Ministry WITH Millennials: Review of Zach Yentzer’s Ignite the Spark!

I stand corrected. I had thought the workshop was on “ministry to millennials.” Wow, was I sure wrong! Our ministries, when at their best, are seldom merely ministry “to” but rather ministry “with.” As all politics are local (in the wisdom made famous by Speaker Tip O’Neil), so all ministry is relational, which means ministry “with” others.

Zach Yentzer, our Ignite the Spark! speaker at de Cristo’s event last week and at Grand Canyon’s event next week,* reminded me of this truth. Here are a few, choice gems from Zach’s presentation:

We don’t want to have the baton passed to us. We want to walk forward together and share the baton.

We prefer to explore a topic together rather than have you give us the answers.

In an era of ever-increasing technology, the importance of place becomes more vital, which is why I am in favor of local churches. The local church, as a place, gives context to the ever-increasing stream of data and speed of information.

The key word above is “together.” We can do this!

Zach’s Ignite the Spark! presentation mined Paul’s pastoral epistles for clues on how ministry together with Millennials might move forward. As Paul, the elder mentor, wrote to Timothy and Titus, the youngers, we see a model for leveraging one of our greatest spiritual giftings – we have an abundance of silver-haired wisdom in our congregations! – toward connecting with our communities.

A look at Titus 3:14 shows a flavor of what Zach discussed with us: “And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.” The interesting Greek word in this verse is ergon, which is translated as “good works.” However, ergon doesn’t mean “good works” as in “works righteousness,” the act of seeking God’s approval through our goodness. Rather ergon is about the building of business, employment, and production of art and industry by one’s own hands. One might think of Café Justo in Agua Prieta as an example of ergon ministry – doing work that blesses the community.

Our churches can become places to work together to pull each other up, to help each other launch for work and launch for care. Can you imagine encouraging a younger adult toward their vocational goal – and to do this as an act of the sacred? Can you imagine sharing mutual wisdom with a younger adult – them teaching you and you enlightening them – toward the goal of deeper discernment of our world today and God’s call upon the Church? Can you imagine not just handing a younger adult the baton of committee work but walking side-by-side to discern God’s vision of where we need to take the baton next – together?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you might be a Reformed Christian, ready to be always reforming according to the Word of God. Stay tuned for more next week when I will give a few practical tidbits on what ministry with millennials can look like.

You can register for Grand Canyon's session with Zach coming up November 3 at Desert Palms PC.
Click here.

Ready to share a baton,
Brad Munroe