Who Will Dive In? Raising Up the Next Generation

There’s something profound about watching a fifteen-year-old dive to the bottom of a murky lake to free a stuck anchor. It’s a moment when responsibility shifts, when the older generation steps back and the younger one steps forward. That image captures something essential about the life of faith: the sacred duty we have to not only share our beliefs with the next generation but to entrust them with the responsibility of carrying the torch forward.

The relationship between the apostle Paul and his young protégé Timothy offers us a masterclass in intergenerational ministry. When Paul placed Timothy as the pastor of the church in Ephesus, Timothy was likely only in his early thirties, remarkably young for such a significant leadership position. Yet Paul didn’t hesitate to entrust this responsibility to him.

Scripture is filled with examples of young leaders rising to the occasion. King Josiah was only nine years old when he ascended to the throne. Joseph became second-in-command of Egypt at thirty. Peter led the early church in Jerusalem while still in his early thirties. God has always worked through younger generations, calling them to positions of influence and responsibility that might surprise us.

Paul’s first letter to Timothy serves as a coaching manual, a guide for navigating the complexities of church leadership. Within its pages, we find timeless wisdom for how older generations can encourage, equip, and empower younger leaders and how younger leaders can rise to meet the challenge.

“Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young,” Paul writes to Timothy. This simple phrase carries enormous weight. It’s both an encouragement to Timothy and an instruction to the church. Timothy needed to hear that his youth wasn’t a disqualification. The church needed to hear that they shouldn’t dismiss him because of his age.

How often do we look at younger people through the lens of who they were rather than who they’re becoming? We remember them as second-graders, awkward teenagers, or college students still finding their way. But maturity is measured less by age and more by character, communication, and conduct.

The internal qualities matter most: integrity, purity, faithfulness, love. These aren’t exclusive to any particular age bracket. A twenty-five-year-old can possess them just as surely as a seventy-year-old. When we fixate on age, we risk missing the work God is already doing in someone’s life.

Paul’s instructions to Timothy outline a clear path for anyone stepping into positions of influence and responsibility:

Guard Your Character: Pay special attention to your speech, your conduct, your love, your faith, and your purity. The internal life, the part nobody else sees, matters immensely. The enemy will look for cracks in the foundation, particularly in areas of passion and energy that can be misdirected.

Use Your Gifts: Don’t put your abilities on the shelf. Don’t wait until you feel “ready enough” or “old enough.” Step into the gifts God has given you. The gift of teaching, of leadership, of encouragement, these were given to be used, not stored away.

Study Diligently: You may not have decades of experience yet, but you can commit yourself to learning. Devote yourself to Scripture, to teaching, to growing in wisdom. The gap between youthful energy and seasoned wisdom can be bridged through intentional study and humble learning.

Persevere: Don’t let that initial enthusiasm fade. Stay consistent. Keep showing up. Endurance is what separates those who start well from those who finish well.

In essence: Step up, be the real deal, and dive in.

Second Peter offers us a crucial reminder that applies to leaders of all ages but especially to those who feel the weight of insufficient experience: “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.”

This changes everything. We don’t earn God’s power through godly living; God’s power equips us for godly living. The starting point is always God’s provision, not our performance.

For younger leaders, this truth becomes a lifeline. When facing situations that exceed your experience, when navigating conflicts you’ve never encountered before, when the weight of responsibility feels crushing, God’s power is sufficient. His great and precious promises enable us to reflect Christ’s nature, regardless of our age or experience level.

Consider the image of a silversmith refining precious metal. The silver must be placed in the hottest part of the fire to burn away impurities. The silversmith never leaves it unattended, because timing is everything. Too little heat and the impurities remain; too much and the silver is ruined. When asked how he knows the silver is ready, the silversmith gives a beautiful answer: “When I can see my reflection in it.”

God is in the refining business. Whether you’re six or eighty-six, He’s working to make His image more clearly visible in you. For younger believers, this refining process happens while they’re actively leading, teaching, and serving. Growth and leadership aren’t sequential; they happen simultaneously.

The words of Psalm 78:4 capture the heart of this vision: “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord.” But telling isn’t enough. We must also share the responsibility. We must raise up and release the next generation so they can join us in passing the baton forward.

This doesn’t diminish the critical importance of older, wiser leadership. Mature leaders provide stability, wisdom, and guidance that younger leaders desperately need. But thriving communities of faith require both the wisdom of experience and the energy of youth, working together, learning from each other, and jointly carrying the mission forward.

If you’re a younger adult, this is your invitation: Step up. Lean in. Continue to learn. Don’t wait for permission or for the perfect moment. Fight the good fight of faith. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Guard what has been entrusted to your care.

And if you’re part of the older generation, this is your challenge: Look for the potential in those coming behind you. See them not for who they were but for who they’re becoming. Create space for them to lead, coach them along the way, and trust that the same God who equipped you will equip them.

The mission is too important to be carried by only one generation. It requires all of us, young and old, experienced and emerging, working together to ensure that every generation knows the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord and takes up the sacred responsibility of passing them on.

The anchor is stuck. Who will dive in to free it? The answer is the next generation, equipped by God, encouraged by us, and empowered to lead.

Want to hear more about how we can grow deeper in faith and help raise up the next generation? Listen to Pastor Fred’s message, “Dive In,” from 1 Timothy 4:11-16 and 2 Peter 1:1-4, and discover how owning, growing, and living out your faith opens the pathway toward leading and investing in others.