Chapter 17: "Nurturing Children's Spirituality in Intergenerational Christian Settings" by Holly Catterton Allen. If you Google-search her name, you'll find more info than if I link it.
She says, "Something happened to me in the 1990's that forever changed the way I see children and the way I view Christian education...[M] y family became part of a small-groups-based church, and for the first time I was regularly with children in Christan intergenerational settings. The children had the opportunity to worship in small intimate settings with their parents and other adults, to hear their parents pray, and to see their parents minister to others in the group. The children themselves began to pray for one another, to minister to each another and even to adults. These experiances profoundly changed my understanding of children as well as my understanding of Christian education." (CS p. 266)
Her working definitions:
"spirituality" - "awareness of relationahisp with God." (CS p. 267)
"intergenerational" - "the socializing of two or more different age groups, interacting in learning, growing, and developing in the faith, through commmon experiences of fellowship, worship, sharing, and relationships" [Prest, 1993, p 15] (CS p. 267)
She notes, this "term ... is not typically used to describe the adult-as-teacher/children-as-learners model of education, nor a one-on-one mentoring relationship. " (CS p. 267)
She listed some intergenerational settings where different aged groups have opportunities to interact (CS p. 267-268):
1) Including children in worship service
2) Including children in special programs or services (baptism/baby dedications, all-church celebrations, parties...)
3) Intergenerational events where each generation helps with planning, prep, presentation. (Holiday presentations, musicals, drama...)
4) Family camps
5) Intergenerational Sunday school or Bible classes studying a topic for 4-6 weeks together.
6) Intergenerational small groups (children often spend the first half with mixed ages and second half with just children)
She listed some small group activities that include children (CS 268-269):
1) Icebreaker - a question that each person answers. The example given, "What are you afraid of?" or "What did you like most about [a holiday]"
2) Worship - Sometimes a child or a family chooses the songs or leads worship.
3) Lord's Supper - children partaking with adults with opportunities to share thoughts and feelings about what they were doing.
4) Prayer - shorter prayers when children are present. Prayers for families in transition. "It usually took about six months before a child was comfortable enough to be prayed for by the whole group."
5) Other small group activities - eating a meal or snack together, playing, serving someone together
She listed some benefits to children in these settings (CS p. 270):
1) Children gain an extended family
2) Visibility [and accessibility to] more role models and parenting models
3) Children are able to participate in the spiritual lives of their parents
4) Children learn spiritual disciplines by watching others and doing [or imitating. I think the implications of doing this as part of a larger family and a larger community engaged in the same practices may tie into personal and relational identity.]
Questions for you: [I'm intentionally not dividing "spiritual" from the rest of life here.] Can you think of any other times and places where adults and children can grow together? Can you think of other benefits that intergenerational activities might have for children? For adults? For the faith community? For the larger community?
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