The Church as Family Martyn Payne

Recommendations from the report Working with children or young people in isolation was not the most effective way of enabling a lifelong relationship with God, that nurturing spirituality needs to involve parents and a wider ‘family’, leading to a growing awareness around an all age approach to church.

Recommendations from the report It was identified that being part of a church congregation offered unique opportunities to meet with people of different ages and this aspect of being an intergenerational community was felt to be important.

Recommendations from the report There is a cross-denominational, although not universal, direction of travel away from ministering to the church community in separate age groups and towards an integrated approach… where differing styles of worship and learning are accommodated, across all ages

Sameness or difference?

The Church as Family

Blood is thicker than water…but what is thicker than blood? The Presentation

Intergenerational Questions Why do more and more people advocate the idea that the generations should do faith together? What does the Bible have to say about this? How does this fit with our inherited model of age-related groups for learning and discipleship? Is it really practical and possible to have an experience of church where the youngest to the oldest share the same meeting space, service theme and time to worship?

A story & Psalm 133 For reflection In your experience how have you experienced both separateness and togetherness on your journey of faith? How do you assess the effectiveness of passing on the faith at your own church?

What is so special about an intergenerational family of faith? The desire for community Encountering difference Liminal places Even more difference Modelling faith

Where do you have an experience of difference within your church? What stories of your own faith journey are associated with meeting difference? Can you think of a time when you have unexpectedly come close to God as you walked alongside a child or a stranger? For reflection

Generations together The way forward For reflection How open to change are you prepared to be when it comes to trying out a different way of worshipping together? What practical and personal difficulties do you foresee for yourself, should you decide to commit yourself to inter- generational church as your regular gathered worship? Who is worship for? Do you see worship primarily as a time for you to receive more of the grace of God or are you there to see others blessed?

Turning Church Upside Down Not 1:5 but 5:1 Not SEPARATE and gathered but GATHERED and separate Not discipleship add-ons but discipleship add-ins Not just Faith at Church but also Faith at Home

‘I bow in prayer to the Father …from the Father every family in heaven and on earth gets its name’ Ephesians 3:14-15 Made in the Image of God