Coming Back To Life

2010 was a tough year... maybe one of the toughest so far, and I have had some tough years. I never imagined how hard the renovations to the new building would be. Even now, I have searched for weeks to find the right words to describe things and just cannot find them - but I will try...

In January 2010 we negotiated the deal that would move New City Church and The 567 to a 12,000 square foot building in the heart of downtown. The building had been vacant for 12 years and would require a total renovation - gutting the interior completely and starting new with everything.

Neither New City nor The 567 had very much money, nor was it possible to borrow money for the project. This meant that I would largely act as the general contractor - being here everyday to line up contractors and oversee the work. It also meant that as much could be done by New City or 567 volunteers would have to be. This also made me chief laborer.

Work began in late January. For 5 months I tore down, cut out, put up, hauled off, pushed, pulled, and dragged - in by the end of June New City was able to hold services in the main venue of the new 567.

It then took us a couple of months to finish up minor details and settle in a bit... then we started upstairs.

Nothing was different financially - except that we now had less money! The upstairs of the new building houses a music studio, an art gallery and music venue, 8 offices, restrooms, and 5 large multi-use rooms... quite a bit more work than the main floor. We are mostly finished with the second floor and should have a full Certificate of Occupancy this week.

As general contractor and chief laborer as well as pastor, President of the 567, husband, and father I worked, perhaps sinfully in 2010. The vast majority of the year I worked 7 days a week, night and day, putting in more hours than I could possibly count.

I want to say that God has been incredibly good during this stretch - to me, my family, the church, and the 567. We have fought, as a family, for time and for sanity. The church has continued to grow in number and in influence in our city. The 567 is truly becoming a core part of the downtown community and a great catalyst for transformation.

I also want to say thanks - to Kevin Welsh who has worked about as many hours on the building as I have and who has sacrificed to see us get in. And thanks - to all of the volunteers that I haven't thanked enough for all of their incredible and free labor. And thanks - to all of the contractors who, for the advancement of the kingdom cut prices for us to see this through. Thanks to my family.

I should also apologize - and ask the forgiveness of a whole lot of people - when I am tired I am not the easiest guy to be around - I am sorry.

This year has hurt me more than I could possibly explain - physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually.

but

I feel like I am finally beginning - BEGINNING - to breathe again - to live again... I'm coming back to life.

The 567 is Seeking Your Art Donation

We are seeking donated artwork suitable for hanging on a permanent basis.

The 567 Center is moving from its current location to 533 Cherry Street. The new location will provide 12,000 square feet of multi-use space including ‘incubator offices’ for new business starts, a 300 seat music/events venue, a 100 seat music/events venue, and hundreds of square feet of wall space for art.

Our art walls will include space for monthly art shows as well as permanent display space. Our permanent walls are located in the glassed window displays on Cherry Street, the 567’s Lobby, stairway walls, as well as hallways. We are seeking donated artwork suitable for hanging on a permanent basis.

Any submitted work should be in keeping with the fact that the 567 is an all ages art and music venue which will host events for all ages. Submissions should be ready for hanging.

If you are interested in donating your art to the 567, please email Keith Watson, keith@newcitydowntown.org.

Seeing Youth Ministry Happen Without A Youth Group

It is far from a 'blossom' at this point, but maybe we are pushing through the dirt toward a blossom.

The discussion on ministering to our New City kids and reaching other kids in a model other than the Youth Group model continues to take place. A couple of days ago I sat with a New City family that I love very much to discuss leadership's vision for ministering to our older kids. The meeting was painful. This mom and dad had a great experience in a Youth Group ministry model and they cannot imagine that any other model could effectively reach and minister to kids. They are praying now as to whether or not they will stay at New City even though their children are years away from a youth group. I cannot imagine any pastor feeling good about a family like this one possibly leaving the body. It is discouraging.

Yet in the midst of that discouragement comes great encouragement! While i am working on this week's sermon, Amy and Ivey are at a horse show in which Ivey is competing. Amy called to give me an update just a few minutes ago. She also told me that Ivey had an audience today - Amanda (a recent college grad) who has become one of Ivey's friends came to support her. Amanda and Ivey text, face book, talk - and sometimes Amanda comes to hang out with Ivey. Megan, Ivey's MC (missional community) leader also came to the show, bringing with her Jenna (a middle schooler) also now in Megan's MC with Ivey.

A couple of weeks ago, following an MC meeting almost the whole MC group drove over to the baseball park to watch the last half of Robby's game. They stayed until the last out of the extra-innings game even though Robby had been pulled out of the game in order for some of the younger guys to get playing time. Every one of them (I think) stuck around until the coaches were done talking to the players so that they could speak to Robby.

Is this the totality of our vision for ministering to our students? Far from it. But it is a great start... A New City Community ministering to, supporting, and loving the kids that God has brought their way and reaching out to others who are not really connected to the community.

New Space in the News

Church revives downtown landmark
By CHRIS HORNE - chorne@macon.com
Photo by Beau Cabell

For the first time in its history, the old building at 533 Cherry St. is about to be the home of something besides R.S. Thorpe & Sons, a men’s clothier that set up shop there in 1929.

