Worship Weblog

Strathroy Book Group – First Meeting

Posted by cicw

Tuesday, November 17th, 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.
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Key Concept: Worship practices reflect a congregation’s overall
commitment to being and becoming a Church of All Ages

As a starting point for our first formal discussion, we spent some time discussing the title and subtitle of the book. We noted that the subtitle, Generations Worshiping Together, highlights the single most important barometer—worship—that measures a congregation’s desire to be and become a Church of All Ages. Members of the group commented on the strategic role that worship plays in the overall witness and ministry of a local church in that worship both informs and reflects a multigenerational commitment. In other words, one of the key ways a congregation indicates the priority it places on being multigenerational is in its worship practices—by which members representing a spectrum of age and faith development are blessed and in which they participate. In this way, worship practices reflect underlying attitudes and commitments in the church.

But worship has a constructive as well as a reflective role in congregational life. As such, it calls the church to yield to the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work of communal transformation so that a greater commitment to becoming the Church of all Ages can become lived out in other aspects of congregational life. We spent some time discussing the extent to which we have found intergenerational worship done well. We noted that a number of churches that are often said to be “thriving” or “successful” are generationally segregated. Churches that foster a sense of mystery in worship (especially by liturgical practices that are multi-sensory) were identified as being particularly effective when it comes to connecting with individuals who represent a variety of faith development.

Members highlighted the definition of “intergenerational worship” found on page 11: “Intergenerational worship is worship in which people of every age are understood to be equally important. We discussed how this level of understanding is not limited to worship practices but must pervade everything in the church. Members commented on ways they have seen a variety of church activities “feed” intergenerational worship. Examples included:

• Post-worship coffee fellowship in which older people consistently decided not to mingle with their peers but made a point to get to know the young people of the church instead.

• Intentional consideration of individuals under 30 when selecting new office bearers, including a commitment to having older experienced leaders mentor those who are younger. One congregation’s commitment to this was borne out of its realization that some of the disciples of Jesus were probably teenagers when he called them (to substantiate this claim, please note their behavior in the gospels).

The general consensus in our group was that multigenerational ministry must be a commitment in a great deal of church activities. In this way, being a Church of all Ages will become a greater reality in the local church—one which will naturally and increasingly be reflected by generations worshiping together.

Tags: bgstrathroy, Book Groups 2009, intergenerational