Intergenerational church - Anglican.org

Intergenerational
        church

        Imagine a church community where
        the generations participate together
        in all the dimensions of being church;
        in worship, in making a difference, in
        fun. A church where all contribute; a
        place of learning and listening, playing
        and praying, and sharing together
        God’s love and activity in the world...

What do we mean by intergenerational church?
An intergenerational church             pay attention to those who have
enables everyone to contribute to       particular additional needs. We
and participate in the worship and      acknowledge the challenges but
activity of God — all ages, abilities   embrace the opportunities when we
and stages of faith. Who we are         say every person has a part to play.
as a worshipping and missional
community informs what we do            Churches have times when
and how we do it. It is about the       separation by age is necessary,
choices we make to try to include       important and valued, but this
everyone, make all aspects of church    should not be their default setting.
life accessible to every person, and

Why does it matter?
In recent history church practice       segregated groupings (track two).
has generally followed two parallel     This segregation, plus the emphasis
tracks. There has been an emphasis      on telling people rather than sharing
on intellectual teaching (track one)    faith and spirituality, has led to
which has mainly taken place in age     approaches that are aimed at children

and young people rather than             Faith formation and spiritual nurture
working with them, and has often         need the variety of experience each
not sufficiently engaged with their      person brings to enrich God’s story
spirituality and lived experience.       in the lives of all. People learn best
                                         by copying and imitating. Children
For all ages, expressing spirituality    can learn by seeing what it looks like
is often beyond words. There are         when adults pray, sing, interact and
ways of knowing beyond intellectual      share their experiences of being a
knowledge – symbolism, music, art,       Christian. Adults can learn by the
silence, space, sacrament, story.        questions children ask and the playful
We might have lost confidence            spirituality they bring. Each needs the
or even forgotten how these can          experience of the other. We should
help the spirituality and faith of the   not be afraid to be honest with
community and its individuals, yet       each other – even when the honest
church is where these expressions of     response is that we don’t know the
spirituality can thrive!                 answers to some questions.

The Bible and intergenerational church
Intergenerational approaches are
arguably a rediscovery of what is         These commandments that I
modelled in much of the biblical          give you today are to be on your
narrative. Throughout the Old             hearts. 7 Impress them on your
Testament there were occasions            children. Talk about them when
when all of God’s people came             you sit at home and when you
together to celebrate, worship, pray,     walk along the road, when you lie
lament, heal, hear scripture and          down and when you get up. 8 Tie
story, but there is also emphasis         them as symbols on your hands
on the everyday living of faith (e.g.     and bind them on your foreheads.
Deuteronomy 6:6–9).
                                          9
                                            Write them on the doorframes of
                                          your houses and on your gates.
In his example and teaching Jesus         Deuteronomy 6:6–9
challenged the status quo regarding
the vulnerable, including children,
even choosing a child as both a          Christ’ where every part needs
sign of God’s kingdom and a clue         every other part, even though it may
to its meaning. In the Epistles,         look different and have a different
Paul repeatedly refers to the newly      function. This is no less true today.
formed Church as ‘the body of

There are barriers to participating in   service. The generous openness of
church life which are not always about   intergenerational communities is
age and stage of faith, for example      welcoming and actively seeks ways to
there are adults who struggle            enable those with additional needs,
with the literacy skills required        their families and carers to worship
for full participation in a church       and find support.

Creating the framework of an intergenerational
community
Every church community and               (beyond age and stage of faith) and
context is different, so there is not    wrestle and experiment with what
a ‘one size fits all’ approach. Each     ‘Your kingdom come’ means and
church, parish or benefice must          could look like when lived in each
discern God’s call for that particular   church community.
community. That said, to become
more intergenerational we must           The framework for an intergenerational
recognise that in the kingdom of         community takes shape from the
heaven there is equality and equity      principles and values that underpin it.

The principles: how we approach our life together

                  In Common –
                                                 Company –
                mutual, given and
                                            together: friendship,
               received; owned by
                                              society, intimacy,
                 all, used jointly,
                                                 protection
                      universal

                  Communion –
                    oneness,                   Co-operative –
                 have a portion,               work together,
                   participate,                 strive jointly
               share, eat together

The values
Community – relational, inclusive          Leadership – collaborative,
(age, gender, culture, ability), mutual,   participatory, enabling, diverse,
reciprocal, humble                         listening, learning

Engagement – together, playful             Being the change – intentional,
(but serious), reflective, creative,        discerning, courageous,
accessible                                 experimental, generous

Discipleship – inductive, deliberate,
lived, missional, spiritual

Case history: St Marks, Milton Keynes
 ‘We take every opportunity              learning happens together that
 we can to celebrate, to toast           inspired their village approach),
 marshmallows, and to involve            and they practise joy, games and
 ourselves in each other’s lives!’       silliness as a means of creating
                                         community.
 St Marks in Milton Keynes have
 developed what they call a ‘village     When asked ‘what you are noticing
 approach to church,’ taking their       and learning?’ they shared the
 inspiration from the African proverb    importance of creating trust and
 ‘It takes a whole village to raise a    allowing time for it. They are clear
 child’. Drawing from Acts chapter       that growing intergenerationally
 2, they are serious about the whole     involves relinquishing a lot of
 community learning together, they       control, which means that every
 are intentional about discipleship      week remains a learning curve.
 (it is the recognition of how much

Useful questions to ask
How could we get to know each other better across the generations?
How do we together encounter more of God, each other and ourselves?

Making a start
Being intergenerational is about         Sharing experience is important. Ask
much more than the church service        each other questions like these and
(and this may not be the best place      listen deeply to each other:
to start). When you think about
                                         • What’s God saying to you in the
developing intergenerational
                                           Bible today?
approaches it may be tempting to
think that everything must change,       • Who is on your mind today?
but that would be overwhelming and
                                         • Where have you been able to live
unwelcome. What if it began with
                                           your faith this week?
a space where adults, children and
young people can come together           • Where have you seen God at work
to share food, play games, tell and        this week?
listen to stories – simply get to know
                                         • Can you tell a story of when you
each other better?
                                           have experienced a fruit of the
                                           Spirit this week?

Which all brings us back to…                    as followers of Jesus. Taking this
                                                journey recognises that all ages need
The purpose of this journey is that             all ages in the cultivating, nurturing
every person grows deeper in                    and growing process.
their faith, spirituality and lived life

Further reading
See Disciples Together for more on putting children, young people and
families at the centre of church life: oxford.anglican.org/disciples-together

 Prayer
 Heavenly Father,                               Give each of us grace and humility.
 You created each of us in your own             Give us courage to try new things
 image.                                         and learn from our experiments,
 Every single human. Made in your               especially as we seek to get to
 image.                                         know each other better.
 Thank you.                                     May we be increasingly open to
 Help us to see each other as you               your Spirit at work in each of us,
 see each of us.                                in our communities and in the
 Help us grow together as disciples             world.
 of Jesus.                                      Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
 Make us more curious and playful
 in our community life, worship and
 mission.                                       Amen

Intergenerate: Transforming Churches through Intergenerational Ministry, Ed. Holly Catterton
Allen, Intergenerational Christian Formation: Bringing the Whole Church Together in Ministry,
Community and Worship by Holly Catterton Allen and Christine Lawton Ross and the website
intergenerate.com.au were valuable resources for researching this topic.

Photographs: Steven Buckley