows students to see the ways the church serves its neighbors, plans worship, runs meetings and welcomes guests.  

Our students also are given significant responsibilities right out of the gate: coordinate a float for the 4th of July parade, come up with games for Vacation Bible School, plan and lead a men’s retreat, write and offer the congregational prayer every Sunday.  These tasks teach them how to connect with members, communicate effectively, and lead in ways that allow them to step into adulthood in the church setting.   

There are ways for local congregations to accomplish this. What if your youth group was in charge of planning and leading a church retreat?  What if you selected a college student to serve as an intern over the holiday break and offered them a stipend to do so?  What if every Sunday service included at least one person under the age of 18 playing an active role in worship leadership? 

Do the Scariest Thing Young.  Many of our younger members can’t imagine themselves as a pastor because they are scared to preach.  In fact, some seminarians lean toward chaplaincy when they first begin their studies because they do not think they want to or will be able to preach.  I have found that demystifying the writing and preaching of sermons by having my college students actually write and preach sermons helps allay their fears about this one aspect of the job.  

In our internship course at Calvin, each student is required to write and prepare a 10-minute sermon as part of their preparation for going on an internship.  I walk through the basics of sermon design (an adapted version of the 4-page model of Paul Scott Wilson is very effective for this), assign each one a text from the same book of the Bible, teach them how to use commentaries, and offer one-on-one time with me if they want it.  I have been incredibly impressed with their sermons, and they are delighted that they can actually preach.  This helps them go into the internship with the confidence they need not only to preach, but to guide a Bible study on a Thursday afternoon or lead a litany on Sunday morning.

More importantly, this allows them to truly assess a call to ministry without the fear of preaching as a stumbling block.  They know they can preach, so now they are able to listen more openly to God’s invitation for their future. 

Pastors, what if the curriculum for your church’s 11th and 12th grade Sunday School was your sermon?  After preaching, you could hand out your notes or manuscript and teach them how sermons are constructed.  You could encourage them to write a sermon and offer to give up the pulpit one Sunday (or more!) if any of them would like to give it a try.  

Invite them behind the curtain.  If our rising generations only see their pastor up front on Sunday, they are not going to imagine themselves in that role because they do not know the person in the role.  They need to get to know you.  If you are serving as a pastor of a congregation with young people, your first job is to learn their names.  Even if you have a ‘youth pastor’ on staff, you need to know the names of the students in your church.  It is at least as important to know their names than it is to know the names of their parents.

Create low-pressure events where they can hang out with you: Lunch after worship with just you and the high school students.  Early morning donuts and coffee at their school.  And I know this is a big one: go on the spring break trip with them.  The more they can interact with you as a person, the more they can begin to imagine themselves doing what you do. 

As they get to know you, you can share your own story of calling to ministry,  and spark their imaginations.  Tell them why you are a pastor, what you love about it, and why they could consider it for themselves.  

Debunk the “I’m not good enough” lie.   While we may be a grace-based Christian tradition, students still think that they need to achieve some higher standard of “goodness” before they qualify to attend seminary or be trained for ministry.  They see pastors as better than they are, and they may regard themselves as having sins or defects that disqualify them for pastoral work.  

To respond to the first I’ll often say, “I’m not, either,” or “No one is!” and then point out that it is God’s grace that works through all of us.  The many examples in scripture of God using unlikely people to bring his good news to the world that we can point to.  Remind them of the hesitancy of Moses or Esther, the blatant sins of Abraham or Rahab, or the humble origins of Mary or Amos.  Most of those people that God uses would never see themselves as good enough.  

The second defense needs more tender unraveling.  They may indeed be struggling with a significant sin in the present or have one in their past that they can’t shake.  Therapy, spiritual direction, an intentional time of confession, and/or pastoral counseling can help them receive forgiveness and find the grace they seek.  Whether or not that leads to a career in pastoral ministry is obviously much less important than having them come to understand themselves as beloved children of God, forgiven and free.

Show why you love your job.  The most important factor in raising up ministry leaders is to show them ministry leaders who really love what they do.  You are the best draw for any young person who is contemplating full-time or bi-vocational ministry.  If you radiate joy in your work, they will notice.  If you are the same person with them on the spring break trip that you are in the pulpit, they’ll pay attention.  

If you are a person of prayer and easy kindness, if you are slow to anger and quick to forgive, if you love Jesus and that is obvious to everyone, they will be drawn to a life like that.  

Pray with me that God will regularly nudge us to speak to those we know and encourage them to consider serving in parish ministry.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire many among the rising generations to invest in the church and seek training for ministry.  Pray that the church of Jesus Christ will be flush with gifted, animated young people who are eager to serve.

Soli Deo Gloria.