Generational Leadership
The Art of Generational Leadership
"…Asa begat Jehosophat, Jehosophat begat Jehoram, Jehoram begat Uzziah, Uzziah begat Ahaz…" (Matt 1v8-9) Let’s be real for a minute; "How many of you enjoy reading the genealogies in the bible?" – "I see two hands out there!" If you are anything like me; I skip Genesis five & eleven. I give some of 1 Chronicles a miss & I definitely don’t spend much time pondering the deeper meanings of the genealogies in Matthew chapter one. Too many men "…begetting other men…" What’s that all about?
In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul reminds the young pastor Timothy that; "…all scripture is God-breathed…" Which means that we can’t escape the fact that the word; begat, begot, begettest, begetteth & begotten, which appears well over 200 times in the King James Version, is in there for a reason! "…All scripture is God breathed!" Where do you go with something like that? God is clearly highlighting something to us.
It’s clear in Genesis chapter two, that man & woman were created to reproduce! To become the Father or Mother of another is not merely a nice thing, it is fundamental to the purposes of why man was created in the first place. God made man & woman, so man & woman could make man & woman!
But there is more to the passages in Geneses, 1st Chronicles & Matthew chapter one (amongst many others) than just having babies. The reason we read so many types of genealogies in the Bible is because God is a generational God! God does not just have a heart & a passion for one particular age group, living in a certain period of time.
John 3:16 tells us he died for “…the world…”
2 Sam 14:14 reminds us that “God...devises ways so that a banished person may not be estranged from him…”
Rom 10:9 says; “If you confess Jesus is Lord…you will be saved…” irrespective of age!
Matthew 19:14 Jesus says; “...let the little children come to me…”
Psalm 92:13 says; “…they shall still bear fruit in their old age…”
God has a heart for all age groups, all generations at all times! He is not confined by time! He sits outside of time & looks in on us. He is not just everywhere, but He is also EVERYWHEN! He is in tomorrow already & can see the consequences of the decisions you make today; for your life & also in the generations to come. In fact much of the Bible was written to highlight how one generation in turn affects the next!
The word “Begat” merely highlights the commencement of the next generation. God is into the generations because he made them!
That snotty nosed 6 year old on the street corner – God loves him!
That 16 yr old girl in youth who is so self conscious – God created her!
That 27yr Old who is married, settling down & has little time for church – God in interested in him.
That 43 year old businessman, who has got it all together – God is into him
That 67 year old Grandma who has seen it all – God is into her
That 93 year old Great Grandfather–“…they shall still bear fruit in their old age!”
If God is so much into the generations, then why do many of our churches have “generation gaps?” Why are the teenagers missing? OR why are the Baby boomers absent on Sundays & in the small groups? It’s simply because “…the art of generational leadership…” has been forgotten!
The Generations alive in 2006
There are currently four generations walking the streets of our nation. They are best defined as;
0-17’s - Generation Y
18-37’s - Generation X
38-56’s - Baby Boomers
57+ - Builders
What is Generational Leadership?
Leadership, as defined by Jon Maxwell is; “Influence!” We all have influence in varying degrees & therefore by definition are all “leaders” to some extent.
The art of Generational leadership is all about training the movers & shakers of each generation, so they in turn can influence their peers to pursue the purposes of God.
Characteristics of people Jesus identified as Generational leaders.
Jesus identified 12 men who were to become the influencers who would forward the cause of the Kingdom. The characteristics of the disciples were many & varied. They were;
1. Able to work hard - Mk 1:16
2. Obedient / willing to try -Lk 5:4-5
3. Able to work well as a team - Lk 5:7
4. Able to Leave everything - Lk 5:11 / 5:28
5. Decisive - Mk 1:18-
6. Skilled - Mk 1:7
7. Faith filled for provision - Mk 1:18
8. Ready - Mk 1:20
9. Not swayed by human expectation
10. Able to carry insult / be rejected by men - Mk 2:14
11 Not bothered by social taboos - Mk 2:15
12 Bold - Matt 16:16
13 Audacious - Jn 1:3
14 Team builders themselves - Mk 1:41
15 Full of Integrity/Transparency -Mk 1:47
Generational leaders don’t come ready made like this. And they certainly fail at times. But through persistence, patience & training, generational leaders are identified & developed, who in turn are instrumental in raising up a strong generational church.
Training the generational leaders
I heard a story some years ago about a sales executive who persuaded his Boss to invest millions of pounds into a project. After several months, it became apparent that the venture was going to fail & all the monies would be lost. The sales executive sheepishly entered his boss’s office & offered his resignation, to which the boss replied; “Why should I accept your resignation? I have just spent millions training you!”
Some “generational leaders” who have some of the characteristics outlined above, simply do not know how to do the tasks given them. Expectation is placed upon un-trained “leaders” to accomplish a task, & then frustration sets in as expectation is met with disappointment. Fundamental to having a generational church is the task of training those identified as the movers & shakers of each generation.
How do you become the generational leader
1. Establish Relationship (Matt 4:18-22)
I once heard someone preach on; “how amazing it was that the disciples would instantly drop their nets & follow someone they did not know, let alone ever have seen before.” But from scripture, this is clearly not the case – Jesus seemingly called those he had relationship with. Follow this thought pattern;
• Jesus was born Bethlehem (Matt2:1)
• He was raised Nazareth (Matt 2:23)
• He was baptised in Jordan (Matt 3:13)
• He was tempted in desert (Matt 4:1)
• He live in the region of Capernaum (Matt 4:13)
o All of this happened before he called the Disciples.
• The Sea of Galilee where Jesus called many of the Disciples was in Capernaum. Jesus would have walked by the Sea of Galilee, even swam in the water as a child. The Sea of Galilee was his “turf”. Jesus would have seen the Peter James & John Before. He may have even fished with them?
