Brookside Church's 4D Church Leadership Program for Residents and Interns

The Need

“Barna reports that today, only one in seven pastors is under 40, with 25 percent of current pastors planning to retire by 2030. This trend poses a significant threat to the continuity of leadership within the church.” [1] And there’s not a lot of backfill. Trends indicate that fewer young people are pursuing vocational ministry. [2] In a recent Substack article, one Evangelical professor reflects on the reality that we’re failing to form ministry leaders and says we “have a broken pipeline at every stage.” [3] For this pipeline to be reimagined and restored, any path forward must involve the church and it will demand intentional effort. [4] 

However you look at it, there is a pressing issue that demands attention. 

Enter: 4D

This is where Brookside Church's 4D Church Leadership Program for Residents and Interns steps in. 

So what is 4D? The four Ds in “4D” stand for Disciple, Discover, Develop, and Deploy—values that shape how we approach and design the program. 4D is an 11-month program beginning in August that we have for residents and interns at Brookside. We build into those who are involved in three key ways: (1) We offer practical ministry experience in a specific ministry area (we have 9-10 to choose from). (2) We offer ministry coaching from seasoned leaders. And (3) we offer biblical and theological training, with the option of a 12-hour graduate level certificate from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in partnership with TEDS, for 4Ders who are interested in that. 

What difference is 4D making? We launched 4D in 2019—so that means we are just now wrapping up our seventh cohort. To date, we’ve had 42 that have participated in 4D.  45% have taken next steps after 4D into either paid work at a church or further ministry education. We see the difference 4D is making at Brookside—not only through the meaningful contributions of the 4Ders themselves, but in people who have gone through 4D who served or are still serving on Brookside staff. We see the difference 4Ders are making as they serve beyond Brookside: at churches in the Omaha area and beyond. 

The Future Is Bright and Opportunity Remains

The future of 4D is as bright as ever. We have 9 involved in our upcoming cohort (so we’ll pass 50 total in the program next year!). Other churches are looking to us for help as they fill positions or build their own pipelines.

And the driving reason why we care about this isn't changing. 2 Timothy 2:2 still applies. We care deeply about the future of the church and get excited about it. We want to serve that future in the ways we can.

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NOTES

[1] Noted in David Boerema, “Empty Pulpits Coming to a Church Near You,” Posted at EFCA.org on August 4, 2025. https://blogs.efca.org/posts/empty-pulpits-coming-to-a-church-near-you

[2] See again Boerma, "Empty Pulpits." From that article: “Many young people today see vocational ministry as a less-than-ideal career choice. They fear financial instability, the tremendous weight of responsibility of leading in the church and lack confidence in their calling.” See also Michael F. Bird, "Where Have the Timothy’s Gone? 4 Ways to Address the Minister Drought,” posted at Logos on July 25, 2025. Available at https://www.logos.com/grow/hall-addressing-minister-drought/ 

[3] Anthony B. Bradley, “I Watched an Evangelical College Die from the Inside,” Substack post on June 2, 2025, https://anthonybbradley.substack.com/p/the-evangelical-college-era-is-over

[4] See again Bradley, "I Watched an Evangelical College Die." See also John Stonestreet and Timothy D. Padgett, “Colleges Closing and the Church’s Opportunity, posted at the Colson Center on Nov 18, 2025, https://colsoncenter.org/breakpoint/colleges-closing-and-the-churchs-opportunity.