Michael Wright: I’d like to talk about your experience and work in ministry with young people—how you got there and what you’ve learned about the church along the way. But to begin, I wonder if you can share about the particular work you’re doing right now. Can you tell us about the mission of New Generation3 and the communities you serve?
Elizabeth Tamez Méndez: At NG3, we are “connecting people, expanding perspectives, and shaping the future.” Our work in the Latina community helps youth and adults connect and promotes the importance of learning from each other and shaping the future. We support churches in finding practical ways to build intergenerational and holistic spaces where faith and leadership are nurtured. Working together across generations expands our perspectives about who we are and what is possible. We also collaborate with other organizations to grow their strategies in reaching communities of color by offering consulting, training, evaluation, and research services. Thanks to a subgrant from Fuller Youth Institute and the Templeton Foundation, we are soon launching a bilingual resource series called JUNTOS (together). It’s designed with practical tools and a digital platform to help congregations discern their role in reaching the new generations and help nurture the character development of youth that shapes their destino—their destiny.
MW: I’m inspired by this holistic approach to engaging young people, and I wonder if we could explore where those passions came from for you. Can you also share a memory of when you felt supported and empowered by an older member of the church?
ETM: My pathway to ministry and leadership in the church has not been traditional. My first career was as a high-rise architect, and I have a PhD in Leadership, which focuses on human development. My educational formation is transdisciplinary, and the faith community has played an intricate formative role in discerning how God wants to use me and these gifts. My parents were pastors, and I grew up in the church both in Mexico and the US. My maternal grandmother was a missionary from Michigan who ended up in Mexico and established an orphanage. So that influence for involvement in ministry and community empowerment was always there. Over time, I came to sense God’s calling to reach the new Latino generations, and this entails a holistic approach—what René Padilla calls “misión integral.”
I am passionate about seeing youth thrive!
One transformational instance when I felt supported and empowered by an older member of the church was at our first church in the US. Like many other Latino churches, it was a place where everyone in the congregation was needed, involved, and contributing to making things happen. The community was interconnected, and we all supported and looked out for each other. It was there where I started teaching Sunday school when I was 12 years old. An elder in the church recognized I had the gift of teaching. So, she approached me and asked, why don’t you start helping me teach on Sundays? She took me under her wing. Every Saturday, we would get together, and she would walk me through all the teaching materials and show me how to prepare a lesson and learning activities. She made sure to create spaces where I was able to exercise the spiritual gifts of teaching and leadership, and she mentored me along the way.
The way this congregation invested in each other and intentionally nurtured young people wasn’t just a result of different times; it was a different way of thinking, understanding, and exercising their role in reaching the new generations.
Mw: It seems like an intergenerational context where you had the emotional, physical, and spiritual support where you could really thrive. And now you’re sharing with leaders how to create those same contexts that empowered you so that the young people in their community can learn to speak with their own voice.
ETM: Exactly. My church community was always there every step of the way. They were always asking, what do you need right now? How can we be there for you? Often, they had a better sense of what I needed than I did. They were committed, not just then but throughout my life, whether I moved to Mexico for college or Spain to do my master’s degree. Wherever I went, they were always present in one way or another. This is the church context where I began to understand human developmental theories—this is precisely what makes a difference in a person’s life as they’re growing and developing. These types of healthy and close-knit intergenerational relationships help strengthen each other’s faith. They are indicators of a healthy church.
MW: You haven’t had a straight road from being a volunteer at church to full-time ministry. You mentioned your background in architecture, so can you tell me more about that moment when this shift toward full-time ministry began for you?
ETM: Looking back, I see God weaving these stories, experiences, and education together as I’ve shifted my skills from designing buildings to helping design the structures of ministry and communities. The shift started for me in the early 2000s when my parents were pastoring a Latina church in East Texas, and I was visiting on occasion. That was the first time I was involved with an underserved immigrant community. Many church members worked in the rose fields or unloading trucks at a supermarket chain. Our family’s migration story was different from theirs as we came to the US so my father could attend seminary after closing his own architectural firm in Mexico. So, I had so much to learn from this community about how life looks from their perspective. I had to strip away any notion that I knew what to do.
Over time, I realized that the youth in this church did not have the same kind of support I had when I was a kid. Most of their parents had a third or fourth grade education, and they were raising their children in a country without knowing the language, culture, or how to navigate the social systems. The situation created so many hurdles for the families. They wanted to see their children thrive, have an education, and get good jobs, but they didn’t know how to help them to do so.
