There is a new age dawning in the church of the 21st century. It is one of renewed interest by the youth of this generation for the principles and calling of God on their lives. We are seeing prodigals returning to the church in droves, seeking a place of refuge from the vortex of lies and lust that seeks to destroy their souls. With this great awakening taking place, it is imperative that we create a net that will not break under the immense weight; sending the catch back into the waters of the world, even more leery of the church than before. To do this the church needs to be prepared to carry this burden through expectant prayer for this generation, living a life that exposes the power and reality of God, and being prepared to speak the Word of God with authority and conviction, planting this incorruptible seed into the hearts and lives of this generation.

For this to happen effectively there needs to be a system of local church training in place that both creates and calls leaders out of the corporate setting. It is time that the church starts doing this to prepare for a great coming harvest. If we start today there will be powerful, Spirit-led leadership in place when this occurs. In the business world, what makes or breaks a business is whether or not it can supply the demands of the day. If they can’t, there will be someone who will and that company will rise to the top. In the same way, if the church is not ready to accommodate the influx of this generation’s need for Christ, they will go to a lesser source to find some kind of fulfillment.

The church is fully responsible for every soul that turns away because they were not given what they needed. The ideas that say, "I don’t know the Word well enough," or "I don’t know how to lead someone to Christ," or "I don’t want to offend them," are going to be the very things that Christians are going to be judged for. Obeying the words and fear of Satan is a far greater offense than making someone uncomfortable. Statistics today say that 98% of all "Christians" have never lead someone to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If this isn’t alarming then I don’t know what is. If the church were a business it would be bankrupt. It is time that we pull our heads out of the sand and do something about it.

For too long the church has been reactive in its growth and placement of ministries. We wait till there is a problem then we try to fix it. We have the mindset that if it is not broken then don’t touch it. We need to have a proactive mindset that says, "I want the mind of God on this matter."

We need to see through the eternal eyes of God in every area, which means that we are flexible enough and humble enough to abandon our programs and follow Christ. I am not against programs that are God-inspired, if this is what God is doing today, but I am leery of programs that have become a signature for a group and people are now finding their identity in them, rather than Christ. The church needs to be the head not the tail. After all we are the ambassadors for the God of the entire universe.

For this to happen, it is essential that the local church take its position as the trainer of leaders. If we truly believe that we are fulfilling the kingdom purposes of God in this earth we need to be able to impart that into every member of the congregation. It is time that the teaching that every joint supplies (Eph. 4:16) reenters the church. It is time every person knows the biblical teaching that it is mandatory for every person to reproduce or else they will have their talents taken from them and given to someone who will use them. (Mt. 25:28)

One of the most effective ways I have seen in building leaders in the local church is through the means of a church internship. Internships are a very simple and complete method of raising up disciples in the church, for the church, and by the church. The internship should contain the areas of practical ministry, teaching, and mentoring/accountability.

To effectively touch this generation of young people that will be in our internship program we need to identify their ways of thinking and then learn to accommodate them. Teaching the way we did 10 years ago will not work today. This is a key in working with GenXers. Youth today are more feeling oriented than ever before and less principle oriented. This is probably one of the greatest hurtles that we must overcome. This is where we get the "I don’t care" attitude. It is because they don’t feel it. Everything is relative.

If we are to be effective we need to learn to combat this by helping them transition from feelings to principles. This is done through constant instruction in the Word of God. The Bible is full of principles and mandates that we need to conform to whether our flesh feels like it or not. Youth of this generation need to know that crucifying their flesh is essential whether they feel like it or not. This is where the accountability aspect of the internship is very helpful.

How then are we to present teaching to this generation? Youth today live in a fast paced media environment of computers and television. If we continue to teach in the typical manner of lecture without visual aid or some kind of sense stimulus we will lose out on passing on essential leadership principles.

A good example I have seen of this is in a Basic Doctrine class I took in Bible Collage. The material was presented in a manner that was very logical and linear. Every point was covered, yet I don’t remember much of what I was to learn. Then just recently I went to an internship program where they were teaching the same doctrine class, using the same book, but I remember almost everything that was taught that day. Why is this? It was the teaching style. One class was taught by a professor of a bible college and the other by a youth pastor. They both lectured, but the youth pastor involved the students more, gave more word pictures, and involved a lot of comedy.

