Today’s Gen X and Gen Y leaders will be the leaders of the churches that will reach their generations. Sure, God will use an occasional dinosaur or two but most likely only to show how powerful He can be. ( If you are an older ministry leader think of yourself as just a burning bush.) These leaders, like all leaders, will need some help developing into the leaders that God will use to accomplish His will on earth. If we hope to be used by God to develop these new leaders, we must use the abilities God has given us, including recognizing that these new leaders will likely be developed in different ways from those in the existing leadership ranks.
An issue that should be considered when developing new leaders is how they view authority and how they want to interact with it. It is also important to consider that we are talking about people who believe they are called to a task that existing churches are not doing very well. (They know the stats!) It is possible that some of these new leaders will be interested in learning and development processes that are not based on them “sitting at the feet” of the recognized “experts” of the day (those who in their opinion are not getting the job done).
It is also helpful to remember that our educational system has widely utilized group activities for teaching a variety of things, so the new leaders expect to learn with others. They may not, however see many of the multitude of seminars available today as their preferred group learning experiences. They are likely interested in something smaller where they are both a presenter and a learner. This collaborative learning does not have (or require) much structure but does bring together like minds in similar settings. (The widely available technology to make this happen quickly and inexpensively makes us question who really invented the internet!)
If you couple these small on-line idea exchanges with a few more relational approaches (like providing temporary advisory boards made up of church planters a few years ahead of the newer planters, effective one-on-one coaching that provides accountability and support over time, etc.), what results is a very powerful learning model that could be made for the church planting leaders of the future.
We also like the idea of giving back to God. We especially like the idea of giving back in the area He has enabled His followers to be effective in their service. We believe church planting should be a part of every church’s DNA. Thus we believe this effort is a great way to encourage churches to start giving back to other church plants as soon as they can. This will take sacrifice, but it’s a great way to teach service.
Oh yes, why “lean” churches? In the business world, lean has come to mean a well-led organization that uses collaboration to make continuous improvements coupled with a laser like focus on who they are serving and what they really need to do to succeed. Lean organizations typically use their resources effectively and constantly seek to eliminate waste. While we do not advocate mechanically applying the latest business fad to the church, we do believe the church should represent the best we have to offer. Thinking lean is one way to encourage the human component of our churches to be our best.