One of the big issues in this community were the hurdles for educational attainment. Kids were dropping out of school or getting dead-end jobs after high school. The education system was failing them. Parents didn’t know how to guide their children to overcome this challenge. So, the Holy Spirit used this situation to kickstart a new phase for me in ministry and to transform the congregation and community in ways we had never imagined! Parents approached me because they felt that, as an architect, I should be able to help their kids, right? I had no idea what to do, and that was a big advantage, because it then took all of us—young and older—working together to find the answers. It all unfolded from a response to a community voicing they had a need.
God captured my heart through the needs of the community, the ministry kept growing, and young people’s trajectory changed. The congregation became a space where we all worked together and supported each other holistically. These dynamics for connecting people expanded our perspectives of what church and ministry looked like. This is how NG3 was born. Nowadays everyone’s talking about “intergenerational ministry,” but back then, we didn’t have models for this way of doing ministry and connecting across generations in the church as one.
It got to a point where working at the architectural firm and doing ministry during my free time wasn’t sustainable anymore. I remember one night, I was working at the drafting table, and I heard an audible voice: Whatever you choose, I will bless you. I could sense the Holy Spirit saying, You have always sought to follow my will for your life, so you decide: You can keep building your career, and I will bless you. Or you can follow me down this new path of adventure in ministry, and I will bless you. But I will show you what to do, one step at a time.
That night, I chose the adventure and soon after left my work at the architectural firm. Now, 18 years later, the kids we worked with have graduated from college, are married, have professional jobs, and the trajectory of their generation, and others to come, has been positively impacted with new opportunities. Many of the youth are involved in leadership positions at that church. One even became the pastor! They’re still involved, because they learned from the get-go that they have a role here and that they have skills and abilities that can be integrated into everything that happens in the church. They too are the body of Christ.
MW: What do you think the connection is today between developing young people and the need for church renewal?
Elizabeth Tamez Méndez is the founder and executive director of New Generation3 (NG3), an international consulting organization dedicated to producing resources, training leaders, and conducting research to help youth and adults connect. She also serves as a research team member at Fuller Youth Institute. Learn more at newgeneration3.com.
Michael Wright (MAT ’12) is a writer and educator living in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Michael Wright: I’d like to talk about your experience and work in ministry with young people—how you got there and what you’ve learned about the church along the way. But to begin, I wonder if you can share about the particular work you’re doing right now. Can you tell us about the mission of New Generation3 and the communities you serve?
Elizabeth Tamez Méndez: At NG3, we are “connecting people, expanding perspectives, and shaping the future.” Our work in the Latina community helps youth and adults connect and promotes the importance of learning from each other and shaping the future. We support churches in finding practical ways to build intergenerational and holistic spaces where faith and leadership are nurtured. Working together across generations expands our perspectives about who we are and what is possible. We also collaborate with other organizations to grow their strategies in reaching communities of color by offering consulting, training, evaluation, and research services. Thanks to a subgrant from Fuller Youth Institute and the Templeton Foundation, we are soon launching a bilingual resource series called JUNTOS (together). It’s designed with practical tools and a digital platform to help congregations discern their role in reaching the new generations and help nurture the character development of youth that shapes their destino—their destiny.
MW: I’m inspired by this holistic approach to engaging young people, and I wonder if we could explore where those passions came from for you. Can you also share a memory of when you felt supported and empowered by an older member of the church?
ETM: My pathway to ministry and leadership in the church has not been traditional. My first career was as a high-rise architect, and I have a PhD in Leadership, which focuses on human development. My educational formation is transdisciplinary, and the faith community has played an intricate formative role in discerning how God wants to use me and these gifts. My parents were pastors, and I grew up in the church both in Mexico and the US. My maternal grandmother was a missionary from Michigan who ended up in Mexico and established an orphanage. So that influence for involvement in ministry and community empowerment was always there. Over time, I came to sense God’s calling to reach the new Latino generations, and this entails a holistic approach—what René Padilla calls “misión integral.”
I am passionate about seeing youth thrive!
One transformational instance when I felt supported and empowered by an older member of the church was at our first church in the US. Like many other Latino churches, it was a place where everyone in the congregation was needed, involved, and contributing to making things happen. The community was interconnected, and we all supported and looked out for each other. It was there where I started teaching Sunday school when I was 12 years old. An elder in the church recognized I had the gift of teaching. So, she approached me and asked, why don’t you start helping me teach on Sundays? She took me under her wing. Every Saturday, we would get together, and she would walk me through all the teaching materials and show me how to prepare a lesson and learning activities. She made sure to create spaces where I was able to exercise the spiritual gifts of teaching and leadership, and she mentored me along the way.
The way this congregation invested in each other and intentionally nurtured young people wasn’t just a result of different times; it was a different way of thinking, understanding, and exercising their role in reaching the new generations.
