From Generation to Generation

Take a look inside most American churches these days, and you’ll notice a common trend: there are children’s ministries, youth ministries, young adult ministries, men’s ministries, women’s ministries, and older adult ministries.  This trend has become so commonplace that one pastor-friend of mine said that his church is really 5 churches under one roof - each of these ministries even had their own worship services.  There really wasn’t any opportunity for the different generations to interact with each other.

The reasons for this are usually very good, and the need for specialized ministries to the different generations is undeniable.  But not at the expense of the health of the church as a whole.  You see, we’ve swung the pendulum too far.  The church a few decades ago barely recognized that there were different generations, let alone that those generations had specific needs.  Now, we can barely get the generations to sit in a room together.

But this is to our detriment.  The generations need each other, because we all comprise the Body of Christ together.  When we isolate and segregate in this manner, we deprive each other of the unique gifts, perspective and experiences that each generation brings to the church.  In fact, being intentional in building intergenerational relationships has a significant impact on how faith “sticks” with the younger generations as they grown and mature.

This series starts with the calling God extends to the older generations of the church, an exploration of one of the roles God has extended to them.  Then, it looks at how the Gospel is a gospel for all ages and generations, not just the young or new Christian.  From there, we look at the unique gifts that the older and younger generations have.  Following that is a specific look at the necessity and importance of children.  The series concludes by thanking God for His wisdom in making the church intergenerational - specifically in being thankful for God’s work in the past, the present and the future.

These sermons compose the 3rd part of a year-long series on Sticky Faith, and ran through the fall of 2012.  The first series is Epiphany: The King Jesus Gospel.  The second part of the series is Sticky Families of Faith.