In mid-June, it’s set to reopen as the 567 Center for Renewal, a multipurpose facility catering to local music, the arts and entrepreneurship. The center will be operated by New City Church.

”I think it’s really important for Cherry Street for New City Church to buy and renovate such an historic building,” said Mike Ford, president of NewTown Macon, an organization that works for the revitalization of downtown Macon.

Thorpe’s, as the clothier was better known around town, was established in Macon in 1908. For nearly 85 years, men all over Middle Georgia bought their suits at Thorpe’s, a mainstay of downtown retail. R.S. Thorpe even operated another branch in Lexington, Ky.

All told, the business survived the Great Depression, the physical collapse of its original location and even a fire in 1939, but it couldn’t survive the sprawl that swept shoppers out into suburbs, turning the city’s urban core into a virtual ghost town.

In 1992, Thorpe’s closed.

For the next 17 years, the building remained vacant, gathering cobwebs and dust. The facade deteriorated, and the rusty iron frame of the former awning became another downtown eyesore.

But better days were ahead.

Out with the old

The first step back to life for the Thorpe building came when the Facade Squad, a local nonprofit dedicated to improving deteriorated facades, used a $15,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Central Georgia to repair the building’s front.

Keith Watson, pastor of the New City Church, said the first time he was able to take a good look at the building was when the Facade Squad was making repairs.

Ultimately, that trip inside led Watson and his congregation to where they are now, writing the opening lines of a new chapter for the building.

While the church, which currently meets at the Cox Capitol Theatre on Sundays, will gather at the 567 Center for worship services, Watson says the center will operate as a separate entity. It will focus on arts and culture for the entire city, especially downtown.

Historic Macon Executive Director Josh Rogers, who serves on the board of the Facade Squad and worked on the Thorpe building’s facade renovation, said he’s happy to see the 567 Center move in.

“We never imagined, in our wildest dreams, (the renovated facade) would bring in such a big investment,” he said. “We just hoped it’d look better.”

Facade Squad Director Shae Hinson said he thinks the 567 Center will have a catalytic impact on both historic preservation downtown and cultural activity.

“What we did is very little compared to what is going to be going on downtown,” he said.

A fresh start

The 567 Center for Renewal is named after the little storefront at 567 Cherry St. where Watson transformed his office into the 567 Cafe.

At the cafe, spoken word poetry and singer-songwriter nights merged seamlessly in the small venue with art openings, rock shows and hip-hop concerts — nary a Bible in sight — to form an early version of the sort of arts and cultural events they want to do in the center.

The 567 Center is a bigger, more-thought-out update of the 567 Cafe vision, which is to reach out to the creative culture that has formed around downtown without beating people over the head with the tenets of the church’s faith.

“We believe God is a creative God, and he created humanity in his image so humanity is also creative,” Watson said. “What are some of the most beautiful things about life on Earth? I think it’s the arts.”

When he looks back through the story of Jesus, Watson said the people Jesus “beat up on were the Pharisees and the hypocrites. The rest of the world he just hung out with and got along with.” So the open-armed welcome New City gives to Macon’s creative community is, Watson said, an effort to be more like Jesus.

As such, the 567 Center — about 11,000 square feet spread out over two stories — will have a venue for live music downstairs that seats 300 and a recording studio upstairs. In time, it will have the ability to video live shows. Watson said he plans the venue to have the ability to record audio from a live show and burn it immediately to a CD as a post-concert souvenir.

The center also will do its part to help another group of creative people grow downtown: small-business owners.

Watson said the center is being outfitted for a “business incubator,” a group of affordable office spaces with shared access to Internet, phone lines, a copier, fax machine and a conference room, all intended to help entrepreneurs get started without breaking their bank.

A downtown hub

As a little girl, Wimberly Treadwell spent every Christmas working the gift-wrapping station at Thorpe’s. Her great-grandfather was R.S. Thorpe, so working there was a family affair.

It had its perks, too. Every year as the Christmas parade packed the streets of downtown, Treadwell said she had the perfect seat, looking out over Cherry Street from the second floor.

Now that she’s an architect responsible for the CityScapes program, which has cleaned up downtown’s alleys and dressed up its sidewalks, Treadwell has watched the slow decline of the Thorpe building.

“It was so troubling to just see it sitting there empty,” Treadwell said. “It was such a hub downtown for so long.”

Seeing new life breathed into the building, Treadwell said she couldn’t be more excited.

“(Watson’s) so great for downtown,” she said. “I think the 567 Center is a great idea.”

Sean Pritchard is a local music promoter who has put together about 25 shows at the 567 Cafe, most recently in conjunction with The Blue Indian, the Macon-based indie music blog.

Initially concerned about working with a venue connected with a church, Pritchard said he’s been pleasantly surprised by Watson’s openness to art and music. That openness has created the opportunity for new connections among Macon’s artists.

“They just don’t want an empty building sitting there on a Friday night,” Pritchard said.

