Guiding Generation Z to Lead in Your Church

Many church leaders have great intentions about involving Generation Z college students and teenagers in leadership roles within their churches. However, practically speaking, what does this look like?

Inviting Generation Z into church leadership requires patience, time, and energy as you mentor and develop students into leaders. You wouldn’t want to throw them into the deep end of leadership without coming alongside them through guidance and mentorship.

Teaching hospitals use the approach, “See One, Do One, Teach One.” Similarly, inviting Gen Z students into leadership in a guided way might look like, “I do, you watch; We do together; You do, I watch; You do, someone new watches and learns.”

Here’s how this might play out in a real-life scenario: Recently, at our church we held a six-week High School Bible Study. The first week, our High School Pastor completely led on her own with senior student leaders actively participating in the study. The second week, she invited seniors to lead key portions of the session (opening prayer, introduction question, Scripture reading, taking joys and concerns/prayer requests), but she was still the primary facilitator. The third week, she assigned roles for the student leaders, but mostly let them lead the discussion. By the fourth week, she was able to hand them the material and ask, “Ok, who’s leading what?” And by the sixth week, she completely handed over the leadership of the study to the student leaders.

Next, look at your church’s councils, boards, and committees. Do you have any youth representatives on those leadership teams? Carve out spaces to invite in youth voices and Generation Z representatives. Make this more than a “token” young person slot that you need to fill, but actually allow them to speak into church decisions. If you don’t know which youth members to nominate for these council spots, ask for suggestions from their peers, youth mentors or volunteers, or the youth director/youth pastor. Come alongside these youth committee members and use this as a mentoring and growth opportunity as you raise up long-term leaders for your church.

Finally, there is no better witness to Generation Z than other members of Generation Z. Use students in your youth ministry or young adults in your congregation as volunteers in your children’s ministry, as greeters and ushers, or even as Scripture readers and speakers. Invite them to share devotions on your church’s social media platforms or preach during youth group.

Even better, have Generation Z students take over your whole service one Sunday and put them in charge of everything from worship to prayer to the message. Many churches do a “youth takeover” Sunday, and while it might not be the most polished sermon or worship set, their words are real and genuine. More importantly, their Gen Z peers are engaged and listening, often more so than when their seminary-trained pastor stands up to preach.

However you begin to do it, inviting Generation Z into church leadership is an investment that will reap long-term benefits for both your congregation and your students.