A person walks into the room and starts singing ‘Who’s the leader of the club that’s made for you and me’. Instantly some people start to sing along- “M.I.C.K.E.Y.M.O.U.S.E”. Others in the room give those who are singing strange looks. What is going on?
Another time and place and a song blares out. The movie ‘Priscilla, Queen of the desert’ has just been released. Many of the teenagers at school start singing along. So does their Scripture teacher- over 20 years their senior. The young people are amazed. “Gee miss- you know the words of this song. Your cool” says one young person. Little did they realise that the teacher had learnt the music from the first time around- when they were originally sung by ABBA!
Shared experience
The cohort we grow up in is the age group from approximately 5-10 years either side of our age- irrespective of our age. Our cohort is the general age group which shared many of our experiences of society, (with a special focus on music). For example- those who lived in the time of the landing on the moon, or who grew up with Countdown or Australian Idol or Big Brother- or those for whom September 11 had a significant impact. Some teenagers now have little recollection of life before ‘the war on terror’! We are very aware of the Baby Boomers, X generation and Y generation. There are key factors which are common to people born within a certain time frame in history, their cohort, which has been used to ‘label’ particular people or generations. Sometimes this can be helpful, but many more times- it excludes people who do not fit into the broad categories or key indicators of a particular generation. Even the use of ‘first or second generation’ can be exclusive and the term ‘1.5ers’ is not necessarily helpful either. What each of these terms does is indicate a particular characteristic of a group of people. This may have some similarities to other groups of people- but each group is distinctive in its own right.
Traditionally, the church has divided ministry and people into groups dependent upon their age group or life stage. This may have been helpful in the past and still is in some areas. However, the church is being challenged to rethink its theology of ministry to children and young people. For people can discover faith at any age and the nurturing of an individual’s faith and the expression of that faith is quite distinctive. How can we connect with people, nurture their faith and help them find authentic expressions of faith in worship, church involvement and especially in their ministry in the wider world?
Changing Experience
In the Uniting Church the Parramatta-Nepean Presbytery has significant ministry with people from a range of different ethnic backgrounds as well as children, youth and families. In 2005, 12 Youth workers and 13 Children/Family workers were employed within congregations. Now, many of the congregations have moved from employing ‘youth workers’ to ‘family and children and youth’ (in some combination). Some understand the ‘family’ aspect to be the families of the children and youth, whilst others are starting to look more at intergenerational ministry. Some are even beginning to see the importance of connecting people across ages focusing more on intentional ministry at times of transition, shared interests or relationships. There are some key lessons from the Presbytery which are helping to move the congregations (and the wider church) forward into what is potentially a very positive future.
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Download: Ministry across ages- more attitude than a generation gap? by Rev Christine Bayliss Kelly (pdf)
About The Author:
Rev Christine Bayliss Kelly is the Children, Youth and Family Ministry Worker for the Parramatta-Nepean Presbytery in Sydney. The Presbytery is the largest in the Uniting Church and provides ministry to over 74 congregations and faith communities.
She has been in leadership with children and young people for over 30 years, and has a passion for nurturing their faith. Her ministry has been in rural, urban and suburban settings, including some time with street ministry with youth in Scotland.
Christine spent 7 1⁄2 years in a team ministry where her focus was children and families. She has nearly completed her Masters of Ministry and is currently researching faith development and expression across 3 generations in families. Her husband Scott is a Deacon working in the Corrective Services. Their children are nearly 13, 11 and 7.
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