• In fact we know for sure that Jesus had relationship with Peter. The Bible records at least 2 occurrences where Peter & Jesus interacted before he called Peter by the Sea of Galilee.;
o In John 1:42 Jesus visited Peter’s home
o In Luke 4 & Mark 1 we read of Jesus healing Peter’s Mother in Law
o In Luke 5, Jesus asked to get into Peter’s boat so he could preach.
The point is that Jesus had relationship, and continued to build his mentoring of the disciples on “relationship” & not just position alone.
2. Develop trust (Matt 15:25-32)
In the Story of Peter & Jesus walking on water, we are reading not only about faith but also trust. The disciples are in a boat, in a storm when they see Jesus walking on the Water. Jesus is not walking on a mill pond, but he is walking over crests & into the troughs of waves. Peter is relatively safe in the boat, but his mentality was; “ I would rather be “out there” walking with Jesus on the water, in the storm, doing the impossible, than relatively safe here in the boat!” Most of us would have opted for “safety”, Peter opted for “trust”. At Jesus command – Peter stepped out of the boat into “trust-land!”
With any mentoring / training, there has to be a certain level of trust. The person you are training must know that they can trust you. There are no discouraging or disparaging remarks made about them behind closed doors, but that you as the mentor have their best interest always at heart. Lack of trust can create havoc in the attempt to build generational church.
3. Establish a degree of informality
As a child I had a weird concept of Jesus, probably because of the way the movies had portrayed him. I saw him walking around, with his arms slightly outstretched, palms open towards heaven & with a deep booming, labouring voice. Literally, the view I had of Jesus & his teaching was; “Very formal & officious!”
In actual fact, the majority of Jesus teaching was informal.
In John 8:12 Jesus says; “I am the light of the World!” Jesus said this at the end of the feast of tabernacles, at a time when the great flame from the temple in Jerusalem would have been extinguished. Perhaps Jesus had been walking with his disciples, passed the temple & saw the smoke bellowing from the canister that housed this great light. Now that the light was extinguished, Jesus saw it as an opportunity to reveal to the disciples that “He was in fact the light of the world, & that he would never go out!”
Conversely, Jesus story telling ability was second to none. The parables were the informal method of teaching truth. In actual fact, Jesus was less formal & more informal then we may care to imagine.
4. Plot A - B (Jn 14:12)
In John 14:12, Jesus says; “Anyone who has faith in me will do even greater things than I have done…” Looking at the disciples at the time, this was hard to imagine, & yet the disciples were to become “miracle workers” like Jesus. John 14:12 was where the disciples would end up. A group of “confused, argumentative, & fearful” warriors are what they were at this point. And yet, training leaders is about identifying where they are now & seeing the person as they will be. To keep the eye of Point B, whilst keeping an eye on the reality of present day will avoid unrealistic expectations being placed upon the trainee.
5. Observe strengths & capitalise upon them (Matt 16:21-23)
Peter’s strength was that he was “Outspoken!” Jesus chose not to look at it as a weakness, rather strength. In fact Jesus, capitalised on this characteristic of Peter’s.
How did Jesus Capitalise on it?
• Matt 17:1 – He took Peter to the Mount of Transfiguration whereby there was an outburst of a ridiculous nature form Peter
• Matt 17:24 – He included Peter in a Conversation about money & asked him for his thoughts n the issue.
• Matt 18:24 – He tolerated Peter’s questions on issues of the culture
• Matt 26:37 – He took Peter to the Garden of Gethsemane, to watch & be there
• Matt 26:69 – He allows Peter to deny Him.
• But then in ACTS 1 v12 Peter is mentioned FIRST
• In V15 Peter Speaks FIRST - Peter is now the leader.
• In Acts 2 - Who preaches? Peter! And 3000 people get saved!
This outspoken, brash characteristic was honed & fine tuned over three years so that Peter could arrive at the place where he began to speak out as the generational leader. That which you think may be a weakness in you trainee, may actually be a strength that you can capitalise on & use in the generational church
6. Sandwich Discipleship
The sandwich discipleship simply means to;
• Encourage
• Discipline
• Encourage!
Any discipline should come in the middle of a good healthy batch of encouragement, Some leaders discipline out of a place of position. The better alternative is to discipline from a place of relationship. Franklin Covey encourages us to see people’s lives as a bank account. You have a personal bank account in each person you are in relationship with. If you discipline a person, then you make a withdrawal from that account. When you encourage, you deposit into that account.
Some leaders are in their overdraft with people they are training because they have made more withdrawal than deposits. Choose to develop leaders from the place of relationship & you’ll get the best out of those you are developing. They not only enjoy serving God, but have times when they are privileged because they get to serve you
7. Give homework & evaluate (Lk 10)
In Luke 10 - Jesus sent out the 71. They later returned to Jesus rejoicing because; “…even the demons submitted to us in your name…”
In this passage, Jesus had sent out those he was training with some homework. They were to take the Kingdom of God into towns & villages. The report they gave wasn’t enough to satisfy Jesus & so he began to evaluate their work & also tell them about what their priorities should be. Jesus was evaluating what they had done.
When you sit & train, you should always give the trainee something to do. The practical application of what they have learnt is vital if they are to retain the wisdom received. Make a point of evaluating their work once it is completed.
The raising of Generational leaders in the church can be a lengthy process, but it is fundamental if the church is to truly represent all ages.
Glyn Barrett is the Director of Audacious and Youth Alive UK. He is a sought after communicator and author. Glyn and his wife, Sophia, are the Senior Pastors of Audacious City Church. They live in Manchester with their two children, Gorgia and Jaedon.