The Thriving Church, Part 2: Leadership

Hey You! (Get the audience’s attention)

Story Wildwood express, needed an intervention.

We need to intervene

For example, take what I was raised to expect like many of you.

W

Review part 1

Review

Most churches are in decline or plateaued. If we don’t intervene, we will likely decline.

We don’t need List

The early church did all they did without all of these things.

Church growth is closely linked to the religious practices of young people.

A Thriving Church Grows Young

A Thriving Church Is Christ Centered

Christ’s Methods Slide

By committing to these 6 core items, we can thrive, grow, and grow young

List items....

Six Core Commitments to Become a Thriving Church:

Six Core Commitments to Grow Young:

Leadership

Discipleship/Evangelism

Empathy

Discipleship/Evangelism

Community

Priorities

Neighbors

To truly be thriving, there needs to be not just growth, but young growth. In other words, growing young.

Like in a vineyard. When vines die off, they need to be replaced. To enlarge the vineyard, the fastest way is to plant more.

But you aren’t going to go and buy a full-size old vine. You will get a cutting or small vine. The size of a house plant or smaller. That’s how you get vitality and longevity. Of course you will accept oder transplants, but to have very little new or young growth from young transplants, would not be the most healthy way to grow or enlarge. Older vines may already have certain habits that are hard to change. More time spending getting change to happen. Where as young vines are ready to learn and be trained, and can be set off on the right foot early.

We talk today about the first core commitment. It showed up in the research conducted by Fuller Youth Institute. Who is collaborating with the SDA NAD church.

Thriving Looks like this...

Fuller identified congregations that have ministries with young people that are numerically growing, are engaging a large number of young people relative to the size of their congregation, or have something “exciting or missional” going on with young people. Using this list of criteria, nominators identified a total of 363 congregations.

Interviewed, examined.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Story of receiving keys at a young age...

This was an example of a powerful kind of leadership pervasive in churches and parishes that grow young—a type of leadership that can unleash the limitless potential of young people and infuse your entire congregation with new life and energy.

Churches that grow young and are thriving, and brimming with staff, volunteers, and parents who demonstrate keychain leadership. Whoever holds the keys has the power to let people in or to keep people out. Keys provide access to physical rooms, as well as to strategic meetings, significant decisions, and central roles or places of authority. The more power you have, the more keys you tend to possess.

Keys When we refer to keys, we mean the capabilities, power, and access of leaders that carry the potential to empower young people.

Keys = the capabilities, power, and access of leaders that carry the potential to empower young people.

By keychain leaders, we mean pastoral and congregational leaders who are

Keychain Leaders are:

• acutely aware of the keys on their keychain; and

• intentional about entrusting and empowering all generations, including teenagers and emerging adults, with their own set of keys.

Beyond simply the launching of a student leadership team, keychain leadership is a spirit and commitment demonstrated by both paid and volunteer leaders that permeate every area of the church.

Why this type of leadership is so exciting

Any current leader who spends long hours doing church work and dreams of finding others to help share the load, guess what? As you unlock doors, prepare papers and lessons, wash dishes, etc. You might think the only ones willing to do the work are the same group of people.

If you’re a ministry volunteer, member of a leadership team, or parent, the number of keys on your church leadership keychain might be fewer than for those on staff. In reality, other leaders may make the primary decisions for your church and you’re not always sure how to shape those discussions. You might think this means you’ll have less impact on helping your church grow young.

Think again.

No matter your role, here is what we want you to know: if you are willing to entrust your keys to young people, they will trust you with their hearts, their energy, their creativity, and even their friends. Yes, it requires a bit of work to disciple, train, and lead, and the reward is worth it—and by giving them access, you will have the opportunity to touch a whole generation.

Furthermore, recent research shows that 77% of members attributed their church’s effectiveness to the leadership itself.

In other words, the type of leadership a church and its ministries employs, makes all the difference in its effectiveness to thrive, grow, and grow young. Of course this is at the same time that a church is praying and focusing on Jesus.

There are different styles and approaches to leadership. Dogmatic, autocratic, CEO type in the church. While it has merit in the manufacturing sector, or to use temporarily to get a project finished. Among a volunteer organization, the drawbacks of this approach to leadership seem to outweigh its benefits.

Leadership Styles

Autocratic leadership drawbacks include:

Discourages group input

Can impair morale and lead to resentment

May impair or ignore creative solutions and expertise from subordinates

A little more effective, is the “pastor as CEO” style. That could be applied in subsets, where a department leader is the CEO of the department. Either way, it has its drawbacks because these types of leaders dominate decisions and little happens without their consent.

