I want to be like this when I'm old.

This morning I read Psalm 71. I think this is a Psalm that relates to all of life as it speaks about birth (v6), youth (v5,17) and aged (v9,18). It was verse 18 that caught my attention though:

Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, O God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come.

Wouldn't it be great to have older Christians sharing their experience of life as a disciple of Jesus Christ? Of course, this assumes that there are older people who are disciples of Jesus Christ. I know there are because I have met some.

It also assumes that these people have something worth sharing. If you have been a worshipper of God through a life time, as the author of this Psalm clearly was, then you should have a lot of stories to share. So share them.

This verse also assumes that youth will listen.

So here is my prayer:
that youth will look to the older people of the church for wisdom
that youth will listen to that wisdom and learn from it
that older people will share their stories
that friendships between the generations will grow.

Then, when I am old and grey - though some might think I'm already there - I hope I will be able to continue to speak to youth about the glory of God. 

Intergenerational ministry - not just a fad.

“Intergenerational ministry is not just a fad and it’s not just a good idea.”

As you read that, you might not even know what it’s referring to. But if you’ve been a part of church life for anything more than ten years, you will know that many churches don’t have a good mix of generations. Some churches seem to have been caught in a time warp and now have people who are all of the same generation. Other churches seem to do a bit better, but still seem to have only two

generations – and both of those are over 60!

Some churches do have different age groups, but aren’t really intergenerational. These churches just have different age groups meeting in roughly the same place. And this thought has captured my attention.

Last week I took the chance to attend a training gathering on the issue of intergenerational ministry. It wasn’t a big crowd in attendance, and there was nothing unusual about that. What was unusual was the age of some of those attending. These women were the age of grandmothers, yet they wanted to know and learn about intergenerational ministry. It was like they were crying out that they don’t want the church to be a comfortable place for the over 70’s if it means it isn’t a comfortable place for the under 20’s and the under 10’s. God bless these women and their tribe.

At this training event, I learned the difference between being a multi-age congregation and a congregation that does intergenerational ministry. Put simply, a multi-age congregation has different ages involved or connected to the church, but those generations aren’t really involved or connected to each other. Is this really what a church family is supposed to be like? Or have we just swallowed western individualism without seriously thinking about the impact on the church? Have we even considered the impact this would have on the generations that will follow?

If you know me and my view of church life, you will know that I value intergenerational ministry and intergenerational worship. I have been challenged to see beyond the Sunday morning worship hour and instead consider the whole of church life. You see, as I have been thinking about how to rescue the church from separating the generations I have perhaps put too much focus on keeping everyone together on Sunday morning rather than sending young people away from the sermon. I still believe we should make that change, but that doesn’t do enough.

How can I help to make such a change? I’m still thinking about that. But I have been encouraged to meet with a group of people from other church denominations who also recognise that separating the generations hasn’t been the great solution we first believed it would be. To help get some things moving in my mind, and perhaps in yours, this site is worth looking at here2stay.org.au – not just because it’s Australian, but because of this:

This is a discipleship issue.

Dancing with teenagers

Last weekend, Nov5-6 2016, Anne and I travelled to Benalla in Northern Victoria for an annual dinner dance. What interested me most about this is that it is a youth group event for the Benalla - Balmattum Presbyterian Churches and it is a formal event. People are expected to dress up for the night - and they did. It was also more than just a local event. There were youth from Broadford and Albury churches there as well.

I should confess that this photo is a different event to the one in the blog.

It was also used a fund-raiser for Barnabas Fund and their work to support people fleeing from war-torn countries. These young people are aware of what's happening in the world and want to do something to help.

But beyond this, it was a terrific night for youth and a much older generation to get together. There were only a few older ones who were taking part in the dancing, and Anne and I at least had a go at some of them. In the background though were a team of people who had been cooking, who were now serving and then washing up. And it was great to see.

So, when I read this blog post today on inter-generational ministry, my mind went back to last week.

I encourage you to follow the link and take it in yourself, but here are a couple of stand out comments:

As one senior adult woman put it, “The Snow Ball was a way to get to put names and faces together. We laughed and giggled lots during the line dances. I became acquainted with some I did not know.”

The author made this comment:

I would argue that the value of these connections is a two-way street—the adults benefit as much as the youth.

I agree.

Can you help to connect some of the youth in your church to some of those older saints?

Dancing with teenagers

I should confess that this photo is a different event to the one in the blog.

Last weekend, Nov5-6 2016, Anne and I travelled to Benalla in Northern Victoria for an annual dinner dance. What interested me most about this is that it is a youth group event for the Benalla - Balmattum Presbyterian Churches and it is a formal event. People are expected to dress up for the night - and they did. It was also more than just a local event. There were youth from Broadford and Albury churches there as well.

It was also used a fund-raiser for Barnabas Fund and their work to support people fleeing from war-torn countries. These young people are aware of what's happening in the world and want to do something to help.

But beyond this, it was a terrific night for youth and a much older generation to get together. There were only a few older ones who were taking part in the dancing, and Anne and I at least had a go at some of them. In the background though were a team of people who had been cooking, who were now serving and then washing up. And it was great to see.

So, when I read this blog post today on inter-generational ministry, my mind went back to last week.

I encourage you to follow the link and take it in yourself, but here are a couple of stand out comments:

As one senior adult woman put it, “The Snow Ball was a way to get to put names and faces together. We laughed and giggled lots during the line dances. I became acquainted with some I did not know.”

The author made this comment:

I would argue that the value of these connections is a two-way street—the adults benefit as much as the youth.

I agree.

Can you help to connect some of the youth in your church to some of those older saints?