An emerging issue in the business world is the rate of retiring baby boomers from key positions. They’re leaving a potential knowledge and leadership void that many organizations are not prepared for. The Church will begin to feel this impact first in staffing, but key lay leadership roles will follow. The next large demographic group ready to assume church leadership positions, Generation Y, is vastly different from their predecessors. Because of the societal and economic issues experienced during their adolescence, the “millennials” aim to be leaders who value collaboration, stand up for their beliefs and values and strive to improve society.

As many churches experience this generational shift in leadership and confront the challenge to build church leaders, collaboration and development strategies must accommodate and integrate core values spanning multiple generations. Young adults are civic-minded, prefer peer-to-peer communication over top-down management styles and aspire to be leaders who facilitate collaboration. Considering these unique characteristics of Generation Y, how can you best prepare them to effectively transition into leadership within your church?

Mission Trips

Because many millennials are civic-minded by nature, an effective method for training them for church leadership is through experiential leadership opportunities during mission trips. Many of the activities that take place during mission trips are complex and include many of the same challenges it takes to run a church: constraints of time, resources and talent. There will be times of conflict, disagreement and errors that will test their mettle. After the experience, young leaders can be facilitated to make the connection between their choices, behaviors and values. They will also better understand the purpose of their contributions and are more confident they can effect change in their church and the world.

To enhance the experience, consider providing personalized training, cross-cultural and multicultural experiences, and immediate feedback so that you can maximize the opportunity to stretch their current talents and introduce new skill sets. At the completion of the mission trip, young leaders should be able to articulate their personal mission statements, implement conflict resolution strategies, name their personal leadership strengths and create a vision for their future service with the church.

Of course, it’s important to employ more than one method for preparing your church’s future leaders. Here are some additional recommendations on how to prepare for the generational transition of leadership at your church:

• Enhance youth initiatives with leadership opportunities. Make sure your youth programs provide ample opportunity to build important leadership and service attributes, such as an understanding of consensus building, strong communication skills and an aptitude for conflict resolution. Also, make sure these programs are highly visible so that young people in your church will want to be a part of it. When a church develops a reputation as providing positive and powerful leadership opportunities, young people will want to get involved.
• Tell youth leadership stories from the pulpit. When delivering sermons, include stories about successful young leaders into the message. For example, describe a scenario when a young person was the driving force in a major community, social or church program (the Internet is ripe with such stories). Also, invite young adults to tell their faith stories.
• Provide opportunities for outgoing and incoming leaders to interact. With decades of critical knowledge under their belts, it’s vital to identify ways for individuals stepping away from key positions to impart their expertise to those who will be succeeding them. Provide forums for outgoing and up-and-coming leaders to share their perspectives and expertise.

Generation Y has attributes that require different strategies for effectively preparing their transition to the leadership ranks. Current church leadership must adopt strategies and tactics to enable them harness their inherent courage, understanding and vision. After all, they represent the future of their organizations.

Wendy Johnson, CEO of the Center for Courageous Enterprise, brings more than 25 years of diverse leadership and experience in small business, Fortune 500, not-for-profit and faith-based settings. She will deliver an educational session during the 2009 Church Solutions Conference & Expo called “Develop Tomorrow’s Church Leaders Today.”