Shaking Up the Norm in Faith Communities

As I look at my educational experiences and life skill experiences, I often learn best from someone older and more experienced than me. It is on a rare occasion that I can say that I learned from a peer. Yet, when we look at many educational structures in our culture, we find that education is often seen as being organized into generational group settings. One must question if the style of generational learning is the best method or if there could be a benefit to having intergenerational group learning.   

People of faith often share stories testifying that their faith developed as they were exposed to the older generations and heard their stories of life and faith. Authors Edie and Lamport discuss intergenerational group learning in their book Nurturing Faith: A Practical Theology for Educating Christians.[1] Faith formation is evaluated and believed to be best developed in intergenerational communities. The benefits of intergenerational service time together often show significant growth in both generations. An example is shared of a mechanic who invited three teenage boys to assist him in fixing church vans and buses. Throughout their time together, the teens learned more than repairing vans and buses as the mechanic often shared stories of life and faith. The mechanic was enriching their lives, and in turn, the teens were enriching the mechanic’s life by giving him more purpose and value for sharing his vocation. The four individuals testified to their faith growing through time together, learning, and sharing life experiences.[2]

As I reflect upon the congregations I have been a part of, I find their teaching and learning format similar to public school settings. Children are often seen as a distraction and believed to be better served in a classroom or large group of generational ages. The times that children and teenagers interact with adults are often before and after worship services as well as dinners. I believe churches should consider what values can exist in intergenerational settings with inclusion rather than exclusion. Edie and Lamport reference Charles Foster and how he proposed congregational events to nurture faith formation, including homecoming dinners, fundraising, Advent, and Christmas, to name a few [3]. To harness the full benefits of this faith formation, Foster presents a threefold pedagogical pattern that includes: 1.) Preparation for the event. 2.) Participation in the event. 3.) Reflection upon the event.[4] The pedagogical pattern gives a creative pattern to incorporating intergenerational participation.

I do agree with the authors that it is necessary to integrate the generations. Too often, the younger generations look down on the older generations and vice versa. Each generation is missing the value of community exemplified by our ancestors and groups of people who share life in communities like the Amish.

Faith communities should begin incorporating intergenerational learning by starting with a church event. A great way that I would include this is by inviting more adults to attend the next youth meeting to see what the young people do and how they can participate and bring enrichment. Allow the adults to serve the youth and trust God to open their hearts to see purpose in their vocation, just like the mechanic I mentioned earlier.

[1] Fred P. Edie and Mark A. Lamport. Nurturing Faith: A Practical Theology for Educating Christians. W.B Eerdmans: A PDF file of chapter 14, "Nurturing Intergenerational Faith through Congregations,” Accessed May 2024. Online campus library services of Indiana Wesleyan University.

[2] Edie and Lamport, 319.

[3] Edie and Lamport, 324.

[4] Edie and Lamport, 324.