Multi-Generational Church

We are blessed at Edgewood to have a multi-generational congregation.  Edgewood is a church where you can bring your kids, your parents, and your grandparents.  There is so much wisdom that "more experienced" people in life can share with us younger folk.  And there is also a fresh life and vision that younger folk can use to encourage the older ones.  There are powerful Scriptures that encourage both sides...

I Tim 4:12 "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."

Psalm 71:18 "Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come."

And I love how Psalm 78:3-4 encourages "Generational Evangelism"....passing on what we've learned to those coming behind us.

"What we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us.  We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done."

And, in addition to learning from one another, there is a powerful bond as we work together as the body of Christ.  I don't think there is anyone better to reach other teenagers than Christian teenagers.  I don't think there is anyone better to reach people in the workplace than Christian workers.  And I don't think there is anyone better to reach retired people than Christian retired people.  God has placed each of us into this multi-generational family at Edgewood and we each have a purpose and a role.  None of us are too young or too old to make a difference.  And none of us can do alone what we can all do together.

I'd be curious to hear from you (even if you don't attend Edgewood) about ways that you have come alongside someone of a different age and learned from one another.  Or, what are ways that we as a church can encourage this better?  One story that always sticks out in my mind is a person from our old church in Arkansas.  I call her my "drum lady".  When I was in high school, I played drums for our adult orchestra on Sunday mornings.  There were many in the church that still thought drums shouldn't be a part of a worship service.  One deacon even went as far as telling me that "drums were from the devil."  While those people were extremely discouraging to a high schooler just trying to serve, I could always count on my "drum lady" to offer encouraging words.  She loved my playing and made sure to tell me almost every Sunday how much she appreciated me being in the orchestra.  Her son had played in bands and she loved seeing younger people involved in the worship services.  When I went away to college, I would still come back to our church in Arkansas from time to time.  Every time I was in town I made sure I found her (she always sat in the same pew =) to tell her how I was doing.  She would go on and on about how she missed me playing and usually offered me some money to go by a coke =).  My "drum lady", was a consistent encouragement to me week after week after week.  Her encouragement and her prayers for me made a huge impact in my life.  She was passing on the joy that God gave her and shared it with me and I am very grateful that she did.  Even though we were probably 60 years apart in age, we shared a special bond in Christ and were a regular encouragement to one another.

I pray for these types of connections at Edgewood.  We are blessed to be with a very diverse group of ages.  Let's make sure we're taking advantage of that blessing and constantly looking for ways to encourage one another and join as one to do what God's called us to do.

I recently read an article in Christianity Today about multi-generational churches.  It said that many times when churches brag that they are multi-generational it is a euphemism for "we are an aging church that wants to have more young people attending so that we don't die, but we don't want to change enough to actually attract any of them to come."

OUCH.  I pray that that is NOT the case at Edgewood.  I pray that we can continue to attract those of all ages, being willing to make changes to do so, and to truly join together to do what God's called us to do.