Opportunities Dawning In The New Year
We recently asked a group of young ministers to share the opportunities they see for ministers and the Church of Jesus Christ in 2026.
Here’s what they told us.
I. What unique opportunities do you see for young ministers in the American church/culture in 2026?
1. Younger ministers have an opportunity to operate as true shepherd leaders.
Our congregations want more than psychotherapy can offer, as valuable as that resource can be. Believers want fewer calendar commitments and more meaningful relational connections within their church; notice the rise of the term “church-family” in recent years. This generation is hungry for a word from God—they are increasingly desperate for genuine experience with God. If we have ears to hear and eyes to see, younger ministers could bring healthy, biblical spiritual (re)formation into the American Church.
2. We can have honest and open conversations about previously taboo subjects.
For example, because younger Christians feel disconnected from traditional Church, they also feel they cannot talk about issues such as doubt or their sexuality. They then go looking elsewhere for a relationship that allows them the freedom to voice their thoughts.
3. Younger ministers can display the true glory of Christ in contrast to our broken selves.
Our brokenness is on display more than ever, and the clean facade we’ve maintained is crumbling. If we get defensive and try to cover up our brokenness, the Church will continue to lose a voice in morality and the need for a Savior. We have an opportunity to own our sinfulness and show how Christ meets us with grace in the middle of that for his glory.
4. I see an opportunity for young ministers to be creative in the hows of ministry.
With so many resources available, I believe they are uniquely poised to blend technology and relationships in a creative way to truly reach people.
5. I believe younger ministers have an opportunity to minister deeply.
A sense of being in it, not of it, that many older-generation pastors struggle with because there have been so many changes in both culture and the church.
6. Young pastors have an opportunity to restore the New Testament pastoral office and practice to the church.
Pastors can be pastors and bring pastoring back center stage. People are looking for pastors who are doing more than leading; they want pastors who are shepherds in heart; pastors who: devote themselves to prayer and the Word (Acts 6.1-7); know their people and are willing to lay their lives down for their people (John 10.7-18); care for the people, not the organization (I Peter 5.11); have hearts to provide for and protect their people (Psalm 23); are shepherds after God’s own heart (Jeremiah 3.15).
7. Your ministers have a real opportunity to rebuild true faith communities.
The church has, in many ways, become a service or club we attend – consumer Christianity. But this generation seems to be built for relationships and community. A very healthy and hopeful development for the church and ministry. I believe that God can use this generation to restore the Book of Acts community aspect to the Church.
8. Younger ministers have an opportunity to restore the biblical office of pastor/shepherd (as well as all the five-fold giftings).
9. Younger ministers have an opportunity to proactively mentor young people—not for business but for godliness.
10. Younger ministers have an opportunity to lead the church to truly believe ministry in the marketplace is a calling.
And we can fulfill it (the church can have a healthier view on life, work, rest, ministry, the big picture of restoration in Scripture)
11. Younger ministers can lead healthy families and prioritize the character within the household over crowds in the pews.
12. Pastors have a unique opportunity to step into the relational chasm that is opening up because of increasing AI use.
The church must become more human… not less.
13. Young ministers have an opportunity to bring the Bible and doctrine back to the Church.
Christians are leaving evangelical churches because they think it’s too shallow. They think the church is not giving them answers for all that is happening in the world and in their own lives. They know the Bible has the answers. They want pastors to teach the Bible. This means pastors are free to make study and prayer a priority. If they will spend time alone with God studying the Bible and praying, God will help them; pastors will see people respond.
II. What unique opportunities do you see for the Church in America in 2026?
1. The Church in America has a pivotal moment of opportunity right now to return to the priority—the singular priority—of making disciples.
Men and women of this generation are primed and ready to get real about confession and accountability, about living a life and raising families that are fully devoted to God, in ways that feel unprecedented in our society. Cultural Christianity is dead. Biblical Christianity may be about to have its day in America; if it does, we may truly be on the threshold of THE Day! Maranatha, Lord Jesus!
