Worship Weblog

Davis Book Group – First Meeting

Posted by cicw

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

Book Groups

We invited 34 book groups across the U.S. and Canada to meet and discuss The Church of All Ages and its implications for their worship, and to share their notes here.
Learn more

The key question that emerged from our discussion was how unique this topic is historically speaking, and how as a group we laud the effort of intergenerational worship but aren’t sure how to proceed.

Our group focused on how unique this question of intergenerational worship is, even among our own lives. Those of us that grew up in the church noted how intergenerational worship was assumed in that, if nothing else, all ages worshipped together. Our experiences were then recounted. We noted how in the churches we currently attend or serve, one church has alternative worship for children through age 7, one church through junior high, one through high school, and one not at all.

Rebecca, a mother of 3 wanted to know from Shannon, a single member of our group, how distracting her children would be if they were kept in the worship service more. Rebecca noted she isn’t so concerned with her own distractedness in worship if her children would be with her throughout the service, she is more concerned with being a distraction. Shannon replied that she likes seeing children in the service, but attending a church plant with mostly single people and young married folks who don’t have children, she wonders what others in her context think about having children in the service.

We then wondered, beyond just having multiple ages in a given worship service, what does it look like to actually engage all ages? We discussed different things that were done in other churches we had been a part of: children’s sermons, kids who helped pass collection plates, choirs, music, and other things. When we reflected on the last service we attended where different generations were featured prominently, we noted that it was usually special services around the holidays – like a Christmas Eve service.

Our meeting concluded with interest to read beyond the first few chapters and get into more specific ideas and possibilities. The general consensus of the group was simply that we value this idea of intergenerational worship, but aren’t sure how best to proceed.

Tags: bgdavis, Book Groups 2009, intergenerational