How to Make District Leadership Younger

The elections at this year's SOMO District Council is instructive for all who wish to see younger or more progressive leadership than we have been used to. Though I am no longer young, my experience and observations can help the under 40 group which feels so left out.

(By the way, I am excited about the vision that our relatively new Superintendent Don Miller brought to us. It's not just the age, it's progressive thinking.)

There is much clamoring for an under-40 presbyter or executive presbyter as we see in other districts and at the national level. I would vote for such a thing but that's not where change will come from. Think about it. If we added an under-40 presbyter, he/she would be added to the 13 sectional presbyters, 1 ethnic presbyter, 4 executive presbyters and 3 executive officers to be 1 out of 22. That's not much of a voice. If we had an under 40 executive presbyter, we would add him/her to the 4 regional executive presbyters and 3 executive officers so he/she would be 1 of 8. A better voice, but still fairly muted.

Neither is it realistic to think that the under 40 group could come into the next election in 4 years and band together to elect some agreed upon candidate to one of the top jobs. You may not like it, but there is a process that the electorate tends to follow. What we need to do is work the system to our advantage.

What the recent elections (and past ones) tell us is this: Executive officers are elected from the ranks of the executive presbyters and executive presbyters are elected from the ranks of sectional presbyters. So the long range plan has to be to get younger and more progressive thinking people elected to the presbytery. Impossible, you say? Let me explain how it is done.

I am now 55, but I served as a presbyter in Southern California at the young age of 36. I think I was the youngest at the time, but there have been younger. I never set out to play the political game to become a presbyter, but I accidentally stumbled on the secrets. Here they are.

(1) Go to all sectional functions. I went to some fun meetings and some pretty boring ones. But the point is I was there and everyone learned who I was. There's an old saying: "The secret of success is just showing up."

(2) Participate and serve when asked. Make yourself available to become the youth rep or men's rep or whatever else you are asked to do. If your section does the church-service meeting, offer to lead singing (and keep your electric guitar in the closet for now). This shows you respect the system and your fellow ministers.

(3) Pay attention to everyone. I was a young senior pastor, but I talked to everyone including the retired ministers and unpaid assistant pastors. I was genuinely interested in them and when the time came, they voted for me.

(4) Talk to the presbyter and others in sectional leadership. Make suggestions about different kinds of meetings and activities. Most of them are in a rut but would welcome ideas (and the organizing help) to do something a little different.

(5) Then when positions come open, look around for younger or at least more progressive thinkers and elect them to the sectional committee positions and eventually presbyter. Perhaps you will be that person. Then who knows what may happen.

When I type it out like this, it seems a little Machiavellian, but I want you to understand that was never my intent when I got involved in my section. I just wanted the fellowship and I really liked people, even the ones who were more old-fashioned than I was. I never set out to become presbyter, but after a couple of years, I though, Why not me? When asked to serve on a mission committee, I did. When asked to help with a fund-raising project for church planting I did. And when the presbyter job came open, I supported a friend who had new ideas. He was elected and I was elected to his position on the committee. Just six months later, he was elected executive presbyter and I was elected to take his place.

I agree that the leadership of this district has been stuck in the past, partly because it is a little too old. But I'm here to tell you that it can change, but only as younger people get involved.