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Wounded leadership series: Comparison
Maybe in the back of your mind that is the type of leader you wanted to be. Maybe that’s the image you compare yourself to, the image of a successful, driven spiritual leader. Maybe you make comparisons subconsciously. You look at the apparent list of gifts and successes and you just don’t measure…
Fred Drummond
Wounded leadership series: Vulnerability
This season has been hugely challenging. For church leaders, the demands have been constant and complex, leaving many feeling useless and wracked with both frustration and exhaustion. I want to let you know that it’s okay to cry. Your tears are not a sign of weakness; they can be a sign of…
Fred Drummond
Wounded leadership series: Waiting on God
However, I have learned the hard way that in church leadership sometimes waiting is more important than moving. God doesn’t always work to our timescale. This can be difficult for the many activists in the church. Have you ever noticed how often the words wait, remain and stay appear in the Bible?…
Fred Drummond
Wounded leadership: four-part editorial series
Some leaders have had to offer pastoral support to church members without being able to be with them amid their grief. Others have taken funeral services with only a handful of mourners. The majority have had to learn how to run church services online and try to keep the congregation together…
The hallway
The young adult years are punctuated with life-defining decisions and frequent moments of change. In these formative years, careers begin, families are left behind, relationships start, dwellings change, education ends, and knots are tied. Throughout this transitory life stage many young adults…
The living room
One of the positive aspects of the digital revolution in general and with social media in particular is its capacity to create and maintain relationships, especially allowing us to keep contact with others over vast distances. Younger generations are the most connected in history. But quantity of…
The study
An important 2018 study asked almost 500 young adults what they observed in the most effective leaders. The three most popular answers were integrity, humility and passion. For many, these may seem surprising. Other attributes such as strategic, visionary and even intelligence were much further…
The kitchen
The effects of the digital revolution on this age group have been seismic. The ways in which we access and interact with information have been amongst the most significantly affected. As the church seeks to communicate the transformative message of Jesus with young adults, it must ask how best to…
The dining room
If the conversation that we have in the kitchen is about style of teaching, this one is about substance. This is a conversation about difficult conversations, and it takes place in the dining room. Families talk about life and discuss the big issues around the table. A number of different…
Lessons from the gym: how to welcome young adults
CrossFit is sold not just as a type of gym to go to, but a lifestyle change. It promotes a focus on constantly varied, functional movements at a high intensity. And after seeing a number of friends try it, I wanted on the hype train. One of the things they kept talking about was the community.…
Chris McBurney
The games room
Some sociologists have referred to young adults as the paradoxical generation because of the competing narratives and tensions that exist within them. One such paradox is the high value placed on individualism on one hand versus the desire to find themselves in community on the other. A further…
The garden
There are hopeful signs that significant numbers of young adults will become Christians in the coming years. But what will be the common pathways to faith? How can we make the most of the opportunities that we have to communicate the good news to this generation and invite them to follow Jesus?…
Evangelism through sport for young adults
We're finally coming out of this, aren’t we? This is the question we pondered. But, after such a long time in lockdown, might a more important question be, how are we going to come out? I think we can take some inspiration from the book of Isaiah. The prophet Isaiah spoke of coming out of exile –…
Jos Edwards
Rethinking small groups
Meanwhile, students and young adults have craved connection and community more than ever. As the church, we have been presented with an opportunity like none before: we can strip back how we connect with 20s to 30s to reflect the heart of discipleship. In Acts 2, we see the early church spring…
Viki Seithel
Welcome to 7 Conversations
I remember reading the Evangelical Alliance’s 2009 resource The Missing Generation with a heavy heart. It found that between 1985 and 2005 the numbers of those in their 20s attending church on a Sunday more than halved. At the time I was part of that age group and grieved for my own…
Phil Knox