“The best part about working with (Watson) and the 567 is they know a lot of people, and those people are interested in working together. A lot of informal networking has been happening.”

Working with the blog’s founder, Luke Goddard, Pritchard has brought a national indie music sensation, Washed Out, to the cozy confines of the cafe, drawing fans from Athens, Atlanta and Savannah.

With the bigger space and improved sound system, Pritchard thinks he’ll be able to put on better shows with larger crowds. That, he said, will have a trickle-down effect on downtown businesses.

“(The crowds) are going to want to go somewhere to eat, and they’re going to want somewhere to shop,” he said.

Goddard agrees, seeing it as a perfect fit for the creative and the business sides of downtown.

“For the music side of Macon, I think it’s going to be huge,” he said.

For Watson, the doors can’t open soon enough.

“We’re in a city we really love and care about, and being in this building keeps us in the middle of the arts and entertainment district where new business is coming in,” he said. “This helps us be a part of seeing all that continue.”

Information from Telegraph archives was used in this report. To contact writer Chris Horne, call 744-4494.
Read more: http://www.macon.com/2010/05/15/1128947/church-revives-downtown-landmark.html#ixzz0nznO38Vz

A Culture of Youth Groups and A Church Without One - Part 8 - "Orphaned" Kids

Some of the most common questions I receive about not having a Youth Group are centered on youth/students who attend church without their parents. Some of the questions are:
How will we reach these kids?
How will we minister to them?
If all ministry is “family ministry” won’t these kids feel awkward and out of place?

Let’s start with the first question - How will we reach these kids?
HOW?
For the most part, kids reach kids. It is extremely rare that a parent randomly picks a church and then drops their children off at that church with NO relational connections to the church. In fact, I have never seen or heard of this (though I am pretty sure it happens – rarely). Kids go to church with their friends or a friend’s family. This means that in the vast majority of instances when a child whose parents do not attend a church attends church, he does so at the invitation of another student and usually with that student. NCCd expects to reach students in the same way – through existing and new relationships which are primarily student to student.
With What?
I addressed a key philosophy for NCCd Part 6 of this series, number 3 – little “a” attractional, BIG “M” Missional. As a church we major on being missional in that we press our people to live like missionaries. This isn’t just an adult philosophy, but a church philosophy. We believe that Christian children are a part of the body of Christ (the church) and that they, like mom and dad, are called to live out the Great Commission of Matthew 28. We believe that they too are a part of the priesthood of believers who are called to proclaim the excellencies of Him called them (us) out of darkness and into His marvelous light. The mission that adults and children are tasked with – make disciples and teach them.
This is very different from the Big A – Attractional church where events are planned that youth and students can invite other youth to where a specialized “Priest” (youth minister) does the work of ministry by sharing the gospel somewhere in the midst of fun activities. The Youth Minister fulfills the Great Commission by making disciples and teaching them. The Youth Group’s responsibility is to have fun and invite their friends.

SO – while we do things that are fun for our kids – 2nd Sunday Brunch, 4th Sunday Fun, MC 3rd week events – and that other kids can be invited to, what we really hope to see are missional kids and missional families who relationally make disciples of other students and teach them through life together.

How will we minister to them?
Hopefully you read the response to the first question above! If so, you can see that ministry to “orphaned kids” is done primarily through families. This is most natural because the orphaned child likely already has a relationship with the family through a child. Outside of the family, is the Missional Community. The community as a whole reaches out, helps out, and “adopts the “orphaned child.” In community the child is loved, cared for, poured into, led, built up, encouraged…
Let me give you a non-church picture of this. Last Fall I helped a friend, Brad coach Robby’s football team. A parent had met a family – single mother, African-American, very impoverished, several children. One of the children wanted to play football. The White parent took the impoverished child to try outs and paid for him to play. She communicated to the coaches that they would need help with the child. Brad picked this kid to be on our team. Then Brad “adopted” him for the season. Brad, or me, picked him up for every practice and game and took him home. After every practice Brad and his son went to a local restaurant with another coach and his son. The “adopted” child went with them. Brad fed him, included him – he became a part of the family. Several times Brad picked him up and brought him home to play with his own son. I think he may have even spent the night with Brad’s family a time or two. Here’s what the “adopted” child saw - he saw a whole, healthy family with a mom, dad, and children who lived together and loved one another; he saw discipline and order; he saw unconditional love.
What if we did that? As a church. What if we “adopted” those “orphaned” youth and rather than SENDING them once a week to youth group, we included them in our lives – where they saw healthy families, saw healthy relationships with other families, saw and heard the Gospel working in a family and in a community?
This isn’t IDEALISTIC – I have seen it happen. I have seen the changes that it brings to the life of a child. I heard the hope for future that was stirred in an impoverished child without a dad around.

If all ministry is “family ministry” won’t these kids feel awkward and out of place?
NO. Not if we follow the model that I described above. Not if we truly love children. AND not if we recognize what is really going on around us:
On Sundays my kids often sit with other kids in their age group rather than sitting with Amy and me.
At events, my kids play/hang out with other kids – sometimes that includes Amy and me, sometimes not (while we are there together, Robby throws the ball, skates, swims… with his friends).

