Joy and worship

In the fourth part of our series focussing on Intergenerational Church, Suzi Farrant and Darren Philip focus on core church activities.

AN intergenerational church “intentionally brings the generations together in mutual serving, sharing or learning within the core activities of the church in order to live out being the body of Christ to each other and the greater community.” This definition gives a clear location of where our intergenerational relationships take place: within the core activities of the church.

Looking at a sample of congregational websites, parish profiles or church magazines quickly reveals that the activities of most congregations are currently divided by age. It is often called the ‘one-eared Mickey Mouse’ model: imagine a Venn diagram showing the relationship between activities for children and young people and activities for the wider congregation. It looks like a Mickey Mouse with one ear chopped off: the congregation is represented by the head, while the youth programme is represented by the remaining ear.

There is little, if any, overlap between the two and it leads to a situation where many young people never make the cross-over into congregational life in adulthood. Being an intergenerational church means merging the two circles into one: sharing together in the life and activities of the church. This isn’t a new idea: the Church Without Walls report made this same call two decades ago.

So far in this series, we have drawn attention to humility, hospitality, relationships and learning. These are just some of the core practices which make up our lives together as church-community. Here, we consider two more practices: joy and worship.

It may seem odd to speak of ‘joy’ as a practice. It is a word often used to mean ‘happiness’, but that is an emotion which does not endure. Christian joy, however, is something deeper which encompasses the whole of life, including times of pain and anguish as well as happiness. Bonhoeffer wrote in a letter: “The joy of God has gone through the poverty of the manger and the agony of the cross; that is why it is invincible, irrefutable. It does not deny the anguish, when it is there, but finds God in the midst of it, in fact precisely there.” We have included joy in our list of core practices of the church because we believe different generations have a gift to offer one another in journeying together through times of both suffering and happiness, leading one another to encounter Christ.

What does joy look like as a practice? At its simplest, yet most profound, it takes the form of friendship. Placesharing relationships move beyond being transactional and lead to true friendship. It is as we are free to be in relationship with those who are different to us that we recognise more fully God’s act of joy in befriending the world. Age should therefore not be a barrier to friendship: curating friendships across the generations should be encouraged as a practice of joy, through which we share and carry one another’s burdens and come to receive God’s gift of joy.

Joy naturally gives rise to the expression of thanks and lament, praise and petition, which we offer to God through worship. Worship is one of the main reasons we gather together as a church-community, it is one of the core activities of the church which is most public and visible. What could our worship practice look like in an intergenerational church?

In many congregations, children may be present for part of the worship service before retiring to a hall or separate space for a mixture of stories, crafts and games. There may be a ‘children’s address’ or section of worship directed towards their age group. Many adults will secretly confess that the children’s address is their favourite part of the worship service. That is often because it employs different spiritual styles from the rest of the liturgy.

Some people encounter God more though the head, others through the heart; some like to think of God in concrete ways, for others God is mystery. David Csinos, Associate Professor of Practical Theology at Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, distilled the different ways people encounter God into four categories or styles. ‘Word’ refers to people who encounter God in the concreteness of cognitive understanding. Words, details, facts matter to them. They enjoy the words of hymns, Bible readings, sermons, discussions. Someone with a ‘Word’ spirituality might say: “I know God when I know about God.” ‘Emotion’ is used to refer to people who encounter God through emotions, via the heart more than the head. They enjoy the feeling of music, relational practices, dance and drama. Someone with an ‘Emotion’ spirituality might say: “I know God when I feel moved by God.” ‘Symbol’ refers to people who encounter God through metaphor, symbolism and in a more abstract way. They enjoy silence, artwork, candles, craftwork or meditation. Someone with a ‘Symbol’ spirituality might say: “I know God through mystery, ritual or symbolism.” Finally, ‘Action’ is used to refer to people who encounter God through service, justice and working for God’s kingdom. They enjoy campaigns, petitions, charitable work, collections, protests or politics. Someone with an ‘Action’ spirituality might say: “I know God when I work for God’s kingdom.”

“ Engaging all generations in worship means moving away from directing particular parts of worship at particular age groups and instead embracing all four spiritual styles throughout our worship.

You may have read that and recognised something of yourself in one, more or even all of those categories. Most adults have a spread of spiritual styles which work for and engage with them. Most children, on the other hand, connect strongly with only one style. If their dominant style is missing from what the church offers during worship, a child will find it difficult to connect with God and may quickly decide that church is not for them.

Take a moment to consider the worship practice of your congregation. A typical Church of Scotland service consists of readings (Word), spoken prayers (Word), lengthy hymns (Word) and a sermon (Word).

It is an almost entirely Word-based offering. Thinking about ways to include additional styles, such as the use of visual images, interactive prayer stations and symbolic actions can help all generations together to offer their worship to God.

Engaging all generations in worship means moving away from directing particular parts of worship at particular age groups and instead embracing all four spiritual styles throughout our worship. There are as many adults who don’t connect with a sermon as there are children who do; there are as many children don’t like arts and crafts as there are adults that do. Including all styles also makes our times of worship less passive and more participative, curating the space in which place-sharing relationships can form and joy-filled friendships can flourish across the ages.