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Useful Resources

Resources to help explore Intergenerational

Being an Intergenerational Resource Papers – Part of an ongoing project, this series of papers has emerged to assist the church in being and becoming more intentionally intergenerational.  There are currently 12 papers in the series.

Engage Together: More Than Worship, More Than Sunday – A free UCA downloadable resource to help a team/church think about becoming a more intergenerational community with what, why & how plus questions for reflection and action about intergenerational ministry in your community/context.

23 Easy things you can try to encourage Intergenerational Connection – from the Australian Intergenerational Roundtable

Intergenerational Gatherings

• LIFT (Living in Faith Together) – Brings generations together to share food, learn, worship & have fun
• GIFT (Growing in Faith Together) – Intergenerational Activities for events and take home sheets for households
• Cross+Gen Conversations – a resource designed to help you lead your church in caring cross generational (Cross+Gen) faith encounters built around the basic themes of faith.

Worship Resources

The CTM has a number of other free Engage Together Resources for various seasons of the year or different parts of the lectionary cylce.

My Worship Notes – Download & print of these worship notes for children for any worship service. For Advent worship notes go to our Advent/Christmas Resources Page.

Communion Storycine – Based on Luke 22:10-24 these slides using plasticine characters to share about the last supper and communion.

Celebrating Milestones

Marking significant events at all ages with a ritual that includes faith is another significant way to nurture lifelong faith.  Below are some links to ideas that can help with celebrations that can be recognised and marked in faith communities:

• Growing Up Together – Intergenerational rituals (UCA) to mark rites of passage in the lives of children and young people.
• Milestones Ministry – guides and resource materials to assist development of faith formation in the home, congregation, and community
• Growing Faith Moments – These Moments have been created to encourage congregations and families to share those moments that happen in our life, the celebrations and the hard times. It’s a gentle way of bringing God into everyday life.  These moments include celebrations for children, teen and adult significant events.

Books

A Gospel for All Ages: Teaching and Preaching with the Whole Church – David M. Csinos

This new book lives at the intersection of two conversations – preaching and intergenerational ministry. By integrating these two topics, an entirely new conversation emerges, one that draws from both, that interrogates both, and that births something new in the process, creating fresh possibilities for churches of all shapes and sizes.

InterGenerate: Transforming Churches through Intergenerational Ministry – Holly Catterton Allen

InterGenerate addresses important questions of why we should bring the generations back together, but even more significantly, how we can bring generations back together.  An exciting and distinctive aspect of InterGenerate is the vast diversity of voices men and women ranging in age from millennials to baby boomers, representing multiple countries and over a dozen denominations all seeking ways to become more intentionally intergenerational in their outlook and practice.  The Centre for Theology and Ministry has “taster” handouts for each chapter.

Intergenerational Christian Formation: Bringing the Whole Church Together in Ministry, Community and Worship – Holly Catterton Allen & Christine Lawton Ross

A good overview of what Interegenerational Christian Formation is.  This books shares the biblical, theological, theoretical & social sciences support for Intergenerational ministry practice.  It then delves deeper into Intergenerational Christian Practices including worship, learning experiences, story sharing, service & missions; and small groups.  Having both the theory and the practice makes it a very valuable resource for anyone wanting to explore intergenerational ministry for their context.

Generations Together: Caring, Praying, Learning, Celebrating & Serving Faithfully – Kathie Amidei, Jim Merhaut, and John Roberto

Available as a FREE PDF Download – along with the 5 other books published by Lifelong Faith

Faith is transmitted from generation to generation in extended families and intergenerational congregations.  Every congregation can discover its intergenerational heart and soul, and become an intentionally intergenerational community that nurtures the faith of all ages and equips them for living as disciples of Jesus Christ in our world today.  This book includes a congregational toolkit for becoming intentionally intergenerational.

Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church

Based on groundbreaking research with over 250 leading congregations from different denominations and geographical places, Growing Young provides a strategy any church can use to involve and retain teenagers and young adults. It profiles innovative churches that are engaging 15- to 29-year-olds and as a result are growing–spiritually, emotionally, missionally, and numerically. Packed with both research and practical ideas, Growing Young shows pastors and ministry leaders how to position their churches to engage younger generations in a way that breathes vitality, life, and energy into the whole church.

Engage All Generations: A Strategic Toolkit for Creating Intergenerational Faith Communities

Engage All Generations suggests how every church can build on its potential and become a more vibrant witness of God’s Kingdom. Divided into three sections, the book focuses on key growth edges in the unfolding conversation about intergenerational ministry: Learning and Growing Together, Praying and Playing Together, and Leading and Changing Together.  Practical, accessible, encouraging, and thought-provoking, this book provides the crucial next building block in our understanding of intergenerational ministry. It is sure to benefit congregations already engaged in fostering intergenerational approaches and those desiring to experiment with becoming intentionally intergenerational.

Let’s Kill Sunday School (3 volumes) (And Birth Cross+Gen Church Movement)

If you are ready to explore designing, testing, and tweaking new faith formation models aimed at engaging parents and kids of the post-Gutenberg, post-television, internet era family, come on in. It’s going to be a wild ride back to the future when Deuteronomy 6 (“when you lie down and when you rise”) meets Acts 2 (“they met in homes and temple”) and the 21st Century non-nuclear faith family.

The vision? Life together where the wisdom of the elder and the wonder of the child collide on a weekly basis in the same sacred space at church and in each other’s prayers every night in every home. If you are ready to explore designing new faith formation models that engage all ages and stages of life in joy, discovery and love, come on in. The adjacent possible of Cross+Gen ministry is waiting for you. And it is going to be grand.

Love First: A Children’s Ministry for the Whole Church

Struggling to offer a children’s program that resonates with young families? Finding it difficult to recruit teachers and volunteers for your children’s program? Want a children’s ministry that is grounded in Christ’s foundational teachings and relevant to the experiences of children today? This must-have guide to rethinking your children’s ministry is informed and intelligent, with the lighthearted humor so helpful to working with children. Through storytelling, testimonials, and research-based creativity, you’ll be inspired and energized to use your church’s gifts, your children’s interests, and your families’ needs to develop a children’s ministry that fits your church and the people in it.  Colette Potts offers a successful model for a congregation to turn around their children’s ministry program to engage the whole congregation in worship, learning, and service while partnering with parents for bridging the formation gap between Sunday morning at church and the rest of the week at home and beyond.

Learn More …

Ministry in Minecraft – Recording of the event

Rev. Sandy Brodine has been exploring creative ways of engaging her community with-in Minecraft. Drawing on this experience, Sandy shares about Prayer possibilities, Building Bible stories and Engaging intergenerationally with-in the Minecraft context. Whether you’re familiar with Minecraft or not, this may be a useful tool for your ministry context.

Digital Tools for Faith Formation – Recording of the event

Rev Amanda Nicholas speaks about faith formation and education using online tools.

Advent: Something is Coming! – FB live explaining the resource that can be used as part of worship, as a separate event or by households.