I (WE) love youth/students – I have 2 children who are youth aged. I love them and want what is best for them. The bottom line is that we believe this model of ministry to be most biblical, more effective and better for youth/students than the Youth Group model. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be pursuing it.

A Culture of Youth Groups and A Church Without One - Part 7 - What Then?

So if you don't have a Youth Group - what then?

What do you do to minister to young people?

Lets start with the elements of a youth group ministry - what are the things that most people are looking for in a youth group?

1) friends/peers

2) teaching on the Christian life

3) fun (nights and events)

4) trips (youth camp, mission trips, six flags...)

5) worship

Am I missing anything?

First a simple question - MUST we have a youth group in order to have all of the above for students?

At New City we see ourselves as a church of house churches that gather together on Sundays for worship and celebration. For us that means that the majority of church life happens in our "house churches" which we call Missional Communities. These communities should be made up of a diverse group of people - various ages, stages of life, socio-economic positions, and even races. This community is the BEST place for the body to enjoy and participate in all of Scripture's "one anothers" - be at peace with one another, love one another, serve one another, be devoted to one another, build one another up... Though we don't do it all that well YET, our MCs will be diverse and will include youth/students. So is it possible that a few families with children of similar ages could get together as a part of one of our MCs? You know, so that young people/youth/students had time together with their peers/friends during the week when the MC met? And could the MC plan something that those students would enjoy for the 3rd week's 'get out of the house' night - you know something fun? And - when the MC is discussing the sermon from the past week and helping the community apply the gospel to life as they learn to walk the Christian Life, could students not be included by asking specific age related questions? Then - sometimes - depending on the subject matter - maybe the younger crew could be separated from the older and have some direct and intentional youth/student teaching - could that be possible?

And that is just in the MC

Add to MC life some other activities and events - like:

Second Sunday brunch - following our Sunday gathering for worship and celebration we head to Washington Park where we listen to music, have a picnic lunch and hang out with friends. The little kids love running around the park and playing in the water. The bigger kids and adults get to talk with friends/peers and enjoy the day.

Fourth Weekend Fun events - these are new - so far we have had 2. The first was skating! Oh yeah - old school roller skating! The kids loved it - the adults loved it. More fun with friends and peers. This past Sunday we went to the Amerson Water Park. The littlest played on the play ground with mom, dad, and their pee wee friends. Bigger kids (of all ages) threw the Frisbee, the football, baseball, and hiked - some to the pond, others to the River. This was yet another opportunity for students/youth to hang out with friends, have fun, and still be a part of the community of New City.

Yeah - but what about Mission Trips, Youth Camps... Several years ago we started a partnership with missionaries in Mexico. They were border missionaries so we stayed in Texas and crossed the border each day. It was an awesome partnership - one that extended to another church, and another church! When we went that first year our whole family went - in fact several families went. Our kids interacted with the Spanish speaking Mexican kids, they worked with us during the day, and in the evening they helped and participated in VBS in Mexico. It was great for all of us... and we did it as a community, a family - and not as a youth group. YES - it is possible.

It is also possible for MCs to take off to Six Flags, or for our Fourth Weekend Fun be a trip to White Water.

AND - there are always PARENTS! Parents could call up friends of their kids and take them all bowling - or swimming - or whatever. Kids could hang with kids - go to a concert, the mall, riding horses, and whatever else their kid finds fun with their friends! Take 4 in your car and have your friend take 4 in their car... and we still don't HAVE TO HAVE a youth group!

SO - without a youth group our students/youth get

1) friends/peers

2) teaching on the Christian life

3) fun (nights and events)

4) trips (youth camp, mission trips, six flags...)

5) worship

In addition they learn from others in an intergenerational environment that many studies show is better than segregated learning. They learn life from all ages. They see the struggles and victories of families, of single adults, of rich people, and poor people - people of all ages. They also get to be a part of the community that is the church. In that community they enjoy and practice the "one anothers" and they have an opportunity to serve and be served in the whole body - not as a church within a church that consists almost exclusively of other students. They have an opportunity to discover their own spiritual gifts and to use them for the good of the body.

Am I missing anything? Did I leave anything out?

I recognize that this is different - but different can be better.

I also realize that we are not there yet. But maybe this series of posts is the start.

** My next post will be on Orphaned Kids - What about those kids whose parents don't participate in church?

A Culture of Youth Groups and A Church Without One - Part 6 - Foundational Philosophies

Every solid building has a solid foundation. The foundation is the underlying base and support on which the building stands. The foundation also serves to tie all of the parts of the building safely together - strengthening the whole. Without a foundation walls and supports move and over time a building crumbles and falls apart. Jesus said that a wise man builds his house on a foundation of rock - it is strong and a building on it is not easily shaken. A foolish man builds on a shifting foundation like sand, because when the stream beats against that house, the foundation washes away and the house is destroyed.

