INTERGENERATIONAL SERVICES
Many churches are seeking a solution to effective family friendly services.
Solutions that are appropriate for all ages; people who come alone as well as families; seekers, new Christians and those who are more mature in their faith. It may be that we can’t achieve everything in one service but here we introduce some of the options that churches are trying out and suggest resources for all age church from more traditional Family Services to fresh expressions. Messy Church has its own, separate section.
Outdoor Church
20 sessions to take church outside the building for children and families
(Sally Welch, Barnabas for Children)
In the introduction to her book Sally says, ‘Outdoor Church explores the relationship of groups and individuals with each other and with the natural world in ways that are most appropriate for them. It offers freedom and space to discover aspects of God revealed in and through his creation. There is scope to evolve and develop a style and pace of worship that is appropriate for the community and individuals within it, while holding the aims of spending time in the natural world, being at one with creation and participating in the endless cycle of prise to the creator.’ After a short section setting out the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of Outdoor Church, there are 20 outline sessions covering all the seasons.
Sue says: At first glance this seems a bit of a minority interest book, but it contains activities and craft ideas you could incorporate into any children’s or family sessions if you have access to outdoor space. It may also inspire you to plan a church away-day to the country, seaside or even the local park, that needn’t be reliant on hot, sunny weather to be judged ‘a success’. As we look for ways that churches can encourage a Faithfull Generation, Outdoor Church may give you some good ideas for creating lasting memories and ‘peak experiences’.
Explore together: the journey
(Lianne Semans Smith and Lee Herdman, Scripture Union)
The authors write, ‘Whether we like it or not, whether we think it’s wrong or right, the reality for many churches in the UK is that we segregate more than we gather together… Togetherness is about intentionally cultivating a mindset within our Christian communities that takes seriously its collective responsibility for faith formation and helps each member of that community recognise the part they have to play on that process.’ Explore Together is a fresh, new, exciting and creative way to enable groups of any and all ages to engage with the Bible.
Paul Butler (Bishop of Durham and 2016 Hand in Hand speaker) says: Letting the Bible speak for itself is essential. Explore Together is a brilliant way of simply encouraging us, at every age, to let the Bible speak, hear God’s voice and share it together..
The all-in thing
(BIG Ministries, Elevation)
The idea of The All-In Thing is to help people create worship experiences that actually work for times when the whole church is ‘All-In’ together in a service. The whole premise for All-In Worship is to take into consideration the massive variety of people with such a variety of needs we have in our churches (regardless of age) and facilitate their worship by making things accessible and inclusive for all. The book includes the explanation of the vision of All-In Worship, 10 service outlines and all the details, scripts and resources you need to be able to pull this off! You can also purchase an accompanying CD, All-In Songs.
Sue says: This is a helpful book with an introduction which may make you think about how you structure services or, if you are already convinced, give you a reasoned argument to put to others in your leadership team who are not yet with you! Even if you decide the provided structure wouldn’t work in your church exactly as presented, it has lots of ideas. My one criticism is that the Bible passage is always presented as quite a long drama requiring comic timing. You would need a committed drama group to pull these off and people aren’t being encouraged to open the Bible for themselves. That said, you can always adapt – we used The Holy Spirit Power Acts 2 drama for Pentecost, with our youth group presenting a truncated version and then moved on to a reading of the Bible for the last part.
All-age worship
(Lucy Moore, Barnabas)
2010 conference recommendation by Lucy Moore
Written by the author of ‘Messy Church’, this book is for everybody scared by the thought of all-age. It isn’t a resource book but a ‘big picture’ look at all-age worship – what it means, and how it works. It challenges the idea that worship needs to be segregated by age in order to ‘work’.
It does include examples of all-age worship service outlines.
Top tips on all-age worship
(Nick Harding, Scripture Union)
An inspirational look at all-age worship, including the different components of a worship event and practical pointers on planning, leadership and getting creative.
Explore together: resource book
(Lianne Semans Smith and Lee Herdman, Scripture Union)
12 sessions that give you the opportunity to put the principles of Explore Together into practice in any context, helping groups of any and all ages to engage with the Bible.
Includes access to all the multimedia resources you need to run the sessions.
A second book, with 12 more sessions is also available.
Multi-sensory: worship
(Sue Wallace, Scripture Union)
2010 conference recommendation
60 Creative, experiential and inspiring ideas, outlines and scripts to make times of prayer and praise an opportunity to engage the body and the senses as well as the spirit. Meet with God using stories, meditation, chanting, painting, recycled objects, crafts, drumming and dance music. Unpack the book of Revelation through cups of tea, intercede for others through food and grow pot plants as an act of healing prayer. Fully photocopiable; with useful indexes by type of prayer, church seasons, Bible verses and group size.
This is one of a series of Multi-sensory books packed full of ideas and service outlines.
ROOTS for churches
Adult and All Age bi-monthly magazine.
Weekly, ecumenical, lectionary-based resources with similar themes to the accompanying Children and Young People magazine. Plus supporting website.
Intergenerational church and the role of children
(Ed Jones, 2014 conference, main stage)
How we can practically work through and release children into what is often considered to be a crazy and impossible idea, rather than the exciting and God-inspired opportunity that it is?
Delegate rating 8/10
Spiritual styles: how they relate to all-age worship
(Jane Chevous, 2014 conference)
Learn about the concept of ‘spiritual styles’ and explore how an understanding of them can help us plan engaging and inclusive worship and learning for all ages.
Delegate rating 7/10