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When pastors and churches enter into a relationship, both parties arrive with their own set of expectations. Some of these expectations are spelled out in the letter of call, but in fact these often use broad brushstrokes which leave significant room for interpretation. But this simple reality is not the real challenge. What makes these relationships such a challenge is the fact that expectations are often unspoken, unwritten, sometimes unrealistic and often unmet.

In my youth, pastors moved every five to six years. Their job descriptions were to preach, teach catechism and make pastoral visits. Today, pastors often stay in one church longer and their job descriptions include managing staff, casting vision and attending meetings. The Christian Reformed Church (CRC) of today is hardly recognizable from 50 years ago.
With these changing times come new blessings and new hazards.

These twenty, hailing from across the country, have four things in common: they are all young-ish, they are all Reformed, they are all Canadian and they are simply not interested in talking about themselves. They want to talk about what they’re doing, thank you very much, and why they’re doing it.
And so what follows is not a glam list of up-and-coming Christian celebrities. Rather, it’s a series of snapshots of God’s nurturing, witnessing, society-changing work happening through these millennials

Elly Boersma’s path to ministry in the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) wasn’t straightforward. Raised in Surrey, British Columbia, Elly graduated from Simon Fraser University with a BSc in Kinesiology. God’s Spirit eventually led her to Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she graduated with a MA in Worship.
Elly, 27, now serves as Pastor of Worship at Covenant CRC in St. Catharines, Ontario, where I attend. I recently interviewed her to discover how God led her to her present position and to plumb her thoughts on being a young leader in the CRC.

When younger people are added to a leadership team, something changes. Last spring I coached a group of young leaders in a leadership retreat. It was exciting. In the course of one and a half days, they analyzed the benefits and challenges their ministry faced. They assessed which challenges needed addressing. They addressed each of them, made the decisions necessary, assigned responsibilities for carrying them out and discerned a vision for the next year of ministry. So much got done, and yet there was time for prayer, play and reflection. God’s presence was vibrant. I was reminded of the strengths and advantages of young leaders.