What do we mean?
An intergenerational church is about the quality of faith, hope and love extended to everyone.
A quality that enables contribution and participation in the whole life of the worshipping community by all ages, abilities and stages of faith.
This brings challenges but also valuable opportunities which come when every person has a part to play.
Churches have times when separation by age is important and respected; however, research into faith development and what makes it grow and develop tells us repeatedly that this should not be the prevalent option.
In recent times, church practice has generally placed an emphasis on intellectual teaching, which naturally leads to age-separated groupings.
This separation, plus the emphasis on teaching rather than sharing faith and spirituality, has led to a programme-based approach aimed at children and young people rather than engaging with them. This has often missed properly connecting with the spirituality and lived experiences of children and young people and helping them with their questions about life and Christian faith. When they bump up against challenging life experiences, they find their faith doesn’t support them and they walk away or simply become disinterested because Christianity seems irrelevant.
Sociology tell us that two of the values of the today’s parents are community and creativity. So perhaps intergenerational church is not only biblically and theologically grounded, but also relevant for contemporary mission and ministry.
For people of all ages, expressing our spirituality is often beyond description. This is why we need to engage all our senses through sacrament, symbol, music, creativity, silence, space, movement and, of course, story.
Perhaps some images and symbols are so familiar that we have lost touch with how much they nurture the spirituality of individuals and a community of faith, yet through our buildings and worship these expressions of spirituality are permanently present.
We need each other – The old adage that faith is caught not taught is accurate; we learn best by seeing, doing, copying and imitating.
Children learn by seeing and hearing what it looks like when adults pray, sing, interact and share their experiences of being a Christian. Equally, adults learn from the curious, imaginative, playful spirituality that children bring and the penetrating ‘so what?’ questions of young people.
In engaging with each other, we can learn to be honest, even admitting that we don’t know all the answers, or to describe what our experience of God is and what we believe in this moment.
Faith formation and spiritual nurture need the variety of experience each person brings to enrich God’s story in the lives of all.
The Schema: These commandments that I give you. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6–9).
Throughout the Old Testament there were times when all of God’s people came together to celebrate, worship, pray, lament, heal, hear scripture and story, but there is also emphasis on the everyday living of faith.
Through his life and teaching, Jesus challenged beliefs and assumptions regarding the vulnerable, including people with disability and children. Significantly, Jesus singled out a child as both a sign of God’s kingdom and a clue to its meaning.
In the Epistles, the newly formed Church is consistently referred to as ‘the body of Christ’ where each part is dependent on the others, even though they may look different and perform different functions. This is still true today.
The Epistles also remind us that this is not about discreet family units, but that we are a new worshipping family adopted into the life and purposes of God though Christ.
No!
Being young is far from the only barrier to participating in church life.
People have difficulty accessing buildings or hearing what is being said.
Full participation in worship or meetings require literacy skills which not everyone has.
The time of day when we meet can prevent those who need support to begin or end their day from attending.
Sometimes it’s just too cold in our buildings.
Sometimes our buildings and services are overwhelming with too much happening.
Mark Arnold has a wealth of experience in helping churches support people with additional needs.
Slowly! Unless you are forming a new worshipping community, it will take time and small steps to move towards being intergenerational.
There is no blueprint. Every worshipping community must discern what God’s call is for their particular context.
However … in the kingdom of heaven there is equality and equity which transcends all human attempts to categorise each other. You will need to explore and experiment with what ‘Your kingdom come’ means and could look like when lived out in your worshipping community.
Any community takes shape from the principles and values that underpin it.
Messy Church has these five values: Christ Centred, All Age, Creativity, Celebration, Hospitality.
The Growing Faith Adventure has these three principles: Connected Communities, Meaningful Spiritual Encounters with Jesus, Imaginative Practices.
Children, Family and Youth ministry in the Diocese of Gloucester considers Welcome, Belonging and Believing, which could also ask ‘How do people experience a quality of love, which leads to hope and grows faith?’
What might your values or principles look like?
How could we get to know each other?
How do we together encounter more of God, each other and ourselves?
Being intergenerational is about much more than the church service (and this may not be the best place to start).
What if it began with a space where everyone can come together to share food, play games, tell and listen to stories – simply get to know each other better?
Sharing experience is important.
Ask each other God-centred questions like these and listen attentively to each other:
- What’s God saying to you in the Bible today?
- What is your prayer need today?
- Who is on your mind today?
- Where have you been able to live your faith this week?
- Where have you seen God at work this week?
- Can you tell a story of when you have experienced a fruit of the Spirit?
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