This is what it will take to instruct GenXers. Our minds need to be kept moving and interacting or else we get lost. Even though this might not be the way it should be, it just is. Sure you can learn a lot both ways, but I believe the latter is the best. Hand’s on learning is very effective for internships. That is why we have the practical ministry aspect. Learning through relationships is also a vital key for this generation. If they don’t see someone that they can identify with they have a harder time learning from that teacher. Kids learn better from people that have proven themselves to them. This is where mentoring is so useful. It builds a trusting relationship that allows an older more experienced person to speak into their life.

Steve Carpenter, an internship leader in Kirkland, Washington, puts it this way: "Youth leave the church because they don’t see anyone who they want to be like." Identifying with the teacher is of the utmost importance. Steve went on to say that, "If you have the seed, you have the harvest." If the church leaders can gain the hearts of the youth they will have the future harvest.

There is an epidemic that plagues this generation. It is a lack of vision. No longer are youth able to stir their own hearts to action, but need outside stimuli. (This is of course an overstated generalization.) It is essential that if you want to create leaders you need to plant a vision in their lives for that very area. Miles Monroe once stated that, "Every follower has the potential to lead." This I believe will come out with the planting of vision. With this mindset every person you encounter is a future leader and there will be more of a tendency to spend time with people that you would not normally consider leadership material. This will revolutionize ministry, as we know it.

One simple way to plant vision is to put opportunities before the youth. These opportunities may be anything from being a cell group leader to running sound equipment. Whatever or however it arises, vision is essential for youth to become leaders (or for anyone to become a leader for that matter). This is why in Proverbs 29:18 we see that without vision people will perish. Placing vision is like planting a seed and just like a seed the vision must be tended to. It must be watered and protected until it can take root and grow on its own. Planting vision in youth will also vary in outcome about as much as planting a seed in different soils varies in growth time and need for care. Some youth are tilled, fertile, and moist soil ready to grow just about whatever you put in them and others take quite a bit of work to keep that seed from dying.

It is also essential to note that whatever seed is planted will detrmine the plant that will grow. Make sure you plant what you know to be the will of God for that person’s life. The leader is held responsible for this. The best seed is the incorruptible seed of the Word of God. Vision must be watered and weeded. Watering vision includes placement in various ministries that will stimulate growth and prayer for those areas. When the vision begins to grow it needs less water to survive and flourish. Vision is like a snowball, once it gets rolling it builds on itself. There are constantly weeds that pop up and try to strangle out vision. These weeds come in through doubt in self, failure, lack of faith, and from others.

I have seen more than once in my own life where I had a vision to do something and when I told someone else about it they remarked, "that’s dumb." Needless to say if that vision wasn’t protected carefully it may have died right there. Weeds can also come from Satan and it is essential that the truth of the Word of God be constantly imparted into the prospective leader.

One of the reasons people in this generation don’t have vision is because they do not know their gifting. They often see themselves as someone with nothing to offer, when in fact, there is a well of resources in them just waiting to be drawn from.

Leadership training should always include gift assessment and placement. This can be done through various tests that are put out through different Christian organizations and through careful observation and question asking. It is important that the individual knows their gifting so that they understand why they are disposed toward certain areas. It is also very important in vision planting so that you as a leader do not try to plant a vision that a person should be a prophet when they are gifted as a teacher. These tests shouldn’t govern a person’s path, but merely help guide them and cause them to understand what the Lord may be calling them to.

A disclaimer should be that God may be calling them to do something outside of their "gifting" and to place something new inside them. These tests can be very helpful as well as very harmful to a person. They should be given with much supervision and care. It is important that if you want to make leaders, the student must know that their personal gifting is needed and that they should be able to be mentored by someone with like gifting. The key here is letting God bring the increase and the leader just being faithful to shepherd the sheep.

The local church should be a place of safety as well as one of constant challenge. There needs to be the balance of how much you can lead the sheep before they get worn out. It is important that leaders do not drive the sheep, but lead them. This will insure that the way is clear and safe for the sheep. We are seeing an exuberance from this generation like never before, but it is essential that the leaders of the church respond to them properly to raise up the leaders for the 21st century. If this exuberance is not directed properly we could see many negative things, but if it is directed according to the Spirit we will see a move of God like never before.

It is up to us to educate ourselves concerning the best methods of forming leadership in this generation. It is a new day and a new season in the church; it is critical that we respond as such. It is time to raise up leaders.

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