How to Bring Generations Together in Your Church

Intergenerate Australia & New Zealand is a working group that aims to close the divide between different generations.

“The steps toward inter-generational ministry is not always clear,” says Rev Michael Stalley of Intergenerate Australia & New Zealand.

“We set about helping leaders in ministry to think about the steps they might take towards intergenerational faith formation and ministry in their church.”

The idea of intergenerational ministry has been around for some time now, and Michael told Sunday Celebration host Alex Milne that many in the movement wanted to address the divisions between generations.

“The exploration around why there was a sense of deepening separation within faith communities led to a proliferation of discussions around what intergenerational faith formation might look like.”

Michael said the Intergenerational approach has a history of development here in Australia and around the world over a few decades now.

“Many of those involved are linked to one another, but there are various groups seeking to promote and resource this approach to being together internationally, in Australia and New Zealand.

“Our local Intergenerate planning team have a particular connection to the original group based in the U.S. which runs the annual International Intergenerate conference.”

Intergenerate Australia & New Zealand have their own conference coming up this August, held in multiple cities across the two countries.  Ahead of the conference, the group has also produced Engage All Ages, a podcast created in conjunction with 96five.

The podcast is hosted by Michael, alongside Tammy Preston, who is the founding pastor of an intergenerational faith community in Woollongong.  Tammy is currently doing her Ph.D. in Intergenerational ministry at Cardiff University in Wales.

Listen to the full interview with Michael in the audio player above, and check out Engage All Ages in the player below.