What is the value of experience? It's a question I've often wondered about. Sometimes experience helps, at others it makes us cautious or resistant to change. We all play the roulette wheel of life and the older we get the more averse to risk we can become.
I have reached the age where I find myself exhaling loudly when I sit down. I sometimes find myself saying the kind of things my father used to say. I am in my fifties and am a Christian leader, and the more I think about it the more I wonder if we are more blockages to progress than agents of new life and change.
I am writing this from my hotel room in New York. What a vibrant and wonderful city this is. I am here with my daughter on a trip to see some shows and to have a time of relaxation and exploration. This holiday has been a revelation – not because it is NYC, but because my daughter took over organising everything. All I had to do was turn up.
Before we came she planned each day in detail. She built an interactive map on the internet, with all the places we might visit and links to their websites. We discussed the different destinations available and I began to get excited about the break. She then drew up a daily plan. I tend to be a really crusty old thing on holiday, alleging all I really want to do is sit in a coffee shop and read a newspaper. I thought that holidays were about relaxation – but the odd thing was that before this I never found them very relaxing. In searching for relaxation and not doing very much I found myself oddly anxious.
But this holiday has been pure joy. We visited MOMA, went to karaoke with the cast of Waitress, attended a workshop on the food of each wave of immigrants into NYC, visited bookshops, ate at a Ukrainian restaurant, checked out a homeless project and sang show tunes at the Stardust diner. In five days I have walked 100,000 steps. There have been no afternoon naps and no resting, and I say thank God.
Seeing my 19-year-old daughter chatting easily to people, navigating the subway, finding the best diners and all the rest has inspired me. And the more I think about it, the more I want people like my daughter in Christian leadership – and I think that they could do it now.
My worry is that if we ask them to spend years getting the necessary experience before they step up, then we lose the talents and uniqueness of youth. Jesus' followers were young – I'm sure. John may have been a teenager. His followers were not shepherded into being youth pastors or kids' workers – no, they became fully-fledged leaders without a diploma and ready to get started.
Now you will probably point out that Paul tended to mentor young leaders – and mentoring is brilliant. But I wonder if now we could turn things on their head.
I value experience. I have always sought out people older than me to be my mentor and friend. My experience stops me making mistakes – but only sometimes. My experience holds me back as well and can make me too satisfied to look for comfort rather than adventure.
Today's young people are amazing. If youngsters like my daughter were in charge of the church we'd be in very safe hands.
Rev Steve Morris is the parish priest of St Cuthbert's North Wembley. Before being a priest he was a writer and ran a brand agency. In the 1980s he tried to become a pop star. Follow him on Twitter @SteveMorris214
