Ropewalk: 7 strands for creating leaders

Tim Martens was in a crisis and didn’t know what to do.

The previous spring, Tim had attended a national youth conference sponsored by his denomination. There, he had listened to a speaker talk about a “call” to ministry. During the talk, Tim’s heart began to race. He started thinking about the times in his life when he had felt God nudging him to consider being a youth pastor. When the speaker finished, he gave an invitation for audience members to indicate a willingness to serve God in full-time ministry. Tim’s hand shot up.

When he got home, Tim spoke with his youth pastor about his commitment. “That’s awesome! Way to go Tim,” was all his youth pastor had said. It was now five months later and nothing else had been done. Tim felt a call from God, but didn’t know how to answer it.

No vision for training

During my 24 years of youth ministry, I’ve met many students like Tim. These students sense a call from God to serve in ministry, but neither they nor their church have a plan or vision for any leadership development. The investment from churches is varied and often minimal. Some use youth groups to train young leaders, but only a few are prepared intentionally.

In many cases, the church is missing an opportunity to encourage, discern, and affirm emerging leaders. Tim and many others will be “coming of age” in an uncertain future. This means their experience of a hit-and-miss leadership development strategy won’t fully prepare them to serve in that future church.

In order to prepare young leaders, we must develop their character and leadership skills by identifying practices that ministries can put into place.

What’s a ropewalk?

While living in the UK, my wife, Karen, and I saw many new sights. One was an extremely long, narrow alley behind a shop in the village where we lived. When we asked about it, we were told, “It’s the ropewalk.” I did a bit of research and discovered that the ropewalk was the name of the place where rope was braided for industrial and nautical uses. The ropesmith would place the long cords into a frame, which would rotate, thereby twisting the strands into a rope.

I see these following seven strands of leadership development practices like the fibres of a rope. On their own, they’re easily broken. But when they are brought together, they’re difficult to break. My dream is that every church would create a “ropewalk” in their context.

Seven strands

Based on biblical, historical, and developmental issues, these are seven key practices for training young people to become leaders in the church: discernment, calling, rite of passage events, mentoring, spiritual formation, service/leadership opportunities, and commissioning.

1. Discernment

Youth begin to discover their full identity in adolescence. Being discerned by a local congregation as a teenager with the gift of leadership, a passion for Jesus, and a willingness to learn can help solidify their identity by rooting it in the Christian story. Such discernment can become a marker on their journey towards adulthood and provide significant affirmation.

It’s especially important for adolescents when others see something in their lives that they may not see in themselves. When this is coupled with a clear voice from the congregation pointing the individual towards specific ministry, the signpost can grow as large as a billboard.

2. Calling

God calls each person to a relationship with him. This is a person’s primary “call.” But what about a call to ministry? In many contemporary instances, individuals receive this type of call at a camp, retreat, or mission trip, removed from their local congregation and context.

In the seven-strand cord model, calling means integrating the local church and an individual’s sense of call. This both/and aspect of call brings together the church and an individual’s call to help a person understand his or her passions and discover where their gifts and abilities can be used for God’s kingdom. Call becomes a much more communal experience rather than an individualistic one. Having the church stand alongside the young person gives that individual room to wrestle with what the call of God means in their life.

3. Rite of passage events

Rites of passage are like signposts on the journey towards adulthood. This strand for developing leaders is essential in order to assist young people as they navigate adolescence – a life stage that’s ambiguous both in duration and in how to traverse it successfully. Local church members can see themselves not only as persons who pass faith onto the next generation, but also as those who walk with young people as they transition into adulthood.

When the time is right, adults can plan times of ritual and blessing for young people. This could be as simple as doing something special during a baptismal service. It could also be a camping trip where men or women of the congregation take the high school boys or girls out to welcome them to adulthood.

4. Mentoring

This strand requires a longer-term relationship. Whereas a rite of passage event is generally short-term, mentoring requires sustained, regular contact. This is best accomplished in the context of a young person’s community.

Mentoring is necessary because it removes the seven-strand cord from the realm of church programs and puts it clearly in the section marked, “Danger, life-on-life transformation; this will change anyone who gets involved.” For many, organizing and running a program is much easier than investing regularly in a young person’s life. However, if young leaders are to be prepared for the complex challenges of leadership, this step is indispensable.

Mentors can help teens listen to God’s voice, foster a vibrant prayer life, mine the Scriptures for life and truth, and know they are deeply loved. These advisors can also help identify the young person’s call narrative by asking, “In what ways has God been active in your life? How can you move forward today based on God’s faithfulness in the past?” These questions will help teens reflect deeply on their lives. Finally, mentors can be powerful models of authenticity and transparency for young people.

5. Spiritual formation

Our society is enamored with celebrity. Often, leaders aren’t judged by their piety or passion for God, but by their ability to draw a crowd or get things done. “Celebrity” leaders can experience success in many areas.

But with a postmodern culture that increasingly emphasizes authenticity, celebrities will find their influence waning unless they cultivate authentic spirituality and depth in their lives, not just charismatic performance. According to the Apostle Peter, depth of character comes from a relationship with Jesus and from perseverance through suffering (1 Peter 1:1–9). In a world of shallow people, there’s great need for such individuals.

In recent years, the church has labelled personal devotions – which usually means individual Bible reading and prayer – the plumb line for measuring spiritual intimacy with God. This “one size fits all” practice fails to consider the God-created differences between people and the multiple ways to develop a relationship with God.

By introducing young people to the rich experiences of the saints of old (the mystics, contemplatives, Desert Fathers) and contemporary authors such as Gary Thomas, teens can discover there are many ways to develop intimacy with Jesus, including spending time in nature, practicing solitude, or even being an activist.

6. Service/ministry opportunities

Ministry opportunities give young apprentices a chance to demonstrate their leadership abilities by taking responsibility for a specific program or project and seeing it through to completion. For high school students, this could mean serving as a camp counsellor, director of a VBS program, or team leader on a mission trip.

Service opportunities give young people a chance to serve others without being the key leader. This could mean working in a downtown food distribution centre, visiting the elderly, or reading to children in an after-school program.

Service opportunities steer individuals away from self by putting the focus on others. These experiences move faith from a “head” issue to a “life” practice. They also provide a chance for young people to develop empathy – to have their hearts broken by the things that break the heart of God.

7. Commissioning

Commissioning for ministry provides authority for new leaders. Being commissioned before a group of people brings position and value. Young people can serve with the knowledge that their congregations are sending them and praying for them. The youth become ambassadors, the hands and feet of the sending church.

Churches have an incredible opportunity to shape adolescents for leadership in an uncertain future. By setting up a leadership development strategy that incorporates all seven strands of the ropewalk, they can ensure that the experiences of students like Tim are intentional and meaningful, rather than haphazard and unproductive.

Rick Bartlett is student dean and director of constituency relations at MB Biblical Seminary, Fresno, Cal. A version of this article appears in the October 2007 issue of the Christian Leader.