"Your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions." (Joel 2:28)
Picture a young leader invited, for the first time, into the room where a church's decisions get made, and asked, in front of everyone, what would help the teenagers grow. So he pours out his heart. He says the young people do not feel the room is theirs, that it is four white walls and metal chairs and a wooden divider, that they have asked to paint it and bring in couches and make it look like who they are becoming in Christ. He says their entire quarterly budget is a handful of dollars and they are not allowed to raise more. And he says, finally, that it would mean everything if the older generation would come down to that room and pray with them and tell them the stories of their faith.
And then there is a pause. And it goes on for a very long time.
That pause is one of the most dangerous things that happens in a church, and most churches do not even notice it happening. A young person says something true and hopeful and slightly inconvenient, and the room goes quiet, and the quiet itself is an answer. It says, in a language younger than words, how much you are worth here. If you are ever in a room when a young person says something like that and the silence begins to stretch, do not wait it out. Say something. Anything. Do not let the pause be the reply.