I recently read a couple good articles on the importance of Intergenerational church. I’ve been familiar with intergenerational ministry for a number of years and the benefits of such an approach with student ministry. It has continued to be a growing trend in student ministry circles. The continued need to develop this approach is prevalent. With it’s eccentricities of adolescence student ministry can, at times, have a “bad step-child” complex within the overall church ministry. In fact, a good-size part of that may be attributed to a lack of intergenerational ministry. Yes, each ministry should have its own unique identity but not to just only identifying with itself. Like any good marriage, individual identity is important but working together is even more important.
Here are some of the reasons I read on why some form of intergenerational ministry is good and how its cultivated:
It removes the temptation of “church within a church.”
A completely segregated student ministry has to constantly battle the “church within a church” battle—a teenager might be having a completely different experience then their parent(s) week in and week out—so when student ministry is gone they feel little or no connection to the actual “church.” The vague and meaningless term “youth group” even more appropriately applies as it denotes a closed, insider, to itself only view of student ministry.
It makes the transition to “big church” much easier.
The handoff from any ministry to the next is always difficult; developing some forms of intergenerational worship will help ease students’ transition to the adult service environment. It will be less of a leap and more of a step.
It could help reduce the number of students leaving the faith after high school.
This is the primary driving force behind intergenerational ministry. When teenagers feel like they’re part of the whole church body “all along,” it’s less likely they’ll wander than if they’re expected to feel like part of the church body “all of a sudden” when they graduate the student ministry.
Serve together…mostly
An easy way to get some quick intergenerational ministry happening in your church is to combine some of your serve projects immediately. Consider cancelling the majority of your youth group service projects and join those in place for the church at large. Imagine the conversations that will take place as people serve food, rake leaves, or paint together. Chances are the older people in your congregation will be just as surprised as your teenagers at how fun it was to serve side-by-side! (Good confirmation – PPBC and HFC do well piggy backing with each other in LIA projects, even more so in the past couple years).
Worship together…occasionally
Many student ministries have their own worship service or Sunday School happening at the same time the rest of the church is gathered for worship. What if you completely cancelled your “youth stuff” once a month so the teenagers could attend church with their parents? Sure, some might choose to stay home that weekend, but it’s a fairly simple way to make a statement that says, “25% of the time, our church worships together…and we need the teenagers to be part of the action!” (We already do this but way more than 25%).
Overnighters…never
Hey, there are some things adults are happy are totally separate from them. Keep overnighters this way…but be thankful for the adults who do show up, give up sleep, and care for the students. (For those who do and have, your reward in heaven will be significantly greater!)
So while some of the conversation has pointed an unfair finger at student ministry and has been a bit extreme in tone, the idea of intergenerational ministry is totally valid. I think about our move from Kirby Rd to the Main Campus resulting in the construction of the awesome Commons wing. I am even more appreciative to the way our church supports its student ministry and the many relationships that our students have with Godly adults who care. And this is not only with teenagers but its safe to say that this extends to our children’s ministry, as well. In other words, we are blessed with intergenerational ministry at Parkway Place! Who knows, maybe some of you will even eventually figure out that we’re not a youth group! Haha!
Thanks for reading!
Greg Kelley
