Equipping Tomorrow’s Leaders Today | A WLI Share Your Story Blog

What will leadership at Woodside look like in ten to fifteen years? That might not be something we think about often, but current trends will have profound implications if we don’t pray and prepare now. The future state of the Church must be developed today.

One study from 2020 found that the median age of congregational leaders in the United States is 57 years old. That means more than half of American pastors won’t be ministering in fifteen years. NPR reported in November of 2024 that churches in America are having a hard time finding qualified pastors. Where will that leave us a few years down the road? 

The last twenty-five years of religious life in America have been documented as the greatest movement in American history. The problem is that the movement has been a Great Dechurching, where some 40 million Americans have stopped attending church—even leaving the Church altogether. Although there are narratives that point to Gen Z experiencing a great revival right now, according to the General Social Survey, “Gen Z are the least likely to be weekly attenders [at a church], and the most likely to be ‘never attenders.'” 

Today’s challenge is cultivating leaders that are called, full of integrity, and equipped to lead the Church into the next decade. Who will dedicate their lives to the Lord in vocational service and ministry?

As a pastor, I’m concerned. I want the church to flourish. I want us to be well-resourced with solid leaders, enabled to continue faithfully in our communities. I want to see new churches planted where there’s little-to-no Gospel witness. I want to see young men and women reject the social and cultural values of living for themselves and instead spend their lives living for God’s glory and their neighbors’ good—whatever vocation they work in. 

This is what led me to write a book for the next generation. In Make It Your Ambition: 7 Godly Pursuits for the Next Generation, I am seeking to help Gen Z develop a clear and holy pathway for their lives. My aim is to help this next generation think about questions like, “What will you do when you grow up?” But more than just their career, I want to ask them to think about how their lives will make a difference in eternity: “What will you do for the Kingdom of God?” 

This summer, our Leadership Institute residents and interns will be encouraged to think about these big questions as they consider seven godly pursuits that the Bible lays out for our lives. We’ll encourage these emerging leaders to build life trajectories that prioritize knowing and loving God. We’ll call for high ambitions with deep integrity like that of Christ. We’ll encourage their discernment, development, and deployment of spiritual gifts for the Church’s flourishing and the service of others. These emerging leaders will be taught how to share the Gospel clearly and in a compelling, faithful way. Instead of embracing the false stereotype that Gen Z is made up of “snowflakes,” we’ll encourage them to develop resilience and endure things like hardship and suffering. 

With these things in mind, I’m asking you to consider a career in vocational Christian ministry. I want to see the next generation not just doing good things in the world, but called out for the Gospel’s sake in Christian leadership. I want to help point them in a direction of service that includes pastoral leadership, global missions, campus ministry, and so much more. 

The condition of Woodside Bible Church and the Church in the United States in ten to fifteen years is already being determined by the work we do (or don’t do) for the next generation. Our efforts to build up the Body of Christ matters, as does the work we do to call Gen Z to know God, love Him, and serve Him with their lives. Let’s pray that the Lord would send laborers into the harvest, blessing this next generation with His grace and giving them godly ambition to see Jesus exalted as the Savior and King of all people. 

PRAYER: 

Father, out of Your infinite grace and mercy, and because Your passion is for the glory of Your name in all the nations, will You raise this next generation to serve You in Christian ministry? We ask that You uniquely call and appoint men and women in the Woodside Leadership Institute and beyond for vocational service in your Church. Set aside holy leaders to take the Gospel to people who have never heard. Father, I pray that those in the Leadership Institute this summer would be encouraged, built up, and challenged in the trajectories of their lives. Give them discernment, clarity, and a passion for You above all. May Your Spirit lead them in making much of Jesus with their lives. Amen. 

Jeremy Writebol is the campus pastor of Woodside Bible Church in Plymouth, Michigan, and the executive director of Gospel-Centered Discipleship. He is the award-winning author of several books, including Make It Your Ambition, Pastor, Jesus Is Enough, and everPresent: How the Gospel Relocates Us in the Present.