All Together Now

We are at a very odd time in our church history. In any given congregation on any given Sunday, we have 6 generations worshiping together. Think about it. Six generations saying the Lord's Prayer or Apostles' Creed together in one voice. What an amazing witness!

We have the GI Generation (those 85 and older) who grew up facing the Great Depression and World War 2. The Pioneer Generation (67-85) faced the Korean Conflict, the start of the Civil Rights movement, and the beginnings of Rock'n'Roll. Then comes our Baby Boomers (49-66) who were influenced by the time between Kennedy's assassination and Nixon's resignation - a time of counter-culture and the Vietnam War. Postmoderns or Gen Xers are next (31-48). We remember watching the Challenger disaster on TVs in school, the fall of the Berlin Wall, grunge music, and the Internet revolution. Millennials (13-30) were shaped by the Disney movies of the 90s, 9/11 and the Great Recession and the rise of social networking. And then our Digital generation - those under 12 now. Their generation will be defined and shaped in the next few years but we do know that they now spend on average 56 hours a week with media and are the most diverse generation in our country's history (almost 50% non-white). These ages aren't hard and fast rules, but are pretty good markers for looking at the make up of our country and our church. 

At Aldersgate, we are blessed in that those generations are encouraged to worship together. Though we have Children in Worship for some of our kids for certain parts of the school year, on the whole, our children, teenagers, middle adults, and older adults worship together.

But outside of worship, it's a little different. We have a tendency to split up into age groups for almost everything else. To be fair, that's not always a bad thing. We know that while some generations compliment each other well, other generations mix like oil and water. But while it's not always a bad thing, it IS a bad thing when it's always the case. Yes, it's messy to mix all 6 generations up in the same room! But well, we've already established that messy isn't necessarily a bad thing!

Messy Church is one place outside of worship were all generations are encouraged to be together, to explore faith together. Grandparents, parents with young kids, parents with teenagers, youth, and children all playing in the same room, at the same time, for the same purpose.

It's going to be messy - but boy is it going to be fun!