There are other more effective styles in the church setting that have received attention lately such as:

In the past few decades, there has been much attention placed on “missional” leadership, which emphasizes the sending nature of God and our “sent” nature as the people of God. Attention has also recently been given to “emergent” leadership, which paints leadership as highly flexible and responsive to our shifting culture. While there is great merit in both of these models, the keychain leaders we studied didn’t neatly fit either of these categories. Neither did they fit the “pastor as CEO” model in which leaders dominate decisions and little happens without their consent. In fact, the personality or approach of keychain leaders was difficult to classify with any one existing adjective or profile, including “purpose-driven,” “servant leadership,” or being “seeker-sensitive.” By naming these as a list of models that we did not find, we are not suggesting they are unhelpful. They all have certain merit and validity.

More effective leadership styles:

“missional” leadership, which emphasizes the sending nature of God and our “sent” nature as the people of God.

“emergent” leadership - which paints leadership as highly flexible and responsive to our shifting culture.

“purpose-driven” leadership

“servant leadership”

“seeker-sensitive” leadership

While there is great merit in these models, the keychain leaders we studied didn’t neatly fit into any of the above categories. In fact, the personality or approach of keychain leaders was difficult to classify with any one existing adjective or profile.

The research is not suggesting that they are unhelpful. They all have certain merit and validity.

We must look at how we apply leadership styles in our ministries.

That brings us to keychain leaders. While every leader has keys on their keychain, not every leader uses those keys in the same way.

So leadership style has a lot to do with how someone uses the keys on their keychain.

Some leaders cling to their keys tightly and refuse to share them even for a moment, but keychain leaders model a posture of giving away access and authority. This posture not only empowers others but also meaningfully links them to the life of the congregation.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Based on Fuller Youth Institutes research, there are four types of key leadership styles ranging on a continuum from key-less leaders to keychain leaders.

Keychain Leadership Continuum:

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Key-less leaders

Key-hoarding leaders

Key-loaning leaders

Keychain leaders:

Key-less leaders: Often young and inexperienced, without much authority or access, these leaders spend their time proving they’re worthy to possess keys. This could be a high school student ready to volunteer in the children’s ministry—full of potential and passion as he begins his leadership journey. It may also represent an older congregant who feels as though she lost access to keys—and her voice in the church—a decade or two ago.

Key-hoarding leaders: Always holding the keys and refusing to give others access, they run the show. This might include an outgoing, extroverted ministry leader who draws a crowd through sheer personality and ends up driving away others who offer to help (we won’t ask you to name any names but would wager you could name a few leaders in this category pretty quickly).

Key-loaning leaders: Often taking keys off the keychain and letting others borrow them temporarily, they make sure the keys are returned quickly. One example might be a pastor of a fast-growing church plant who knows the contribution of others is important—but also believes others won’t do as good of a job as he or she will.

Keychain leaders: Very aware of the keys they hold, they are constantly opening doors for some while training and entrusting others who are ready for their own set of keys. This could be a long-standing senior leader, associate pastor, or trusted volunteer who young people, staff, and congregation members turn to for advice or to be sharpened in their ministry skills. Everyone seems to get better when this leader is involved, and a long list of people can point to this leader as the reason they serve in the church today.

Look! (Examine the Scriptures)

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Moses was a keychain leader.

Then look in Bible and at Jesus model

Exodus 18:25–26 CEB

25 Moses chose capable persons from all Israel and set them as leaders over the people, as officers over groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 26 They acted as judges for the people at all times. They would refer the hard cases to Moses, but all of the minor cases they decided themselves.

ex

Jesus has all the keys. And he shared them. He gave them to the disciples right off the bat.

Jesus was a keychain leader. Luke 9:1-6

Luke 9:1–6 CEB

1 Jesus called the Twelve together and he gave them power and authority over all demons and to heal sicknesses. 2 He sent them out to proclaim God’s kingdom and to heal the sick. 3 He told them, “Take nothing for the journey—no walking stick, no bag, no bread, no money, not even an extra shirt. 4 Whatever house you enter, remain there until you leave that place. 5 Wherever they don’t welcome you, as you leave that city, shake the dust off your feet as a witness against them.” 6 They departed and went through the villages proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.