2. We can gain a deep connection with average people where they live and work.
I’m referring specifically to the need for most young ministers to be bi-vocational. We see this as a budgetary compromise, but I wonder if God isn’t dispersing us to the places we actually do the most for his kingdom.
3. Restore a high view of the family.
It’s clear the world is looking for every flavor of relationship and connection outside the traditional family structure. I believe this is in part because Christians fail to demonstrate the true value (practical, spiritual, relational, and economic) of the traditional family structure. This gets into gender, but it’s more than that. This second opportunity really goes in tandem with the first.
4. I see an opportunity for the church to fill the holes created by the destruction of biblically based norms (family, sexuality, relationships, finances, etc.).
In many ways, the church’s created strengths are culture’s weaknesses. The church was built to offer what so many are hungry for – Jesus in community.
5. I believe the church has the opportunity to embrace a healthy, spiritual way of living.
A swing back to embracing and seeking out the spiritual has begun culturally. In response, the church has the opportunity to live out/demonstrate what spiritual life (not death) looks like by our humble, yet powerful Spirit-led engagement in both our community and our daily lives.
6. We can reveal Jesus Christ to a broken world.
The world is broken along so many tribal and “community” lines. No one believes we can be healed or even get along. The church is a great universal unity: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” Galatians 3.28. We are one people. Where the world is broken along human lines, the gospel unites people across those lines into one body, the body of Christ. One of the Gospel’s strongest apologetics is the unity of the Church. We can reveal Jesus to a broken world by being a united faith community, a community only made possible by Jesus and his cross. I think the time is ripe for this.
7. The Church has an opportunity to restore a Spirit-filled and -led Church.
In part, the great exit of Christians from the Church has been due to the substantive “thinness” of the Church: canned services. Not liturgy, but canned. The move to the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches reveals a desire for form and substance that gives meaning. The current Evangelical church is depending on therapeutic deism in the pulpit and entertainment in worship. Christians long for substance, and many for a true moving of the Holy Spirit in their lives and church. This is a real opportunity for the Church.
8. The church has an opportunity to be more intentional about seeking discipleship growth over attendance growth.
9. The church has an opportunity to see the house church as a viable method of a healthy church.
10. The church has an opportunity to grow healthier in holding the tension of differing beliefs, so we are more ecumenical (fewer walls and more bridges)
11. The church has an opportunity to return to being led by the Holy Spirit.
Christians are tiring of me-focused worship and sermons, and are looking for what they read about in the New Testament: a Spirit-filled church that exalts Jesus and brings people together in him. If we offer a Spirit-led church, people will not only come but also grow in Christ. The Church will be stronger in its faith and doctrine, and more aggressive in fulfilling its mission.
12. The church has an opportunity to step into the relational chasm that is opening up because of increasing AI use.
I believe that we are about to enter a whole new world of inauthentic experience. The social disruption will be massive. The church must model a different and true way of being human and being family.
13. The church has an opportunity to restore an emphasis on strong doctrine.
People are looking for substance more than ever.
FINAL THOUGHT
What will the church in America see, experience, and do in 2026? Only God knows. But if the answers above are indicative of views held by most younger ministers, we can walk into 2026 with great hope. We say this not because our confidence is in younger ministers or the church, but in the Savior they believe in and serve. Their confidence is in Him, and they believe it is well placed.
May the Church of Jesus Christ set its heart and faith fully in Jesus Christ. May we know that God is raising up a generation of leaders for just such a moment as this. May we, the Church, rise up to seize the opportunities God is giving us.
To God be the glory! Great things He has done! Great things He will continue to do until we see His glorious return!
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NOTE: Journey Pastoral Coaching exists to provide pastoral coaching to Millennial ministers.
Saddled with large student debt, just beginning to set up homes and start families, and serving in low paying first and second positions, Millennials are those who most desire but can least afford to pay for pastoral coaching.
We are able to do so thanks to the faithful and generous support of individuals and churches like yours who want to see young leaders not only enter the ministry, but remain in the ministry.
Now, more than ever, we need your help.
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