I'm still haunted by a moment after preaching at a small, rural church the summer after my Freshman year of college. An older lady came up to me and said something along the lines of "One day, you'll make a great preacher."

I suppose the comment was meant to be harmless, but to my mind, it communicated two things: "You aren't very good at preaching right now" and "You aren't a real preacher."

I won't claim I was an expert at preaching then--nor would I claim the same today--but I like to think I wasn't half-bad. That summer I actually did some circuit preaching around the Greater Portland Metropolitan Area. People were actually paying me money to come to preach for them (funny enough, the only church that didn't pay me was my home church! Something something about a prophet not being honored in their own home... :P ). So I certainly felt like a real preacher.

The woman's comment probably wasn't meant to be anything, but over my life, I've grown cautious of adult's views of young people in the church. I was told over and over again that it was great to see me leading and preaching as a high schooler and college student, but I often wondered if they were actually impressed by me personally or just the fact that it was refreshing for them to see a young person active in the faith. In other words: At what age would I cross over from the "church of the future" into the "church of today?"

This week, I published an article on my blog titled "Older Christians are the Key to Getting Youth Back in the Church." I argue that words to young people matter. Many young people I know don't feel truly valued in the church beyond the fact that they happen to be in the age demographic that many congregations are missing. The solution is radical yet so simple: older adults need to reach out and connect with young people--but do more listening than speaking.

In lieu of a longer email, go check out that article.

Take me to the article

For the twentysomethings and below in my email audience, let me know if you think what young people need is genuine non-agenda-driven connections with older adults in the church. I'm curious to see if your experience lines up with mine.

From a member of the Church of Today,

Jake Doberenz