Think back to your first leadership opportunity. Were you nervous, eager, confident, or terrified? Do some of your choices then make you cringe now and thank God for His grace? Who helped you along the way? Young leadership has an uneven learning curve that requires mentors who are willing to walk alongside you in those ups and downs.
In Seven Practices of Healthy Youth Ministry, we discuss how giving young people opportunities to lead requires thoughtful and intentional mentorship from faithful, experienced leaders. These experienced leaders work to ensure young leaders stay rooted in their baptismal faith, model Christ-like service, and continue to point young people to their identity in Jesus.
Finding and Supporting the Right Leaders
In working with young leaders, you can think of your work as coaching young athletes. They need to develop skills, be encouraged, and be debriefed every step of the way. As a coach, you may need to spend time explaining the “why” of simple tasks to set them up for success and keep them motivated. When a young leader fails, he or she can receive forgiveness, grace, and new opportunities to try again.
As you identify young people who are ready for leadership, you should start with those who are consistent in worship and desire to spend time in Bible study, prayer, and sharing the Gospel with others. Think of these as the fundamentals of any sport someone must master before they are able to move toward something more complex. Putting a young person into leadership with the hope that his or her position will inspire him or her to prioritize their faith can be problematic. Instead, look for those who are already strong in their understanding of their baptismal faith.
As you find young leaders who are ready to step up their leadership game, they will need a good coach and mentor. Young leaders should have one or two key adult leaders who are committed to walking with them, giving good direction, and setting them up for success. Choose these mentors carefully, making sure they, too, are deeply rooted in the faith. Ensure mentors have the time and the temperament to dedicate to the task.
As you match up young leaders with mentors, consider personality, interests, and connections. Having a good mentor can help provide critical learning and a balance of encouragement and challenge to a young leader. You have to know your players to be able to coach them well. Some young leaders are going to want a lot of feedback while others are going to want more freedom. Some young leaders need adults who can carefully rein them in while others are going to need someone who can push them out of their comfort zone. When these connections work well, both the younger and more experienced leader can benefit.
Making Assessments
Part of developing a healthy environment for young leaders is to be sure to debrief, especially after a big event. This debrief doesn’t have to be formal or time-consuming. Debriefing should allow you to affirm things that went well and to consider what things may need to be changed in the future. If emotions are high or things don’t go as expected, there may not be a lot of conversation. It’s okay to take some space to let it settle, but be sure to come back and discuss what happened later.
There is always room to grow, so focus on how young leaders are developing skills over time. How you approach this can teach them humility. This includes being honest about how you, as an experienced leader, may have failed to set them up for success. It can also help if you share past leadership experiences, both good and bad, with young leaders. They need to hear that experienced leaders have messed up a time or two before and lived to tell the tale.
Young leaders also need to see confession and absolution practiced by leadership when things go wrong. All leaders are going to make mistakes and damage relationships, intentionally or unintentionally. The church should be a place where leaders set a tone by trusting God’s promises, confessing their sins, and receiving forgiveness. This is not a path young leaders will take unless it is modeled by more experienced leaders. Unlike competitive academic and professional settings, young leaders should find the church is a safe place to lead, fail, and find forgiveness and redemption.
Not every young person is a good fit for the leadership team. Frankly, not every adult is either. Choosing young leaders requires the same thoughtful consideration you would give to asking adults to step into leadership roles. Some teens are still developing their mental, emotional, and spiritual maturity and need time to grow before they are ready for leadership. Some young leaders are good fits but are already developing leadership in other areas of their vocations and don’t have the time to commit. Other teens (and adults) do not want to lead. Selecting young leaders should be done with great care.
Adult leaders may naturally or quickly identify the most popular or charismatic young people as potential leaders. While their comfort level with being in front of people or their ability to engage peers can be an important quality, it is not the only one to look for. Be sure to also look for teens who are passionate about particular areas of ministry, like working with children, finances, and mercy work. You might find that someone who is quiet in Bible study is gifted in using technology or a very good teacher in small groups. It can sometimes surprise you whom God lifts up into leadership roles.
Long-Term Investment
Fostering young leaders takes time and effort. In fact, bringing on young leaders might not make your ministry more effective right away. In coaching, new players always need time to acclimate, especially if they are playing at a more challenging level for the first time. For every positive impact a young leader makes, there will be time dedicated to teaching them and debriefing them. They will bring benefits to ministry that no one else can bring, and there will be times when you will see tremendous growth in both the young person and the ministry. Sometimes it will seem like raising up young leaders involves more work and resources with little payoff. Experienced leaders should not be discouraged when young leaders cannot be used as “plug and play” leaders like other adults.
Instead, consider engaging young leaders as a long-term investment in the church. The time, energy, and resources you invest now will pay dividends down the road. Sometimes the payoff is not even for your team but for the campus ministry or future congregations where these young people will land. Young leaders may only be with you for a short season. In fact, the number of transitions they experience might mean that they have to leave leadership for a time and then return. Some young adults in our research talked about not feeling welcome in leadership while they were youth because they were in a time of life when they could not commit to a term of a year or two on boards. While this might be frustrating for experienced leaders and difficult for the ministry, it is worth it in the long run to engage these leaders for as long as you can have them on your team.
Blog post excerpted from Seven Practices of Healthy Youth Ministry, copyright © 2023 LCMS Office of National Mission—Youth Ministry, published by Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved.
For more actionable advice, case studies, interviews, and discussion materials for a robust youth ministry, check out Seven Practices of Healthy Youth Ministry.
