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Blog — Intergenerational faith formation

Over Chicken Nuggets and Ham Dinners I Learned the Faith

Posted by Liz Perraud at Aug 04, 2016

By Eric Peltz, Associate Pastor, Chevy Chase Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C. Westminster was never a big church, but it always played a big part in my life. When Enron moved my blue-collar dad to Chicago, my family found its new church family in these pews. Here is where I sang my first solo, read in public, served on a committee and, most importantly, built relationships with other generations. My best memories involved fellowship, either around the table at coffee hour or during LOGOS. At LOGOS dinners, newlyweds asked me about school, elderly women complimented me on my school musical performance,...

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Tags: Intergenerational faith formation, LOGOS, shared meals

Sense of Belonging through Intergenerational Worship

Posted by Liz Perraud at Mar 08, 2016

Blog post by Shirley Carlson, Board of Directors of GenOn Ministries Increasingly, churches are recognizing the benefit of including all ages in the ministries of their church, including worship. GenOn Ministries strongly encourages congregations to involve the generations together in ways that allow each generation to value and learn from each other. Intergenerational sharing has proven to be the most impactful way of stimulating faith development. I once was a member of a large church where the youth and the children’s programs were segregated. Not surprisingly, the adults in worship, who did not have children or youth, never saw these...

Generations Together: Nothing New?

Posted by Liz Perraud at Feb 01, 2016

I love (almost) nothing more than reading an article or a book about bringing the generations together. I couldn’t wait to see “The Intern” with Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway—a movie about generational issues in the workplace (great premise, kind of dumb delivery). My passion is connecting generations through the church but other settings are fascinating and interesting to me too. So with excitement I opened an email from Alban with the title “Churches Need to Improve their Generational IQ.” I was all ready to share the article on Facebook or tweet it and comment with “Yes!” or “Indeed!”...

Relationships: 5 Actions for Character Strength

Posted by Liz Perraud at Oct 13, 2015

In the span of the last 24 hours, I’ve heard or read two reports about the importance of relationships. The first came from Search Institute with research about how schools can help parents help their children be good students. Typically, the emphasis has been on “parental involvement"--meeting with their child’s teacher, attending school meetings and events, and volunteering. Has this been the wrong emphasis? While recognizing that these opportunities may be of value, what is of more value, says their research, is helping parents with something that most are more willing and able to do: influence the quality of their...

Distracted by love...

Posted by Liz Perraud at Oct 08, 2015

"When we move the children out of the sanctuary, it’s like worshipping blindfolded. It might be easier to concentrate, but it’s harder to be distracted by beauty, by joy, by wonder, by heart-wrenching sobs and by soul-tending love." A loud, resounding AMEN to Karen Ware Jackson's profound words! Read the entire article here which lifts up the importance of bringing together the generations for worship. And read lots of other articles here about the benefit of multiple generations gathering throughout the life of the faith community. GenOn Ministries has devoted over 50 years to teaching and equipping churches to develop...