Leaders, Let’s Not Lose Leaders!

Once I heard a radio interview with a Christian college professor contrasting college students today with those of the past. Decades ago, he said, incoming freshmen were marked by their aspirations for impact—they could (and would) become the leaders, the change agents, the innovators for industry, government, and commerce. Their ideas would influence society and determine the course of civilization. It was class after class with many proud, hungry, emerging leaders. 

Now I’m quite certain the good old days had frats and keg parties, but stay with me.

Over the last decade, the professor detected a seismic shift. Freshmen classes, he said, had morphed; dreams had softened. Gone was the drive to influence others—to aspire towards a better life. 

What replaced it? A quest for comfort. Strategies for postponing responsibility. Virtual friendships and relationships now replaced the real thing. Students began turning inward, which made leadership even more costly and less attractive. Somewhere in all the confusion, the riverbed of dreams began to run dry.

The professor related how many students now had aspirations reaching no further than mere survival. No cause gripped them, no quest inspired their imagination. Industry, ambition and the hunger to cultivate and use one’s gifts were AWOL. Naturally, students still wanted power. They just lacked the drive to achieve the roles to wield it. 

Leaders, if you’re seeing the same signs, what do you do?

First, Celebrate the End

I’m not bashing university students here. Colleges aren’t the problem; they simply reflect the problem. Leadership feels pointless and meaningless. 

You see, some of these young Christians were embracing a worldview that was thoroughly unChristian! The Bible tells us that this world has a purpose. It was created and marches towards a goal. The prophet Isaiah describes this goal when he writes about the righteous reign of the branch that will sprout from the root of Jesse (speaking of the reign of Christ): “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9). 

That’s the end for which God created the world. He designed creation so that through it, the people who fill it would know and love him while also cultivating their gifts to bring order from chaos. But when meaning and responsibility are vacuumed from the soul, leadership is rendered irrelevant. And the essential instruments God uses to bring about human flourishing under God –and has always used from the very beginning–are the faithful leaders he calls to service. 

We need them now more than ever. 

Secondly, Train the Next Generation

The evangelical church is graying. And as one of the gray-haired stakeholders, I’m concerned. Humanly speaking, we need to fight to reclaim leaders; to help potential leaders to answer the call. Christ has set this mission in motion. 

After he ascended, Christ bestowed gifts. “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4: 11-13). Think about this: God’s plan for building up the Body and achieving maturity involves leaders positioned and working to equip the saints. 

This is a monumental reality for the church. Saints being equipped and deployed depends upon leaders being called and appointed. 

Maybe you know a young Jonah fleeing God’s call. Or maybe it’s a leader who is considering a pivot into a less burdensome role. If so, call them (today!) and remind them God calls us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1) and to run that race in such a way that we win the prize (1 Corinthians 9:24). Urge them to forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead (Philippians 3:13), to invest their talents wisely (Matthew 25:14–30), to be “zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14), to choose a future in keeping with their gifts! 

Use those passages, and others ones you know, to say to them, “Listen, I understand. But how you feel right now should not determine reality. You are gifted, you are called, God is big enough…PRESS ON for His glory! Assure them that God will meet them and transform them as they trust Him. Just like he has done for you.

That phone call or text may be too important to put off until tomorrow. Make it today. It may be the most important thing you accomplish in the next 24 hours. We need to call leaders to the glory of God and the exhilaration of faithful ministry. Tell them God is too big for small dreams. 

Then tell them how to take the next step. And let them know you will be there to help, even if they stumble. 

Tenacious Tuesday Questions 

Who is coming to your mind right now and what steps can you take today to encourage them? What time can you invest or resources can you offer? Act now, they may remember it forever. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, guard me from being content with a narrow vision for my own life. Help me to see your grand purposes for the world and dream big about how I might stir others to spend themselves for your glory.

Photo by Jukan Tateisi on Unsplash