Youth inclusion in church leadership is essential, according to ministry veteran Mark Oestreicher. Your church needs young people. Discover a developmental reason why any organization—especially churches—needs teens on leadership teams.
Many churches and youth ministries highlight teenagers from time to time (like “Youth Sunday”). Some even include teens and young adults on committees, but for the purpose of “raising up tomorrow’s leaders.”
In a column for Youthwork Magazine (in the U.K.), I argue that a smart church keeps teenagers and young adults on leadership teams because they have something essential to contribute.
Youth Inclusion in Church Leadership: A Must
What if our churches not only moved away from isolating teens and young adults but moved beyond a patronizing atta-boy, “oh, they’re so cute” approach that treats them like junior members? What if churches saw the powerful benefit of including 16- to 25-year-olds in every aspect of congregational leadership, including oversight groups and planning teams? And what if we embraced inclusion not just to raise up future leaders? What if we did it knowing we’re better with young people as part of our process?
For dozens of years, churches with active youth programs have wrong-headedly moved toward isolating teens from the congregation. The thinking? Teenagers will learn best, and be happiest, if they’re with “their own kind.”
I have a somewhat cynical additional reason I think so many churches have moved in this direction. It allows adults to feel like they’re caring for youth without actually needing to be with youth. Everyone wins!
Except: That’s not true. Everyone in your church needs young people. When youth and young adults are siloed, everyone loses.
I could make the case for youth inclusion in church leadership many ways. Not the least of which is that research makes it clear that the faith formation of young people—if we hope for any chance of a faith that lasts beyond their involvement in youth ministry—is highly correlated to engagement with a congregation.
A Developmental Perspective
But I’d like to suggest a developmental reason why any organization—certainly churches included—absolutely need teenagers and young adults on leadership teams, planning committees, and any sort of decision-making group. Brain development is the basis. But we must view it through the less-common lens of “teenagers are wonders to behold,” rather than the more-common lens of “teenagers are problems to be solved.”
We now know that brains don’t fully develop until the mid- to late-20s. One of the most significantly underdeveloped parts of the brain is the frontal lobe. It’s responsible for a handful of fairly helpful critical thinking skills. Those executive functions include decision-making, wisdom, prioritization, impulse control, planning, organization and focus.
Through a negative lens (the most common way of viewing young people), that underdevelopment quickly leads to the reaction: What a subhuman, broken mess! No wonder they’re such a nightmare!
But through a positive lens (most common for scientists studying teenage brains; and most aligned with a Christian commitment to consider God’s creation intention), the resulting response should be: Wow! These people are perfectly tuned, specialized for particular contributions that older folk struggle with. This is the perspective a smart church will take.
