Joshua Mark Caldwell
CHMN 400: Leading NextGen
NEXTGEN RESEARCH PAPER: PROPOSAL ASSIGNMENT
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A spiritual formation or discipleship plan is essential for any ministry in the local church.
To see the Next Generation succeed, the local church's role is to equip parents, leaders, children,
and students to find ways to take next steps in developing their relationships with Christ. This
paper will discuss problems with volunteerism, steps on creating leadership opportunities, and
effective ways to walk families through each stage of life at the First Baptist Church of Conway.
The First Baptist Church of Conway struggles in every aspect of communication. An
organization of any caliber that works with the ability to communicate effectively will always
have issues regarding volunteers. There has yet to be an onboarding process for volunteering at
FBC Conway. This starts with culture. When the culture of a church is to use the money to fix
and buy everything, how does one expect to see a healthy volunteer community grow? With a
background check being the only form of approval for volunteering, FBC Conway is poised to
fall apart without any organizational leadership. Unfortunately, therefore the turnover rate is
high. The first step to remedy this situation is to develop a clear guide to get plugged into a
ministry. There will need to be a process designed not to fill positions but set volunteers up for
successful ministry. When onboarding new Christians or people new to the faith, there should be
a discipleship process where the volunteer can learn and become better prepared for the ministry.
Volunteers also need to know that ministry, especially NextGen ministry, has many phases. In his
book It’s Just A Phase So Don’t Miss It, Reggie Joiner says, “A phase is defined as a time frame
in a kid’s life when you can leverage unique opportunities to influence their future.1” Joiner
continues to say that “when churches become intentional about understanding and leveraging
what is happening in the stages of a kid’s life, it changes how they …
Partner with families at pivotal transitions.2.”
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Reggie Joiner and Kristen Ivy, It’s Just a Phase So Don’t Miss It: Why Every Life Stage of a Kid Matters and
at Least 13 Things Your Church Should Do About It, First Edition. (WORDsearch, 2015), 10.
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Bibliography
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Once new leaders have been developed, the next step would be to create and coach
volunteers to become leaders. Craig Groeschel, pastor of Life.Church says that when the leader
gets better, everyone wins. FBC Conway must find ways to grow and develop a healthy
leadership culture. Kids at every age need to know that every kid needs someone who can
rediscover them now.3 Leaders must have the training to know that if they are going to lead
someone at the moment, as Joiner says, “you need to know where they are.4.”
Next Generation plans must be intentional with everything that encompasses them. FBC
Conway has taken steps to adopt the four goals from the book Lead Small. Reggie Joiner
mentions, “you will understand how these five strategies will encourage the personal, vibrant,
passionate, tested, living, authentic faith needed to face our big challenge.5” Those strategies are
(1) Being Present, (2) Show Up Predictably, (3) Show up Mentally, and (4) Show Up Randomly.
FBC Conway will work diligently with parents, leaders, staff, and children to provide a small
group environment that radiates these attributes. When this occurs, Parents will fill elevated,
leaders will feel accomplished, and students no longer feel the emptiness of not belonging.
Reggie Joiner and Kristen Ivy, It’s Just a Phase So Don’t Miss It: Why Every Life Stage of a Kid Matters and
at Least 13 Things Your Church Should Do About It, First Edition. (WORDsearch, 2015), 10.11.
Ibid., 74.
Ibid., 77.
Reggie Joiner and Tom Shefchunas, Lead Small: Five Big Ideas Every Small Group Leader Needs to
Know, Second Edition. (Orange Books, 2012), 20.
Joiner, Reggie, and Tom Shefchunas. Lead Small: Five Big Ideas Every Small Group Leader
Needs to Know. Second Edition. Orange Books, 2012.
Joiner, Reggie, and Kristen Ivy. It’s Just a Phase, So Don’t Miss It: Why Every Life Stage of a
Kid Matters and at Least 13 Things Your Church Should Do About It. First Edition.
WORDsearch, 2015.
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