I understand why churches look for someone with ministry experience when they’re looking for a pastor. Frankly, I would naturally lean that way, too—except for the many “rookie” pastors I’ve seen do well in their ministry. Here’s why a young pastor might lead well your church’s revitalization efforts.
- Many young leaders have more depth in their faith than we might assume. They just believe that God can do anything, so they’re willing to follow Him into the most difficult church circumstances. That’s the kind of pastor I would want.
- An increasing number of young pastors senses a call to do church revitalization. I wrote a blog post about the “church planting rage” more than ten years ago in 2015. That calling is still popular, but more and more young pastors believe God is calling them to lead churches in plateau or decline.
- Young pastors often seek an older mentor in ministry. They don’t want to do ministry alone, and they look for older leaders to help guide them. That means that your young pastor may well have wise counselors speaking into his life as he leads your church.
- More young leaders have a deep burden for their home church. In many cases, they have fond memories of their upbringing in that church—and they want to help that church and others experience growth. Gone are the days when young leaders avoided struggling and dying churches.
- Some young leaders have completed seminary classes on church revitalization. The school where I teach (Southeastern Seminary) now offers MA, MDiv, and D.Min. degrees with a specialization in revitalization—as do other seminaries. Hence, young leaders may have graduate level training in revitalization that older pastors did not get.
- Young pastors will likely attract other young people. Church growth naturally happens that way—the young pastor will likely attract people close to his age and stage of life. Most church revitalizations I know need more young people.
- Young pastors I know believe in the importance of the church. They truly expect the local church to be family, with life-on-life discipleship at its core. They want their church to be healthy.
- Young pastors who just want to do ministry are often worth the risk. Their zeal for ministry is so strong that it can naturally bleed over into the congregation. Others then want to be a part of that ministry when they see the young pastor’s faithful passion for God.
Again, I do understand why congregations want a pastor with experience. At the same time, though, somebody must give young pastors a chance. I challenge you to give them that opportunity.
Mark and John have great points. It seems that once you hit a certain age no one will even look at you. Currently have been told 5 times in the last 2 years I was outside their age requirement. Really, since when does leadership or Senior Pastor have an age attached to it? Of the 5 churches 4 hired a young guy that lasted less than 2 years and are searching again! Having served in the trenches for 30 years I have a lot of life and energy left and would like to invest it … but everyone is seeking younger … and another thing … what is up with all these headhunters / groups selecting Candidates BEFORE Be for you can even speak or connect with the Pastor Search teams? what have we become.
Whether you are a pastor, layman or deacon I believe there are two questions that should determine what church you go to: Where can you grow the most and where can you serve God most effectively? In baseball the tie goes to the runner. In church the tie goes to the stayer. What I mean by that is that if you are not sure whether you would be more effective elsewhere – stay. Relationships take time to develop (which is probably why your wife isn’t ready to leave.) and are a key component to spiritual impact. I believe the universal church is more important than my church so when people leave to go to other good churches for the kingdom, I do not count that a loss.