Luke

Exodus 18:25–26 CEB

25 Moses chose capable persons from all Israel and set them as leaders over the people, as officers over groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 26 They acted as judges for the people at all times. They would refer the hard cases to Moses, but all of the minor cases they decided themselves.

Perhaps you feel that someone has changed the locks.

Then look in Bible at Jesus model

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Look! (Examine the Scriptures)

Jesus has all the keys. And he shared them. He gave them to the disciples right off the bat.

Luke 9:1–6 CEB

1 Jesus called the Twelve together and he gave them power and authority over all demons and to heal sicknesses. 2 He sent them out to proclaim God’s kingdom and to heal the sick. 3 He told them, “Take nothing for the journey—no walking stick, no bag, no bread, no money, not even an extra shirt. 4 Whatever house you enter, remain there until you leave that place. 5 Wherever they don’t welcome you, as you leave that city, shake the dust off your feet as a witness against them.” 6 They departed and went through the villages proclaiming the good news and healing people everywhere.

He was very aware of what each disciple needed to do to be affective.

This was essential. Jesus set the model. So we wouldn’t have to do everything on our own. The church becomes stronger as each person is given a key to leadership.

Even Peter, a key is mentioned.

Peter was a keychain leader. Matt. 16:19-20

Matthew 16:19–20 CEB

19 I’ll give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Anything you fasten on earth will be fastened in heaven. Anything you loosen on earth will be loosened in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered the disciples not to tell anybody that he was the Christ.

matt 16:19

This is closely tied to discipleship. So its more than only the teaching Bible truths part of making disciples. It’s also the showing how to practice faith and lead others along in faith.

Even more, this type of leadership knows that people, especially young people, don’t want to sit back passively on the sidelines, but want to get in the game.

It takes some amount of effort to be this type of leader. Sharing keys.

Sharing keys story.

Takes planning, adjusting, collaboration, when compared to doing all on your own or keeping things to a small group, the longterm payout of growing the church young is worth it.

Six essentials of keychain leadership (dominated the research)

The research revealed six essentials of keychain leadership.

Keychain leaders are:

mature, not always young (Ex. 18:25-26)

are real, not “relevant” (Rom. 7:15)

are warm, not distant (John 13:15)

know what matters to other people, not just their peers (Phil. 2:1-4)

entrust and empower others; they don’t try to be a “SuperheroChristian” (Luke 9:1-6)

they don’t try to be a “Superpastor”;

and take the long view, not shortsighted steps. (Eph. 4:11-13)

that dominated our research.

Keychain Leaders Are Mature . . . Not Always Young

This is good news. Especially for churches without many young leaders. It means that age does not determine ones ability to operate at the level of a keychain leader.

There’s value in young leaders who can connect with young people. It’s not the whole story.

Only 10% mentioned young leaders as why their church was effective at reaching young people.

In fact, many of the teenagers and emerging adults wished they had more contact with those in the older generation.

They realized that someone with experience and knowhow is the key.

Like learning to drive from an unlicensed friend who doesn’t know how to drive.

Tell story of Alesia...

it’s better to learn from more experienced driver.

When keychain leaders were asked how they had moved from being a key-less, key-hoarding, or key-loaning leader to keychain leadership, they often shared that their maturity was born out of difficult personal and professional experience, failure, and other struggles.

We don’t learn how to use our set of keys overnight. To be a good keychain leader, someone must teach you to drive. To entrust you with the car, and yes, to forgive you and continue to instill confidence even after a few wrong turns.

Moses, Paul, were not young....

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Keychain Leaders Are Real . . . Not “Relevant”

So back to our do not need list. Those of us, not so young anymore leaders, do we need to be more approachable and relevant by changing our wardrobe to match the latest fashion. Although this might be admirable. Like wearing a Shira when attending church service in Fiji. It turns out it’s not necessary.

When parishioners were asked why they attend their church, many talked about the qualities of their leaders. Of those who did so, only 13 percent focused on how their leaders are relevant, while 87 percent talked about authenticity or other qualities unrelated to relevance.

Further, surveys completed by leaders show that a leader’s transparency in decision making is positively related to both vibrant faith in young people who are being led, and measures of church health. In other words, the more transparent the leader is personally and the church is organizationally, the better positioned the church seems to be to grow young.

Young people want leaders who are honest and comfortable being themselves. Keychain leaders understand that this younger generation has a sixth sense for authenticity and intuitively knows whether or not leaders are genuine.

Rom Paul mentioning that what he wants to do he doesn’t do...

