ARE WE A PEOPLE AT HALF TIME? - Leadership Network

uilds trust.”
9. Leadership development is
defined as the development
of lay leaders,
not staff, and
the pastor’s role is
primarily one of an
Dave Crowder
equipper and coach.
A key concern among
Boomer pastors has
been how to develop professional
staff who can
lead high quality programs.
Xer pastors
emphasize the role of
staff as equippers
of laypeople to do the
ministry. Quality programming
is important,
but the first emphasis is
on healthy teams of lay
leaders who understand their gifts and are
serving in a healthy community.
10. There are no easy answers ...few
models ...little resources ...and no
single place that equips people for
ministry to and with
Generation X.
Ministering to Xers is a
learn as you go process.
There isn’t a workshop or a
seminar or catalogue of
resources to learn how to do
Xer ministry. It is a trial and
error, learn by doing, look
for resources anywhere and share what
you learn kind of deal. According to
Dieter Zander, “We are all trying to do
Dieter Zander
this with very little staff,
money, experience or training.
We are all pioneers on
how to reach them.”
It was a pioneering kind
of forum. Thirty-six hours
after the forum began, the
participants would re-assemble for a closing
time of prayer, communion and commitment
to Gen X outreach and ministry.
Connally Gillam
Over the course of the two and one-half
days in workshops, affinity groups, plenary
sessions, and over meals, ideas and
resources were shared, assumptions were
challenged, approaches and methodologies
scrutinized and yes, even debated.
It was not a perfect group of participants.
In contrast to Gen X itself, there
were few people of color. For some
Xers, there were too many Boomers
and Xer wannabees. But when it was
all over, there was a consensus that
God had done something during the
time together, that He is doing something
amidst this generation and its leaders and
just maybe, these days would be seen as a
watershed meeting in terms of Gen X
ministry. As one participant would write
in an e-mail the following week, “It was
great to see a bigger vision emerge from
the ministries of so many of us who are
plugging away in our own local areas.
The movement is real.”
Audio tapes of the plenary sessions at the
Gen X forum are available by calling
Convention Cassettes at 1-800-776-5454.
ADDITIONAL GEN X
RESOURCES
Generation X...Implications for
Mission Organizations of the
Sociological Distinctives of
Christians Born Between 1961 and
1975, by Jeff Bantz.
This is an
outstanding
r e s o u r c e
for anyone looking
for a comprehensive
but concise
overview of Generation
X. It includes
a review of
Gen X literature
and common
themes, a
description of the social and historical
environment that nurtured the generation,
interviews with Xers, and recommendations
for Christian organizations seeking
to relate to and continued on next page
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