The ultimate foundation for the church is the Gospel of Jesus Christ - but that is not the foundation I am referring to in this post. I referring to the foundational philosophies of ministry for nccd - the underlying base principles on which our ministries (and methods) are built. Let me share a few key foundational philosophies:

1) Parents are the primary teachers of children. Most of you reading this likely agree with this principle which is a clear teaching in Scripture. Because we believe this to be true, nccd will not take on the parents' responsibility to teach their children. Instead we will support parents in teaching their children and we will strive to equip parents to teach their children.

2) Community serves as the basis for making and maturing disciples. We were created for community. Community provides strengths for our weaknesses. In community our strength serves the weaknesses of others. Jesus gathered his disciples into community; he taught them in community; and he sent them out as a community. The New Testament epistles seem to show that the first churches followed the model established by Jesus - they too gathered into community, learned in community, went out (and served) as a community. We see community as a major means of extending the gospel to our city, of gathering believers and not-yet believers together, and as the primary place for discipleship. Therefore, rather than providing a list of events and programs for our people to choose from, we schedule little and push hard for people to be involved in a small community of people at new city known as a Missional Community.

3) We are BIG "M" missional and little "a" attractional. That is, we major on our people understanding that they are called to be missionaries, and equipping them as missionaries to live the life of a missionary - a life of making disciples and teaching those disciples (The Great Commission). We DO believe that people should be attracted to us as we look more and more like Jesus, but we don't focus on being the biggest/best/most fun/entertaining church that attracts people with a BIG A Attraction. (more on that here and here and here)

Since youth/students are a part of the church then these philosophies form the foundation youth/student ministry just as they do for adult ministry...

* If we want the next generation to be missional, then we must train them to be missional and the way to do that is (in part) by NOT doing BIG A Attractional youth ministry. Leading adults who grew up as attracted consumers to be a missional community is a tough! Wouldn't it be foolish to perpetuate this difficulty by raising up attracted consumer students that would one day need to be taught about missional living?

* If we want the next generation to be contributing members to the community now and in the future - shouldn't we make sure they are a part of the community now? And if community is the best place and the biblical model for advancing the gospel (making disciples) and for teaching disciples then why would we want our children/youth/students NOT in community?

Clearly there are other philosophies. The purpose of this post is not to say that there is only one way to do youth ministry or to say all other ways are bad. The purpose is to help you understand the foundational philosophies that lead us to do the things that we do - and don't do.

My next post will be on our vision for just what this ministry could look like.

A Culture of Youth Groups and A Church Without One - Part 5 - Oxymoron or the Future?

The following article by Christine Ross can be found at youthsource.com:

Intergenerational Youth Ministry: An oxymoron or the future?
Christine Ross
One generation shall commend your works to another and set forth Your mighty deeds. Psalm 145:4

Research of 400 youth group graduates' faith journeys being conducted by Kara Powell, executive director of the Fuller Youth Institute at Fuller Theological Seminary, indicates that "youth involved in intergenerational relationships in church are showing promise for stronger faith in high school and beyond" (p. 43, 2009). According to Powell, intergenerational youth ministry is not an oxymoron; rather, it is the future of youth ministry.

This article will consider key reasons why recent youth ministry practices focus upon separating the generations, key reasons for bringing the generations together, and how to introduce an intergenerational philosophy into your congregation.


Why Separate Age-Groups?
Several factors contribute to the age separation prevalent today when Christians gather for Christian education, fellowship, service, or worship.

Kara Powell attributes the rise of segregating youth from other generations to the success of the para-church organizations in the mid 20th century. Congregations observed the success that groups like Young Life or InterVarsity had in attracting youth and followed their youth focused model of discipleship (2009).

Australian Christian educator Allen Harkness (1998) believes that modernist and post-modernist trends have facilitated individualistic and person-centered Christian education rather than Christian education which focuses upon integrating the faithful into the greater community of believers.

The baby boom of the 1950's and the tumultuous 1960's drew attention to the differing values of youth and adults. The "generation gap" became an accepted way of life, and society responded to the gap by separating the generations in order to reduce conflict created by differing life-styles and beliefs.

Educational theories certainly play a role in separating the generations. Public and private school educators as well as those trained to be congregational Christian educators are well versed in Jean Piaget's cognitive development theory which provided the foundation for Lawrence Kohlberg's moral development and James Fowler's faith development theories. Each of these theories is based on the premises that humans develop in stages generally related to the cognitive abilities possible for their age, and that persons will best develop in settings that focus on the needs of their age or stage. During the 1970's and 1980's these theories were widely practiced, and age-separation in the public and private sphere increased in order to better serve each persons at each stage.

Church growth theory may be another contributing factor to age-separation. Donald McGavran, Win Arn, C. Peter Wagner, and others espoused the idea that evangelism to homogeneous people groups, or people with similar cultural or life-style characteristics, provides fewer obstacles to acceptance of the Gospel. Thus, church plants focusing on young adults or upper-income Koreans are both examples of this principal. Multi-generational or multi-ethnic congregations are examples of the more difficult heterogeneous outreach method.