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Romans 7:15 CEB

15 I don’t know what I’m doing, because I don’t do what I want to do. Instead, I do the thing that I hate.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Paul mentioning that what he wants to do he doesn’t do...

Keychain Leaders Are Warm . . . Not Distant

While teenagers and emerging adults might sometimes project that they have their act together or want complete independence, those we met desperately want keychain leaders who understand them, mentor them, and personally hand them keys as they’re ready.

When young people were asked what made their church effective, 43 percent pointed to the relational nature of their leaders, specifically that they were caring, accepting, or enjoyable to be with.

Being a warm leader doesn’t mean being a pushover.

we realized this leader’s firmness matches his context.

Keychain Leaders Know What Matters to People . . . Not Just to Other Pastors

But his actions don’t offend them, because he has a relationship with them.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Keychain Leaders Know What Matters to People . . . Not Just to Other Pastors

Warm leadership is not limited to churches of a particular size;

Beyond this, they strategically invest in other leaders who carry the relational load.

Rather than try to connect with thousands in the same way, these keychain leaders strategically infuse this smaller group with a relational warmth that spreads to the rest of the congregation.

While young people may be able to find great preaching online, many told us they’re aching for more than that. They want to be in relationship with leaders who know their name and model a life of faith.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Keychain Leaders Know What Matters to People . . . Not Just to Other Pastors

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

THINK OF JESUS. When he started the footwashing service.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

The last supper and footwashing service Jesus instituted are examples of Jesus warm and close keychain leadership.

John 13:15 CEB

I have given you an example: Just as I have done, you also must do.

John 13:15

Keychain Leaders Know What Matters to People . . . Not Just to their peers

To avoid becoming disconnected, the keychain leaders in our study value, and regularly practice, listening to their congregants in order to understand what matters most. This helps them develop an adept understanding of which doors to unlock and when to give away particular keys. It also informs how they lead, preach, and structure ministries. Instead of adding more and more activities to their already busy calendar, these leaders strategically prioritize listening to congregation members of all generations.

This distinction also applies to any ministry leader trying to lead people and meet their needs while getting to know them. Figuring out what keys to hand off.

spiritual Gifts. Identifying what makes them tick. A Close parallel.

phil 2:

Philippians 2:1–4 CEB

1 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort in love, any sharing in the Spirit, any sympathy, 2 complete my joy by thinking the same way, having the same love, being united, and agreeing with each other. 3 Don’t do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. 4 Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others.

Keychain Leaders Entrust and Empower Others . . . They Don’t Try to Be a “SuperHeroChristian”

Perhaps the most important choice that moves a leader from key-loaning to keychain is that of entrusting and empowering others. All too often a mythical but popular church hero, the so-called SuperChristian, interferes with the development of this carefully honed skill.

When we asked hundreds of leaders what accounts for their effectiveness with young people, over 30 percent mentioned that they entrust young people with opportunities to lead and contribute. This was one of the highest responses,

Rather, these leaders focus on building a team of other capable leaders who have strengths that they lack. As a result, the appropriate keys are taken off one leader’s keychain and given to the leaders best suited for particular roles or responsibilities.

Paul came to churches, started some, but moved away from all. He was training and leading them. We have his letters that show us his example. He couldn’t be a superpastor, he moved too much. Those who remained needed to be the leaders.

Jesus

Keychain Leaders Take the Long View . . . Not Shortsighted Steps

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Keychain Leaders Take the Long View . . . Not Shortsighted Steps

Across the board, our surveys, interviews, and church visits all highlighted the importance of consistent and long-term leadership—in both the youth ministry and the overall church. In particular, our analysis of surveys found a positive relationship between the longer senior pastors served at a particular church and overall church health.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

That makes sense given that moving from key-less, key-hoarding, or key-loaning to keychain leadership simply takes time, especially in youth and emerging adult ministry. Young people are already going through significant developmental changes in their friends, schools, and physical bodies. Relationships at church have the potential to be a rare constant.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. Powell, Kara. Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church . Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Eph 4.

Ephesians 4:11–13 CEB

11 He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. 12 His purpose was to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ 13 until we all reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ.

See! (Explain the passage)

Case examples

Do! (Make application)

Churches that are committed to keychain leadership are thriving and growing young.

Let us commit to becoming keychain leaders.

The Thriving Church, Part 2: Leadership

Keychain Leadership

Examples of Keychain Leaders:

Six Essentials of Keychain Leadership:

Prayer