The Church as Family Martyn Payne. Recommendations from the report Working with children or young...
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Transcript of The Church as Family Martyn Payne. Recommendations from the report Working with children or young...
The Church as FamilyMartyn Payne
Recommendations from the reportWorking 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 reportThere 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
The Church as Family
Blood is thicker than water…butwhat 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 133For 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 reflectionHow 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 DownNot 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