Mw: It seems like an intergenerational context where you had the emotional, physical, and spiritual support where you could really thrive. And now you’re sharing with leaders how to create those same contexts that empowered you so that the young people in their community can learn to speak with their own voice.
ETM: Exactly. My church community was always there every step of the way. They were always asking, what do you need right now? How can we be there for you? Often, they had a better sense of what I needed than I did. They were committed, not just then but throughout my life, whether I moved to Mexico for college or Spain to do my master’s degree. Wherever I went, they were always present in one way or another. This is the church context where I began to understand human developmental theories—this is precisely what makes a difference in a person’s life as they’re growing and developing. These types of healthy and close-knit intergenerational relationships help strengthen each other’s faith. They are indicators of a healthy church.
MW: You haven’t had a straight road from being a volunteer at church to full-time ministry. You mentioned your background in architecture, so can you tell me more about that moment when this shift toward full-time ministry began for you?
ETM: Looking back, I see God weaving these stories, experiences, and education together as I’ve shifted my skills from designing buildings to helping design the structures of ministry and communities. The shift started for me in the early 2000s when my parents were pastoring a Latina church in East Texas, and I was visiting on occasion. That was the first time I was involved with an underserved immigrant community. Many church members worked in the rose fields or unloading trucks at a supermarket chain. Our family’s migration story was different from theirs as we came to the US so my father could attend seminary after closing his own architectural firm in Mexico. So, I had so much to learn from this community about how life looks from their perspective. I had to strip away any notion that I knew what to do.
Over time, I realized that the youth in this church did not have the same kind of support I had when I was a kid. Most of their parents had a third or fourth grade education, and they were raising their children in a country without knowing the language, culture, or how to navigate the social systems. The situation created so many hurdles for the families. They wanted to see their children thrive, have an education, and get good jobs, but they didn’t know how to help them to do so.
One of the big issues in this community were the hurdles for educational attainment. Kids were dropping out of school or getting dead-end jobs after high school. The education system was failing them. Parents didn’t know how to guide their children to overcome this challenge. So, the Holy Spirit used this situation to kickstart a new phase for me in ministry and to transform the congregation and community in ways we had never imagined! Parents approached me because they felt that, as an architect, I should be able to help their kids, right? I had no idea what to do, and that was a big advantage, because it then took all of us—young and older—working together to find the answers. It all unfolded from a response to a community voicing they had a need.
God captured my heart through the needs of the community, the ministry kept growing, and young people’s trajectory changed. The congregation became a space where we all worked together and supported each other holistically. These dynamics for connecting people expanded our perspectives of what church and ministry looked like. This is how NG3 was born. Nowadays everyone’s talking about “intergenerational ministry,” but back then, we didn’t have models for this way of doing ministry and connecting across generations in the church as one.
It got to a point where working at the architectural firm and doing ministry during my free time wasn’t sustainable anymore. I remember one night, I was working at the drafting table, and I heard an audible voice: Whatever you choose, I will bless you. I could sense the Holy Spirit saying, You have always sought to follow my will for your life, so you decide: You can keep building your career, and I will bless you. Or you can follow me down this new path of adventure in ministry, and I will bless you. But I will show you what to do, one step at a time.
That night, I chose the adventure and soon after left my work at the architectural firm. Now, 18 years later, the kids we worked with have graduated from college, are married, have professional jobs, and the trajectory of their generation, and others to come, has been positively impacted with new opportunities. Many of the youth are involved in leadership positions at that church. One even became the pastor! They’re still involved, because they learned from the get-go that they have a role here and that they have skills and abilities that can be integrated into everything that happens in the church. They too are the body of Christ.
MW: What do you think the connection is today between developing young people and the need for church renewal?
Elizabeth Tamez Méndez is the founder and executive director of New Generation3 (NG3), an international consulting organization dedicated to producing resources, training leaders, and conducting research to help youth and adults connect. She also serves as a research team member at Fuller Youth Institute. Learn more at newgeneration3.com.
Michael Wright (MAT ’12) is a writer and educator living in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
ETM: This is the current tension the church at large is facing, right? We need renewed focus and new ecclesial models—and the leadership development to go with it. At our church in East Texas, there came a point where ministry wasn’t structured into categories like “children’s ministry” and “youth ministry” and “women’s ministry.” Those ministry models would segregate us by age, and our community was all about collaboration, so that wasn’t going to work for us. Those models also did not reflect how life is lived in our immigrant community. Our Latina immigrant community is collectivistic. We rely on each other. This is how life works for us everywhere we go, so it has to work this way in the church too.