Why Integrate Generations?
Two-thirds of the pastors, Christian educators, youth ministers, and lay leaders I interviewed for my dissertation (Ross, 2006) believed that the generations have a lot to offer one another. Bringing the generations together melds energy and wisdom, provides more opportunities to share spiritual gifts, makes life more meaningful and purposeful, and enhances spiritual growth for all involved.

Dr. Holly Allen, Professor of Christian Ministries and Director of the Child & Family Studies Program at John Brown University, compared children who attended churches where they participated in an intergenerational small group and worshiped with their parents in an intergenerational worship setting with children who attended Sunday school, children's church, and some type of other mid-week gathering, but did not participate in any intergenerational setting. The comparison revealed that children involved in intergenerational settings had a wider faith-vocabulary than did children from non-intergenerational settings. The most significant differences were that children from intergenerational settings referred to prayer more often and described God in more personal terms than did the non-intergenerational children (Allen, 2002). Intergenerational relationships certainly seemed to enhance the spiritual development of the children in the study.

Certainly, Piaget's and others' cognitive development theories enhanced the learning experiences for countless children, youth, and adults. However, educators often neglect to balance their age specific educational methods with practices that allow people of different stages to interact, which even Piaget believed was needed to enable an individual's developmental advancement. And, in emphasizing cognitive development theories we often ignore social learning theories like those of Lev Vygotsky, which challenged Piaget's theory that learning had to develop in successive stages. Vygotsky observed that higher mental functions developed through social interactions with significant people in a child's life, particularly parents. Vygotsky would say that persons learn to be members of their community as they actively participate in that particular social community, learning alongside those who are further ahead in the journey (Allen, 2002).

The apprentice model of learning a trade by first watching an expert, then attempting the work under the guidance of the expert, and having so understood/internalized the work that they are able to do it themselves in their own way is a present day example of Vygotsky theory in action. Allen (2002) suggests that Vygotsky's socio-cultural learning theory better aligns with Christian faith formation than cognitive development theories. If novice electrical journeymen, doctors, and DCE students learn best by fully practicing alongside experienced mentors, then perhaps Christian faith-formation occurs best when younger Christians interact with practicing Christians further along on the journey. The apostle Paul certainly modeled such an approach with his child-in-the-Lord, Timothy (Acts 16:1-3; I Corinthians 4:17; 2 Timothy 1:5-7 etc.).

Another recurrent reason for providing intergenerational interaction is its Scriptural basis. Old Testament Israelincorporated children into community life (Deut. 6:7; 12:7; Joel 2:15) and the New Testament church followed the multigenerational practices. Parents bringing children to Jesus (Luke 18:15-17); Lydia and the jailor being baptized along with their households (Acts 16:15, 33); the youth, Eutychus, who fell out of a window while listening to Paul preach late into the night (Acts 20:7-12); and Luke's report of children praying for Paul's voyage together with adults (Acts 21:5-6) all indicate that children were taught to practice the faith within the day-to-day activities of the faith community. Intergenerational ministry leaders believe that theological themes such as "the family of God," "the body of Christ," and "the community of believers" (Romans 8:14-17; Romans 12:4-6) are best taught and fully practiced when all generations of the faith-community gather together.

People really do enjoy intergenerational activities! Written and verbal evaluations by the members of an intergenerational mission trip included the following comments:

"Our family learned to pray aloud together" (40ish Dad).

"I learned about the interests of the children in studying the scriptures and also the wealth of knowledge of the older generation. I think this was helpful in understanding how persons of other generations have a lot to contribute" (high school girl).

"It encourages a greater unity amongst church members" (70ish male).

"Now I look forward to going to church because maybe I'll see the other team members and get to talk to them" (junior high school girl).

"I remember thinking 'I wonder how this is going to work; how well we'd mix.' I remember a few of the meetings at first were a little tough between all of us because we all wanted to be leaders. Now I feel like I have the adults' respect because they've seen me work on the same level as them" (high school boy).

Every team member indicated that they would attend future intergenerational service opportunities, and other intergenerational activities offered by their church.

How to Introduce Intergenerational Faith Formation
Remember the fable of the tortoise and the hare? When introducing intergenerational to your youth and greater congregation, follow after the tortoise be slow and steady!
First, read and talk about intergenerational ministry until you are convinced it is a viable model of faith-formation for the 21st century. If you are not excited about its potential to enhance your ministry, don't do it. Although you do need to start out slowly, "half hearted dabbling" will only convince you that it's impossible for youth and adults to bridge the generation gap.

I define intergenerational ministry as intentionally combining the generations together in mutual serving, sharing, and/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.

What this means for practicing intergenerational ministry is that you will not introduce a new activity to your youth/congregation, but choose a common youth activity and adapt it to include church members of other generations. For example, do you already plan several youth servant activities during the year? Choose one event this year and invite fifth graders through adults to participate. If you pray in small groups beforehand, intentionallycreate intergenerational small groups to pray together. If the group will divide up to complete the service tasks,ensure that there are at least two generations within each small group. De-brief afterwards in groups of more than two generations asking each person to share what they learned, how they experienced God, and one thing they learned from or about someone of another age from serving together.

