Intergenerational faith formation was an integral element of early Christian churches from the very first days. The Israelites and the first Christian communities may not have used the term “intergenerational faith formation” to describe the transmission of the faith story and way of life to the next generation, but it most certainly was. All ages worshipped, learned, and grew together. But the dominant form of faith formation in most churches in recent years has not been intergenerational. We have relied on homogeneous-age education, organizing children, teens, and adults into separate learning groups or classes organized by age or grade level.
But studies show that this organizational structure by and large does not result in growing people of lifelong faith, as age-segregation is detrimental to all generations. The lack of intergenerational contact leads each generation to see itself as a separate subculture rather than as an integral part of an entire community. Intergenerational faith formation provides an antidote to this siloing effect. We have seen how it works in our camp programming, where adults and youth are together in discussion groups. Powerful relationships are built across generations.
This shift to intergenerational faith formation has been in the works for several years, but it has been difficult to give up long-held ways of doing things as a church. The disruption of the pandemic required a complete change from our regular faith formation programming and gave us the opportunity to realistically assess the state of our children and youth programs. We believe that this will be a more effective approach for the children and youth of Plymouth.
What will this look like? There will not be weekly Sunday School programming for children and youth. Instead, we will have monthly gatherings after worship for the whole community to engage together. We are excited to announce our September gathering will be Homecoming Sunday, September 11, which will be a celebrating and re-commitment Sunday for all ages. Our October gathering will be an All-Church Retreat at Pilgrim Firs Camp and Conference Center in Port Orchard, October 21-23. In addition, there will be occasional age-specific gatherings, overnights, and retreats for children and youth throughout the program year.
We look forward to curating opportunities service projects for all ages as well as intergenerational mission and learning trips. Please feel free to email me at jcastle@plymouthchurchseattle.org if you have questions or would like to volunteer to help plan monthly gatherings. I look forward to what God will do this fall and beyond! --Rev. Jennifer Castle, Director of Faith Formation