Being Intergenerational

“As a Christ-centred community, the Uniting Church is called to be a place where our gathered life, our discipleship practices, our governance and our missional engagement reflect and embrace all generations. Caring, celebrating, learning, praying, serving, growing and using our gifts as followers of Jesus – together – is what becoming a more Intergenerational Church is all about.”
Rev Sharon Hollis, Being an Intergenerational Church, A Commitment. A Vision. An Invitation, Uniting Church in Australia, p.3.

In 2023 the Uniting Church in Australia, Assembly, published the resource Being an Intergenerational Church – A Commitment. A Vision. An Invitation. It was a call for congregations to commit towards becoming intergenerational communities, by finding out what ‘intergenerational’ means and having a go at building intergenerational practices into our church culture.

Intergenerational practices are what we see in the Bible. In Deuteronomy 31:21 we read that the men, women and children gathered to hear the law being read. In Acts we read of whole families coming to Christ and being baptised. In Romans 12:4-8, Paul talks about the church being made up of many parts as one body, that all bring their individual gifts and talents which, when combined, make an amazing whole.

Our very own Basis of Union in Paragraph 13, Gifts and Ministries, states, “the one Spirit has endowed the members of Christ’s Church with a diversity of gifts, and that there is no gift without its corresponding service”. The intergenerational church seeks not just to see children and youth as a mission, but to actively involve them in the mission.

Intergenerational practices are:

• Focused on building relationships across generations.
• For the whole church, not just the young.
• Intentional, not left to chance.
• Mutual, every generation gives, every generation receives and all generations benefit.
• About growing our faith together by sharing and learning.
• All generations are part of the mission in bringing Christ to the wider community, this includes decision making.

It is important to note that being an intergenerational church does not do away with all age-based activities like Sunday school or fellowship groups for seniors. These activities still have a role to play. It does mean that churches need to intentionally plan and include activities where the generations will fellowship, learn and serve together.

The intergenerational church gives us a blessing and a challenge, in that there is no single model or template to copy. The intergenerational church will look different according to its local context. It allows us to shape the nature of the intergenerational church to our communities, but it can be hard to vision what it might look like when there is no model to follow.

Ideas for getting started:

• Include a wide variety of songs in your worship times such as action songs, chorus, contemporary worship and traditional hymns. This makes something for everyone.
• Ask young adults to stand for church council.
• Partner an older and a younger person on a service roster such as morning tea or welcoming.
• Have a music team with people from different generations.
• Provide opportunities at morning tea to connect with people of a different generation such as a community jigsaw that people of all ages can work on together, or use resources like Chat Matters as a conversation prompt – or like Star Street Uniting Church, work together to make decorations for the church over morning tea that contribute to the worship plan.
• Have intergenerational craft groups or interest groups.
• Set up mentoring or prayer partnerships (you will need some consideration about Safe Church practices, but it is possible).
• Talk to leaders from the churches in this article. Communities that are already having a go, that can share what worked and what they would do differently in the future.

Resources

Here are some resources that you might find helpful when exploring intergenerational ministry.

Books that can be borrowed through the Co-ordinator or ordered through the Uniting Church WA bookshop:
Intergenerate, edited by Holly Catterton Allen
Being An Intergenerational Church: Practices to Bring the Generations Back Together, by Suzi Farrant and Darren Philip
Engage All Generations, edited by Cory Seibel
A Gospel for All Ages, by David M. Csinos

Websites:
Uniting Church in Australia, Assembly
uniting.church/intergenerational
UCA Synod of South Australia
sa.uca.org.au/intergen
Intergen
intergen.org.au

If you would like to chat to someone, contact Ps Julie Ridden, Children, Families, Youth and Young Adults Co-ordinator –
[email protected]

Article by Ps Julie Ridden, first published in the December 2024 edition of Revive magazine.

Click here for part two of the Revive article ‘Being Intergenerational’ – Exploring Intergen – Congregation Stories