Do you typically have a "youth-led service" every fifth Sunday of the month? Once this year plan an intentionallyintergenerational service instead. Form a planning team that includes members of each generation (I've had mature 7 year olds on planning teams), with a parent of infants/nursery school aged children representing the youngest members of the faith family. The team will plan the worship together working to ensure that there will be something that members of every generation will be able to participate in and enjoy. Be sure to evaluate afterwards in preparation for making the next intergenerational worship an even more enjoyable opportunity for the various generations that make up the family of God.

Conclusion

When Leadership Journal (Powell, 2009) asked youth ministry leader Dr. Kara Powell the question, "Is the era of age-segmentation over?" she unequivocally answered "yes." To learn more about Kara and other Christian educators' experiences with intergenerational ministry and to glean ideas regarding how to integrate intergenerational faith formation into your youth ministry peruse a few of the recent writings noted below.


Allen, H.C. (2002). A qualitative study exploring the similarities and differences of the spirituality of children inintergenerational and non-intergenerational Christian contexts. Ann Arbor, MI: Proquest Information and Learning Company. (UMI No. 3049645).

Bolinder, G. & White, J.E. (1999). Two pastors in a demographic debate: Should the Church target generations? Leadership Journal, XX, 104. Retrieved June 4, 2007 from http://www.ctlibrary.com/le/1999/spring/9l2104.html

Glassford, D. (2008). Fostering an intergenerational culture. In. H. Vanderwell (Ed.), The church of all ages: Generations worshiping together. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute.

Issues in Christian Education. Ministry Among the Generations. vol. 41, no. 2. Seward: NE.

Harkness, A. G. (2000). Intergenerational and homogeneous-age education: mutually exclusive strategies for faith communities? Religious Education, 95, 51-63.

Powell, K. (2009, Summer). Is the era of age segregation over? An interview with Kara Powell. Leadership 30 (3), 43-48.

Martineau, M., Weber, J., & Kehrwald, L. (2008). Intergenerational Faith Formation: All Ages Learning Together.New London, CT: Twenty-Third Publications.

Meyers, P. (2006). Live, Learn, Pass It On!The Practical Benefits of Generations Growing Together in Faith. Nashville: Discipleship Resources.

Menconi, P. (2008). The Intergenerational Church: Understanding Congregations from WWII to www.com. Littleton,CO: Mt. Sage Publishing.

Rendle, G. (2002). The multigenerational congregation: Meeting the leadership challenge. Bethesda, MD: The Alban Institute.

Ross, C.M. (2006). A qualitative study exploring churches committed to intergenerational ministry. Ann Arbor, MI: Proquest Information and Learning Company. (UMI Number: 3237443).

Vanderwell, H. (Ed.). (2008). The Church of All Ages: Generations Worshiping Together. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute.

Strauss, W. & Howe, N. (1991). Generations: The history of Americas future, 1584 to 2069. New York: Quill, William Morrow Publisher.

A Culture of Youth Groups and A Church Without One - Part 4 - Why Do They Go?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it... but if it is - FIX IT!

Albert Einstein once said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

By far, the most widely followed model for reaching youth/students and training them in the Christian faith is the model of a Youth Ministry, or Youth Group. Most church youth groups have a leader - the Youth Minister who is most often a paid staff member of the church. The Youth Minister recruits parents who help with teaching Sunday School classes for youth and putting on youth events. Youth ministry is a combination of fun events, fun trips, teaching, and service projects a couple of times a year. Most of these models are ATTRACTIONAL in that events and fun trips serve as the primary means to woo in the students. Successfully wooed, students are told about Jesus and taught about the Christian life either from the Youth Pastor in a lecture or monologue, or by a teacher in a small group setting with age related peers. Youth ministries serve up a constant mix of fun and exciting events with dash and splash of teaching.

So how is it working? We can't base our opinion solely on our individual personal experience when it comes to Youth Groups because not everyone has shared that experience - some have had GREAT experiences, while others had horrible experiences. So we turn to research...

LifeWay Research reported that 70% of 23-30 year olds who had attended church regularly, stopped attending church regularly between the ages of 18 and 22. OUCH! That means that only 30% of our young people stuck with the body of Christ after high school. A 30% retention rate is MISERABLE. Would you send your children to a school with a 70% drop out rate? That is largely what the current model of church youth ministry has produced - a 70% drop out rate. Over an 18 month period, the Youth Transition Network held open forum discussions with over 500 high school students from across the country and interviewed 140 college students about their transition from high school to college. Here is a snippet of what they found:

The story that has emerged from these sessions, which has been confirmed by taped follow-up interviews, has a similar pattern. It goes like this:

“We entered the youth group with a moderate faith. We enjoyed the program and the leader and found it fun to be involved in our youth group. Yet the messages we heard were primarily focused on sin avoidance, which we perceive as sin intolerance, leaving little room for failure.”

