Back to the future?
Many Presbyterians may recently have felt like Marty McFly climbing out of a DeLorean time machine in the film Back to the Future. For many years Presbyterian churches in Ireland were focused on everyone attending Sunday morning worship, families gathering around communion tables, and daily teaching at the kitchen table through the week. Lately we have seen little reflections of this period reappear, with no organisations, worship services becoming necessarily simple, and people of all ages sitting together in church. For the first time, my children were present with me during a communion service, even if some aspects of that were not quite as we knew it! Families have also enjoyed greater opportunity for devotions and the sense of simple intergenerational community has been clear in our churches.
For some, this may feel like a backward step in both senses, mourning much of what we loved in church which is not currently possible. If we feel challenged by all ages worshipping together it is helpful to remember that not everything about “looking back” is negative. You would expect as Youth Development Officer that I am the first to celebrate the huge blessing of quality youth and children’s ministry as it has developed over the past fifty years. We need these vital ministries to partner with parents in making disciples of our children and young people and this has been missed by many this year. However, it is not a binary choice between generational and intergenerational ministry, and aspects of our current situation should be celebrated and capitalised upon, as perhaps God allows us to rediscover afresh some of the joys of “church as family”.
Care and creativity in the present moment
All of congregational life at the moment requires us to be creative. It offers us some openings we may otherwise not have had. However, there is the danger that being too pragmatic will see us lose some of these opportunities. For instance, if children return to Sunday morning programmes but no longer spend any time in the service, how do we balance that and ensure we do not lose the value of all ages being together in worship? While navigating difficult practical arrangements for services we do well to take account of the needs of families and the positive impact of the presence of children and young people or else they may not come.
There are positive opportunities as we organise any activities for our children and young people at the moment. Adults in the congregation, who might not previously have been involved with these age groups, might be able to be helped to find simple ways to engage with younger members. There is huge value when adults in the church share their gifts and, even more, their faith story with young people.
Some churches have been doing things differently with some creative thinking. One congregation invited adults with particular talents to help with their socially-distanced youth activity in the church car park. Another arranged regular family quiz nights which engaged the parents of teenagers in fun challenges and developed relationships between leaders and parents which are now bearing fruit, face to (masked) face. Many congregations’ online Sunday worship videos included families and people of all ages contributing through prayers, reading, and music, creating such a sense of all ages together.
In this together
One of the great things about the national response to Covid-19 has been that phrase “we’re in this together”, emphasising community responsibility, caring for one’s neighbour and celebrating the unsung hero. In many ways the church invented that concept. Even though church life is too often segregated - especially by age - when it works as intended it will naturally care for the most vulnerable across generations, rejoice in the impact of nameless servants and recognise the value of the sum being greater than its age specific parts. Arguably the church is also the only truly intergenerational organisation in our communities, where people of literally all ages can be together and barriers that might divide are broken down. Especially these days, there are too few opportunities for children and young people to be with adults who care for them and we have an opportunity right now to ensure this is built into church life with greater intentionality.
Refined by the experience
As we enter a winter session like no other, with half an eye on what things might look like beyond the spring, let us embrace the opportunity to shape our church life to have an enduring impact on our young people. What if we all endeavour, with God’s help, to ensure one positive legacy of the pandemic is intergenerational church with stronger bonds between young and old and a greater sense of our church as the “family of families”? In seeking to do this, we might bear some things in mind:
Intergenerational church is who we are, historically and biblically; “now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it” (1 Corinthians 12:27). As the Shorter Catechism puts it in ‘the visible church is a society made up of all such as in all ages and places of the world do profess the true religion, and of their children” (Q 62). Being intergenerational is not a programme to be added in or taken away, it is a mindset to flavour our very being as a local church.
When we are intergenerational, it makes us more attractive to young people who have consistently told us they value a church of all ages alongside their age-appropriate programmes, and uniquely attractive to outsiders.
As we move forward, it is vital that we continue to prioritise a joined up approach to church, looking to see where we can keep connections strong and not build barriers between ages.
Speaking positively about the opportunities provided by our current circumstances will help us see where God is at work in families and in our church family, refining us to be an increasingly intergenerational community.
So let us move forward and not be reluctant time-travellers, but fully embrace the opportunity to bring intergenerational church back to the future!
Graeme Thompson is the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s Youth Development Officer.
This blog is part of the digital programme series, Refined, to help move our denominational conversation on from what was needed to initially respond to the Coronavirus pandemic, to seeking God’s leading and guiding for this next season of church life together.
Visit the Refined hub here.