I am writing this in the Netherlands where hundreds of Baptists have come to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the foundation of the first Baptist church. It has been good to mark the moment, and to visit Bakkerstraat in the middle of bustling Amsterdam where the original gathering of Baptists took place. It has been particularly moving to be joined by Baptists from all over the world and to be reminded that this huge and amazingly diverse Baptist family has such simple roots. How dare we ever put a limit on what God can do?

But you will forgive me if I reflect at greater length on my own anniversaries. This summer marks 30 years since I completed my college training for ministry and 35 years since I started preaching. I hope that at least one person will be kind enough to reflect that I must have been very young at the time! The fact is that I started preaching at the age of 18. Many will have started even younger than that, and I am bound to reflect on how we encourage our younger leaders today. Perhaps I need to say a little more about my own story, for I had been regularly speaking in public since the age of ten. I was a member of the Junior Christian Endeavour, and I realize that that sounds an incredibly Victorian organization. Maybe so, but its methods were bold and modern. Our midweek meetings were led by children with only minimal support from our leaders. By the age of ten all of us were saying prayers out loud, chairing meetings and giving the briefest (and I mean the briefest!) of talks. We were all very nervous about doing these things but within a year or so such nerves were a thing of the past. Participating in leadership was a normal part of the rhythm of life.

At school I was given the opportunity to take assemblies, and by the age of 14 I was regularly giving a talk to the whole school. I rarely find myself these days in a situation that is as demanding as those far-off assemblies, as I held forth to a school hall full of very bright and opinionated young men. When I spoke at an assembly I would have to answer for what I had said throughout the school day. Baptism by fire would be an adequate way of describing the experience! But people encouraged me and so I went back for more.

These days it is rare to see people coming into ministry in their twenties. The average age of those coming into Baptist ministry is about 37. We are absolutely thrilled to welcome people into ministry, whatever their age, but you will forgive me for my longing to see younger people coming forward – people who can give a whole working life to ministry. In terms of the careful stewardship of slender denominational resources there is no doubt that that makes a huge amount of sense.

And so I come back to the key question – how good are we at encouraging young people into leadership roles? How good are we at giving them the opportunity to preach and lead worship? The reality is that people took a risk with me ... and we need to face up to the fact that when people start out there is no guarantee that everything will go well. I have looked back at the notes of my early sermons and I want to cringe. They were very well meaning, but hopelessly limited. But I thank God that the only response I ever remember is of encouragement. People assured me of their prayers and gave me further opportunities to develop my gifts.

Here at the Baptist World Alliance meetings in the Netherlands there is a group of about two dozen people in their twenties and thirties who are part of an Emerging Leaders’ Network. Without them this would be an overwhelmingly middle aged meeting! I welcome initiatives like this because they underline the importance, for all of us, of ensuring that we are identifying and encouraging young people to grow in the use of their gifts. Let’s take the risk!