“Then we discovered that the subculture among the upperclassmen was unhealthy and alluring. The obvious hypocrisy of seeing the upperclassmen singing and going on mission trips and, yet, leading this hidden life was disillusioning.” (In the sessions they define this as an intentionally deceptive dual life, one that youth leaders and parents often have no idea is occurring, according to the students.) “Eventually we gave in to the subculture, resulting in guilt and a sense of being unacceptable to God.”

In these sessions high school students consistently said that they cannot share their failure with parents or youth leaders. Parents will punish them and they have seen such information leak into their youth ministries, resulting in significant social ramifications for students within the church.

Once participating in the subculture in their youth ministry, they find it hard to escape because it keeps pulling them down. They helplessly try to extract themselves from the situation by themselves, while being told they should be able to avoid sin. The level of defeat that results, leads many we have encountered to say that, they “never feel successful in their faith”. In our sessions we have asked the students to estimate the percentage of students from their own youth group that are leading this intentionally deceptive dual life. At Urbana, a national mission conference, high school seniors started their estimates at 75% and ranged to 95% as they reflected upon the students in their youth groups!

For the full article click HERE.

I admittedly do NOT have all of the answers, nor do I pretend to be an expert on youth ministry. I don't know it ALL - but I do know this when it comes to youth groups. It is broke. It needs to be fixed - not band aided, not dressed up, not called something different - it needs a complete over haul. We need to be honest about the failure of most youth ministries. We need to open our eyes to the ineffectiveness of a model that produces a 70% drop out rate. And we need to RE-THINK reaching and shaping young people as members of the body of Christ.

A Culture of Youth Groups and A Church Without One - Part 3 - Who Is The Church?

This is the third post in a series of posts related to Youth Groups (or the lack thereof) and New City Church. In the first post I attempted to demonstrate the fallacy of the notion that students need more time with their peers. In the second post I wanted to show that studies show there are numerous benefits to intergenerational learning and in the context of community intergenerational learning may actually be superior to peer group learning. In this post I want to pose the question: Who is the Church?

At what point does a believer become a member of the local body? I don't mean here member in the technical sense of "membership" or "partnership", but rather at what point does one become a part of the body. Are believing youth/students a part of the body of the church?

OR - Is there an age at which believing students become a part of the body?

Most people define the Church in two ways - the VISIBLE Church which is made up of all professing believers - those who say they are followers of Christ and are seen in their various assemblies (local bodies). The INVISIBLE church is made up of those who are truly believers. Jesus taught that there would be tares mixed with the wheat (unbelievers with believers) until judgment, when He will separate the two. In both, make up is determined by belief - either professing belief or true, genuine belief. If we apply that definition to New City Church, then we would say that NCCd is made up of believers... all believers... believers of all ages.

Youth Groups typically segregate congregations. There is the Youth Group and the adults. The Youth Group learns with the Youth Group, participates in fun activities with the Youth Group, takes mission trips with the Youth Group, hangs out with The Youth Group, travels with the Youth Group, and on and on and on.

If a group of believers is segregated from the rest of the body that is the church, both the group and the body suffer. In I Corinthians 12, Paul writes about spiritual gifts and explains that every member of the body is given a spiritual gift - (7) Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. Notice that last phrase - the gift, which is the manifestation of the Spirit's presence in a believers life is given for what? for the common good of the body. In Ephesians 4 Paul again talks about the functioning of the local body of believers where he writes, From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. Every member in the body does its work and together the members build up the body in love.

Are youth/students members of the body or not?

If so, how or where do they contribute to the good of the whole body by being segregated into a youth group? Some may respond by saying that they use their gift for serving and building up the youth group, which in turn is good for the whole body. The problem with that is that segregation in the body really creates a church within a church. They may in fact work for the good of the youth group, but that is not the same as the common good of the whole body.

So, how and where can youth/students serve the New City Body as they are incorporated into the body? At least a couple of our youth/students play fairly regularly in our bands, some are aids to those teaching the younger kids on Sunday mornings, some help with set-up and tear-down every week, some help serve at the donut and coffee bar, some have helped watch the littlest ones during MC gatherings, a few have attended and participated in MC discussions and even more are regulars at MC fun nights, one of our young guys often helps with sound and has run our Sunday morning sound by himself more than once (and does a great job). Our MCs also are to have quarterly service projects throughout the city - those projects are to be set up so that nccders of all ages can serve the city. In short, at New City, we are structured through MCs so that youth/students can serve the body (the entire body), for the common good of the body anywhere they are gifted and able. Because we do not segregate the youth/students from the rest of the body, they can be genuine contributors to the whole body.

We believe that there will be other benefits as well. Such as:

Young people will see and learn life from parents and other adults

Young people will develop gospel-centered relationships with adults (young and old) that they can utilize for all areas of life (school, future employment, marriage, family...) for as long as they live,

Young people will grow up serving and contributing to the body

Because young people are a part of the whole body, they will be less likely to feel "lost" when they graduate from student ministry and therefore are more likely to continue as a part of the body as opposed to disappearing from church life until having children of his/her own (as an estimated 80-90% do)