Four Secrets Boomer Senior Pastors need to know

for working with younger emerging ministers

How to get the best and the brightest to work for you

While there are “boomers in every generation” and all generalizations are partly false, I have a few generalizations to make about the young ministers joining church staffs. Boomers who were the first generation of senior pastors who themselves had once served as youth pastors or staff pastors often assume they are experts at working with staff. Wrong. Generational needs change. Boomers assume “They’re just like we were” which is the biggest mistake we make. They aren’t. Here are my four secrets boomer senior pastors ought to know about the emerging staff members. If you are a boomer print this off and check which are true of your younger staff. You may be practicing the golden rule “Doing unto the staff what you would have them do to you if you were staff” and it may not be the loving thing. They may not want what you wanted as a staff member. So, what do emerging staffers want?

1. They want direction.

The single biggest mistake Boomer pastors make with young staff is assuming their greatest need is freedom like our was. One boomer pastor put it this way:

“When I was a youth pastor the senior pastor always breathed down my neck and drove me crazy—all I wanted was to be left alone to do my ministry. So now that I have my own youth pastor I am careful to let him alone and give him the space he needs to do his ministry.”

The emerging ministers are kids who seldom “went outside to play” like we boomers did as children. We just wandered out into the streets looking for something interesting to do. Emerging staff members as children were hauled all over town to pre-arranged structured play. They joined soccer leagues, went to dance classes and had “play dates.” They attended camps that seldom scheduled whole afternoon blocks of time labeled “free time” as we did. This generation was raised with structure and direction. You can’t say to them, “There, the youth ministry is yours—I’ll not breathe down your neck—go for it.” They will be mystified even if they had a dozen courses. They want supervision, direction, they want the “syllabus” for their success as youth ministers or staffers and “freedom” is not their highest value. They are not natural CEOs or entrepreneurs and even see this approach as detracting from the kingdom of God. They will work hard if they are told what to do.

2. They want to be included on the whole-church team.

Boomer youth pastors wanted to do youth ministry and nothing else. They groaned at being included in planning meetings for worship or strategic planning for the church, or attending ”dreaming retreats” or going to a denominational “District Conference.” Emerging staff members yearn to be included in all of this. They want to be in on the total scope of the church’s work. Boomers left college to negotiate narrowed assignments to “just youth and no more”. Emerging leaders negotiate too-but they often negotiate to get other areas added to their assignment—worship, planning, preaching, finances. Emergent leaders can’t imagine serving in a church where the senior pastor would plan multiple services without their participation. They want to help plan the new building, dream up preaching topics, strategize for the next ten years, solve financial problems—in general these young ministers want to be included in the total life of the church. One emerging “youth pastor” put it this way in an email I received just this morning:

My dream of being a part of the life-blood of a local church has come true. [The senior pastor] lets me in on everything (like he's the senior partner of a partnership). I'm having invaluable experiences every week. I get to be both a senior pastor apprentice and a youth pastor simultaneously.

3. They want to be mentored.

Boomers hate this. The CEO boomer pastor figures, “Hey, get your mentoring at college where you paid tuition and your professors are paid to mentor you—here at the church we are paying you, so start mentoring others and quit whining that you need mentoring yourself.” Nevertheless the secret to getting the best and the brightest emerging staff ministers to figure out how to mentor them so that they continue developing. “Apprentice” not a bad word to them—it is exactly what they want. In fact some churches (like Spring Lake in Michigan and Atlanta’s Crossroads Community) are able to attract the best and brightest of ministerial college graduates to work for an entire year on staff as “interns” for a pittance—in Crossroad’s case the students even raise their own support to do it!) Why would a student pay $80,000 for a four year degree in ministry then offer to work for Taco Bell wages as an Intern in a church? One word answer: mentoring.

4. They yearn for warm personal relationships & staff community.

I know this is idealistic, especially for a busy growing church, but expect a church where the staff members are “best friends.” They can’t imagine working for a senior pastor who hasn’t had the staff over for snacks for three months straight. Consider this comment:

I’ve been here since June but still I’ve never seen the inside of the senior pastor’s house. He tells about his dog in illustrations but I’ve never actually patted the dog or even seen it. I’ve never seen his kitchen or garage. I’ve never smelled the distinctive smell of his home. I don’t know him except in an office sort of way. He is a transcendent senior pastor who resists becoming incarnate to me.

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The bottom line of all four above is the central mistake boomer senior pastors make—assuming emerging staffers want to be “left alone.” Boomers assume “freedom” and a narrow job assignment is what they want because it is what we wanted. Instead, emerging staff workers want direction, community, mentoring and warm personal relationships.

So what do you think? What would you challenge on this list? What would you add to it?

Click here to post your reply (with or without your name)

Keith Drury September 20, 2005 www.TuesdayColumn.com