Lay elders are important to the Presbyterian Church. In my short tenure as an ordained Presbyterian pastor and my church experience as youth director of churches before that, I have seen firsthand how important well-trained and strong leaders are in the church.

            While serving as an associate pastor, I was helping the congregation build up the young adult ministry. I was working closely with one elder in the church, a young adult, and he continually shared his frustration about the church. He could not wait for his three years of service to finish. For him, it had been a horrible experience that he did not want to repeat.

            After talking to a few other young adults in the congregation and asking them if they would serve on the session as an elder, I received similar responses. All of the young adults who had served were burned out by being on session and wanted nothing to do with serving again. There has to be a better way.

            This frustration culminated when I was asked to take part in an all-day training session for elders that ended up looking like an all-day lecture. As the eyes of those newly elected officials rolled back as they were faced with one lecture after another, thoughts came to mind of “Isn’t there a better way?” This project is an attempt to find a better way.