By Sam Rainer<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span>A big wave is coming towards the church. It\u2019s the swell of retiring Boomer pastors. Most Boomer pastors are currently between the ages of 50 and 68. They won\u2019t all retire at once, so this wave won\u2019t crash into the church like a tsunami. However, I don\u2019t believe the North American church is prepared to replace these pastors. Here are a few implications of retiring Boomer pastors:<\/span><\/p>\n I want to focus on what will happen when these pastors are inevitably replaced\u2014more importantly, <\/span>who<\/span><\/i> will replace them. A new generation of leaders\u2014Millennials\u2014will inherit these church positions. I\u2019m the oldest of the Millennial generation. Most date the birth of Millennials between 1980 and 2000. I barely make the cut as a February 1980 baby, but I connect with Millennials more than any other generation.<\/span><\/p>\n As Millennials begin to become senior pastors, their churches will have <\/span>many<\/span><\/i> Gen Xers, Boomers, and Builders. Of course, the percentages will eventually shift to churches full of older Millennials, but such a shift will take decades.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>I\u2019ve been the <\/span>first<\/span><\/i> Millennial pastor of churches in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Florida. After some trials (a few) and errors (many) at these churches, here\u2019s what I\u2019ve discovered: We Millennials think and act quite differently than previous generations. In short, it\u2019s a bit awkward when Millennial pastors lead in churches full of Boomers and Builders, especially the <\/span>first<\/span><\/i> time it occurs.<\/span><\/p>\n While each church is unique and within a specific context, there are generalizations across generations. Generally, what should Millennial pastors expect as they begin to lead established churches?<\/span><\/p>\n The wave of Millennials becoming leaders in established churches is just beginning. In 10 years, major shifts will occur. Soon many churches will hire a Millennial senior pastor for the first time. Millennials, it\u2019s on you to work <\/span>with<\/span><\/i> older generations, not <\/span>against<\/span><\/i> them. Leadership is a gift, not a right. If older generations are going to give you this gift, then treat it well.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Sam Rainer \u00a0A big wave is coming towards the church. It\u2019s the swell of retiring Boomer pastors. Most Boomer pastors are currently between the ages of 50 and 68. They won\u2019t all retire at once, so this wave won\u2019t crash into the church like a tsunami. However, I don\u2019t believe the North American church…","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":695513,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"","publish_post_category":"","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,186,176],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-695512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-health-and-metrics","category-revitalize"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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