Worship Weblog

Ancaster Book Group – Second Meeting

Posted by CICW

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

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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Report from Jeff Klingenberg’s book group in Ancaster, Ontario:

Storming, Norming, Performing

Forming a book club during the Fall season on the topic of intergenerational worship proved to be especially challenging for the folks of Ancaster Christian Reformed Church. The single-ceremony of Sunday morning summers gave way to the inevitable fall of double morning worship services as students returned to university and families returned from much needed vacations. School had begun for the nearly 250 members under the age of 25. The full summer sanctuary gave way to new faces and empty spaces in the pew of early autumn church as the quaint, suburban church building limbered up for another year of over-use. Some of the group wanted everyone to go back to a single service; others were glad that new faces finally had open spaces to sit.

As a group, we tackled the bulk of the text during the months of October and November. Initially, our conversations focused primarily on the context of our little church. Mention was rarely made of other sacred spaces. However, as stories were shared, a mutual respect for others began to grow. “Unity in the Spirit” was a favoured Biblical value. “Formation of character” led to a colourful conversation of the notion of bringing the children’s Sunday School curriculum into the worship event. The statement – “We have to do something for the children, because they are the church of tomorrow” – was replaced by a more formal declaration – “we are doing something for the children because they are part of the church of today . . . they are the leaders tomorrow.”

The concept of an intergenerational worshipping body became more widely accepted as each individual took ownership of the group agenda. As we continued to eat and talk and share, we could sense that Jesus was indeed our cornerstone as we were being built into a household of faith (Ephesians 2: 19-22). The group was gaining its own identity. We began to show pride in the work that we were doing together as we continued to collide.

Tags: bgancaster, Book Groups 2009, Church of All Ages, intergenerational