People in the community started seeing our congregation as a source of support and guidance, and it grew. Other leaders started asking, what’s the secret sauce? How are you doing this? That’s when I saw how important it was to support other pastors and leaders, emphasize a holistic and interdisciplinary approach, and teach them how to discern what ministry needs to look like in their context. This is what brings renewal to the church: having a close pulse on peoples’ needs and working together—across generations—to build solutions. In our case, how can I tell a young person in my congregation that Jesus loves them when the education system is failing them and they’re dropping out of school and their dreams are stunted? It is in this intersection of life, faith, community empowerment, and ministry models that align with our values that we find depth of understanding of Christ’s redemption in practical ways and the reason why we gather as a faith family to worship together.
MW: Do you have a specific memory that comes to mind when a young person has felt supported by the communities you work with?
ETM: Yes! I remember visiting a congregation, and there was a young African American guy in the audio-visual room. He certainly stood out among all the Latina families—most of whom didn’t speak English. I asked him if he spoke Spanish, and he said no! He couldn’t understand what was being said in the worship service, but that didn’t matter to him. He told me he had been attending the church for a few years now, and they were his family. One day he was looking over the fence at church where all the families and the children were playing, and the kids invited him over to play. Afterward, they invited him to dinner, and over time, he found a family in them. Sometime later, since he had abilities with technology, leaders in the church mentored him so he could oversee the equipment. He told me, “I don’t understand what they are saying, but I understand this: In this church, I’m loved.” That’s it! No matter what the context is or how the community looks, our most basic need is always the same: to be loved. Is your church a space where people feel loved?
MW: What an image to receive an invitation from the other side of a fence. Come join us! Come play, come eat, come be a part of our feasting.
ETM: And come be a leader—we have something for you to be part of. Years later, I learned that although he no longer attends the church, members are still messaging him on social media and saying we’re praying for you. And when his mother passed away, the whole congregation was at the funeral. It’s a form of deep commitment. You’re not just someone who is here for a season. We’re here for you, regardless of where you go, what you do, or what your faith journey is. We are here with you.
MW: What I hear in what you’ve shared is that young people aren’t problems to solve. They’re gifts to the church as they are right now.
ETM: And that’s where the theories of positive youth development (PYD) have really helped me articulate the concepts. These congregations were thriving, but couldn’t fully say why exactly things were working. Yet they practiced the concept central to PYD theories—youth are assets to be developed, not problems to be managed. In our work at NG3, we try to help leaders be more aware of the impact their investments in youth will make. We show them the research and tell the stories so that they’re encouraged that they’re going down the right path. It’s not always the results we’ve imagined, but that’s precisely the work of the Holy Spirit saying follow me. It’s like that passage in Luke 5 where the disciples are casting their nets over and over. That feeling of tiredness and discouragement as they keep working all night long with no results. They want to go home, and Jesus has the audacity to tell them to cast their nets again. They might mumble, “You grew up as a carpenter, Jesus. What do you know about fishing!” But that’s faith. That’s ministry. To be audacious and to respond to Jesus’ audacious instructions. To say, “Okay, Lord, I’ve listened to your voice and to your invitation, so we’ll keep casting our nets.” And when their nets are full, it’s because of their obedience and commitment. This is how I see renewal in the church. Yes, there are messes, and it’s tiring, and it looks like nothing is working, but we keep listening to the Holy Spirit and asking, what’s the next step?
MW: What a beautiful reminder that renewal is not something that happens overnight or by following the right steps. It’s something that requires faith and obedience, to keep casting our nets.
ETM: Yes, and that’s our approach at NG3 with our research
and training. We don’t have any special formulas. There aren’t ten steps to a successful church or a secret recipe to bring in all the young people.
MW: Yes, all good research begins with humility. We don’t know.
ETM: So let’s go learn together! We don’t know, because how can we claim to know? Life is constantly changing and evolving, so how can I claim as a pastor or leader that I’ve figured out what people need? In this new generation, there’s the constant exhaustion of having to make decisions, and there’s fatigue, isolation, and a hunger for direction. So as the church, how do we respond to this particular context and need? How do we offer direction and support and create spaces for young people to sort life’s challenges out? This kind of support is irresistible. Because it goes back to our need for love. Young people are not an accessory to the church. They have so much to bring. I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where spiritual gifts are limited based on a person’s age. I could tell you so many stories from our work at NG3 where the young people taught their congregations important lessons in crucial, pivotal moments. They’re the ones teaching us about how to take the next step forward in the church at large, and if we can honor that, amazing things will happen. But are we listening?
Mark Labberton, Fuller Seminary’s fifth president, reflects on his years at Fuller with a heart of gratitude to God.
