Faith that spans generations

LOUISVILLE — Even in churches with few or no children, intergenerational ministry can be a practical strategy for building relationships and enriching worship and other times congregations gather.

Suzie Lane, resource director for GenOn Ministries, led a session last week during the conference of the Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network, which met at First Presbyterian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee.

She said intergenerational ministry “nurtures Christ-centered community by bringing together two or more generations in planned and purposeful settings where all are mutually invested.”

“It will work in any setting,” Lane said. “We want to plan so that the ages can intermingle with each other.”

She said that intergenerational ministry can:

• Enhance a sense of belonging and counter isolation, especially among older adults
• Create a welcoming environment conducive to promoting faith sharing and mutual support
• Carve out opportunities for people of all ages to share their wisdom
• Give adults occasions to serve as role models to young people.

In “Families and Faith,” Vern Bengston notes that grandparents are a close second to parents in passing on faith to their grandchildren. “It turns out that grandparents might be an underutilized asset in many churches and youth groups,” Lane said. “Two simple words summarize his decades of research: ‘warmth matters.’” When seniors are involved with young people in a church setting, both their health and their life expectancy can improve, according to Lane.

Lane placed a picture frame at each table, asking participants to decorate it and then take pictures of themselves and each other inside the frame. “See how that can work with people of all ages?” she said, asking groups to discuss where children talk with adults about faith. In the car? At bath time?

“Now, I have a woman who is dearly departed — such a sweet, sweet lady, and she had a son that she had a tough time corralling,” Lane said. “So she just waited until he was in the shower, and then she went in and sat on the toilet and they just talked about all kinds of things — because where was he going to go?”

In the car and at the dinner table are other places for generations to share with one another. “There are all kinds of opportunities for us to talk about and with children about faith,” Lane said.

Establishing prayer partners across generations can help span the age gap. Many children love receiving letters in the mail “because they don’t get many,” Lane said.

Lane discussed some of the intergenerational ministry resources that GenOn Ministries offers and highlighted others that are available, including tracismith.com and buildfaith.org. Christian formation resources available through the PC(USA)’s Office of Christian Formation are here.

“A lot of these resources work phenomenally,” said one participant, because they save busy pastors and educators “a lot of the thought time that I would have had to put in there.”

“There are a lot of part-timers out there” in both ministry and Christian education, this participant said.

“Resist the urge to complicate. We don’t need it in this day and time,” Lane said. “Faith grows best when it’s rooted in real life.”

When she closed the session with prayer, Lane told the Almighty that “like a child, we are perplexed and frustrated when we are unable to have our own way. Like a child, we pout and hide when we are angered.”

“Yet we cannot live, truly live, without these experiences. So we come now, like a child — not a pouting, sulking child, but like an open-hearted, glad and gleeful child. We are ready again for your Spirit. Amen.”

Presbyterian News Service is grateful to Presbyterian Older Adult Ministries Network for providing recordings and photos from last week’s gathering. Reporting will continue on pcusa.org next week.