Creating an Intergenerational Church

There is a growing realisation across the mainstream church that our recent practice in connecting with children, young people and families no longer works in the 21st century. Many churches and church leaders are searching for new ways to engage younger generations. The aim is to create an ‘intergenerational church’ and in practice this occurs when a congregation intentionally combines 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. Both authors are involved in the national work of the Church of Scotland and our thinking is integral to the new strategic work being done focussing on under 40s which has the vision of leading the CofS to being an intergenerational church. This book will be a fundamental building block of that work, enabling the wider church to grapple with the theology of intergenerational church, giving a firm foundation for the rest of the work to be built upon. They have both recently completed MA theses on the topic and have found the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer to offer significant theological insight. The authors’ hope for this book is that it will help call the church back to a more ancient way of being by establishing a theological rationale for rediscovering intergenerational community and setting out some practical steps towards that future.

Suzi Farrant is Young People and Young Adults Development Worker for the Church of Scotland and co-ordinates its National Youth Assembly.