David J. Wood: Do Not Despise Your Youth
This summer will be the 40th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing mission. I was in the 7th Grade when it happened, and was amazed at the event.
Last week, I came across an article that drew upon firsthand interviews with folks who “manned” Mission Control. Here is the fact that leaped out at me: the age range (actual ages, not the average) of the personnel of Mission Control in Houston—the center responsible for Apollo 11 once it left earth's atmosphere—was 25 to 28. The oldest in the room was the Flight Director. He was 35! The astronauts were the old guys in the program—they were 38, 39, & 40.
Reflecting on the youthfulness of the program, the Commander of Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, said, "This new Space Age required people who understood digital computers and most of the people in that category were in their 20's."
Could the same thing be true in the church?
We do not often expect such precociousness today. But we have before. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was 27 when he delivered his radio address, “The Younger Generation’s Altered View of Führer,” which placed him among the first to publicly call Adolph Hitler’s authority into question. John Calvin was 27 when he published his first edition of the Institutes. Martin Luther was an aged 34 when he nailed his 95 theses to the door in Wittenburg. Dorothy Day was in her mid 30’s when she birthed the Catholic Worker Movement. Karl Barth was all of 33 when he published his first edition of The Epistle to the Romans. William Wilberforce was 32 when he introduced his first bill into parliament calling for the abolition of slavery. Martin Luther King, Jr., was 26 when he stepped up to lead the Montgomery bus boycott. Thomas Merton was 33 when he published The Seven Story Mountain. St. Francis of Assisi was in his late 20’s when he founded the movement that now bears his name.
But today in many churches conditions are rotten for young leaders. We are in danger of squandering the creative energy and inventive imagination without which congregational life becomes a bastion of cultural self preservation.
More often than not young seminary graduates find themselves placed in congregations where they are generationally isolated. They find themselves surrounded by elders who are yearning for growth and recovery. That yearning is matched, if not exceeded, by an anxiety that change will leave them feeling like aliens in a foreign land. Too often that anxiety trumps the yearning for growth and change. This reality can create the conditions where the young feel despised even when no one ever intends for that to be so.
The well worn exercise in taking and celebrating congregational history is often or can be an exercise in nostalgia—an induction of the young pastor into the responsibility he or she bears to the past. Jesus’ words, “Do this in remembrance of me,” can, in the matrix of congregational life, morph into “Do this in remembrance of Bill or Sally.” Rarely are congregational histories used as case studies in how the Spirit subverts the inborn tendency of congregations to become curved in on themselves. Congregational life has been characterized by too much talk about the importance of congregational history, not enough talk about congregational responsibility to let old things pass away. Perhaps youthful leaders’ capacity to make the case for innovation and experimentation would grow if congregations were genuinely inviting of such process.
The Church must learn how to not to fear the emerging role of young leaders. The church must be careful not to use "mentoring" as a cover for its need to school youth into the ways of waning forms and perceptions. Excellence in mentoring always creates the conditions for innovation, invention, and experimentation. There is a crucial complimentarity between mentoring and peer relationships. The former keeps youth from arrogance and the latter keeps mentoring from condescension.
Let the Church hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches: “Let no one despise your youth” (1 Tim. 4:12).
David Wood is soon to be installed as pastor of Glencoe Union Church in Glencoe, Illinois. Just for the record, he is 52.
Hope for a new way...
These are inspiring words to hear. First of all, as one who has recently been called to serve a church whose demographic is primarily senior adults, I am humbled and excited at how much trust and faith they put in a "young whipper snapper." In fact, I think part of the reason they hired me was because they were seeking these very things that David highlighted: innovation, invention, and experimentation. Now, whether I can deliver is another question. But the truth is this congregation (and more I suspect) are willing to try something new.
At a conference I recently attended of young clergy (Transition into Ministry), one of the qualities that was noted of these young ministers was their lack of cynicism. There was a fervor and passion for ministry that reminded me a little bit of my high school youth group. The commonalities? The gospel feels fresh and there's an eagerness to put into practice what has come so alive in our shared experience of it.
All this to say, I am hopeful. As one pastor said, "Churches are created in the imagination of the Holy Spirit." And I believe (in the Spirit of Pentecost) the Wind is blowing all over the place, using young hearts and minds to cast a vision of what "life together" could really be. For after all, we are the products of divorced parents, increased fragmentation and separation in society and other postmodern sludge, which deepens our resolve and passion to say, "There is another way." And armed with encouragement from mentors and the boldness of youth, we are trying to find this way by implementing new tactics (or old ones revisited) with creative energy.
PS My dad was actually one of those who was working Mission Control Systems during the Apollo 13 mission and those before that. He has often commented how NASA recruited all of these young guys, fresh out of college. The result--innovative thinkers. Many times dad and others would have to come up with creative solutions to flight problems in short periods of time (his most lasting one--deciding to slingshot around the moon as opposed to using remaining power to try to make it home immediately). Perhaps I inherited some optimism and hope that my dad displayed during that time.
new, young and no former career
Well said, David.
When I entered the ministry fifteen years ago, it seemed to be the height of the second career clergy wave. So starting off in my early twenties, people looked at me askance for not having had a "former" career.
Furthermore, these second career folks were praised for all they brought to the table in terms of "life experience." I remember hearing various gushing versions of "He gave up a lucrative career as a partner in a law firm in order to do this..." which seemed much more impressive than committing to the calling early, after a couple of relatively low level jobs and some grad school.
But after a while, we had to notice, as the Church, that despite the many considerable gifts of second career clergy, any field that is missing a generation of young people will become skewed. One age isn't better or worse, but we need the full mix in any field.
I am grateful our calling is more balanced in age these days, and young clergy are not viewed with as much skepticism as they were in the early 90's. Today's young clergy certainly still experience condescension, but there was a time when it was much worse.
And that's from an old timer, so don't argue with me, any of you upstarts.
Great points. I work with
Great points. I work with college students and young faculty, and I'm thinking of a corollary to your points. Many Christians don't worry about college students putting their faith on "pause" during college, but those great leaders you mentioned - MLK, Bonhoeffer, Barth - would not have been ready for leadership if they had not spent years studying the Bible, praying, preparing themselves to hear and obey God's call.
At the same time, I see many young people who don't listen to the wisdom of older Christians, and don't even realize how much their elders have to offer them.
Could part of the problem be the segregation of ages in so many of our churches? If there are multiple services - a "traditional" service, another for high school students, another for college - and age-divided small groups and classes, then older Christians don't get to see the passion and maturity of the young, and vice versa. Trusting someone with leadership requires a relational depth that can only be developed over time, through conversations, praying together, learning and teaching together, and so on.
Great comment
Mike you're right on--whatever we may have gained by separating age groups we've lost something more in the church. Where else in our culture do people of different ages interact on things that matter? The church can be such a place, but we often fumble that promise.
I agree ...
Many Christians don't worry about college students putting their faith on "pause" during college, but those great leaders you mentioned - MLK, Bonhoeffer, Barth - would not have been ready for leadership if they had not spent years studying the Bible, praying, preparing themselves to hear and obey God's call. amader blog
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