The role of the church is to worship God, “Worship the Lord your God and serve only him” (Luke 4:8) and make disciples for Christ, “teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always.” (Matthew 28:20) Both worship and discipleship, or religious education, are primary ingredients within the kingdom of God. Yet, even though they are intertwined objectives and functions of the church, too often they are made into separate purposes and activities. Worship is seen as sacred because it involves the liturgy of the church, and religious education is viewed as commonplace because it confronts existential issues of everyday living. Yet, in Christ there is no distinction between sacred and commonplace aspects of life; all is sacred, all is worship. Ephesians 5:15-18 says, “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise…be filled with the Spirit.”
Worship discipleship, the teaching of liturgy and of worship as a lifestyle, is generally infrequent in American churches. People are expected to learn the symbols and actions of the liturgy through habit, not intention, and many people are not taught to enter the presence of the Lord and work through their existential condition with God. Yet, if people do not know the meaning of worship ceremonies and traditions, they can neither enter into God’s presence nor spiritually approach their life passages through worship. They are hampered in their ability to enter into the fullness of the mysteries and wonders of God. Worship discipleship teaches people that it is in discovering existential realities to be spiritual realities that God meets us among the ordinariness of life. And since it is in the ordinariness of life that God walks with us, calls us, and speaks to us, worship is brought into an ordinary context or a lifestyle understanding and practice. It becomes a natural part of life; it becomes primary. In contrast, when this knowledge and skill are lacking the church loses some of the Holy Spirit’s energy and direction that is so necessary for accomplishing goals, ministries, and programs, the social context of Christianity.
The scope of fellowship in the gathering of the saints also can be limited by lack of a knowledgeable and natural practice of worship. This lack restricts the movement of the Holy Spirit, and the comprehension of God in the world because people see and hear the Word enacted weekly in liturgical worship, yet cannot fully integrate it into their daily existence. Neither are people able to pass an understanding of worship on to their children. Instead, children are left to fend for themselves in the large communal worship gathering, and many of them are restless and inattentive to the sharing of God’s wonders that take place during the rites. Additionally, few learn neither to develop private worship habits nor to work through their existential issues with God, hampering the spiritual maturity of people throughout their life span.
Children can be creatively and sensitively taught to enter into God’s presence and understand the symbolism of the worship elements and traditions, as can adults. Often adults, who are adrift in their own understanding and habits of worship, miss the presence of God in the service of the Word and Holy Communion. An intergenerational educational method, that brings both adults and children together to explore God’s presence in the large communal worship gathering, in small groups, and in personal situations, would span a gap in the fabric of the congregation and, therefore, in ministry to the world.
Monday, January 8, 2007
Thesis Chapter 4: The Vision: Intentional Intergenerational Ministry, Part 2
Intergenerational Religious Education
Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is educational when it involves one or more of three educational functions: nurture, discovery, or training…Nurture is rather intangible…[yet]…essential…It is perhaps our most fundamental work as a Christian fellowship. Intergenerational education, then means, in part, two or more generations engaged in mutual nurture, helping one another to be.[1]
Helping people to “discover the whole Jewish-Christian story, to hear and possess our thousands of years of rich heritage, belief, and tradition—in short, to know God’s good news for planet earth, the Gospel, is the primary aim of this theology of education. Secondly, it is to discover more deeply our own nature…”[2] Training people is the third aspect of Christian education and it is the art of “guiding people in their active discipleship in the church and world, helping them to do.”[3] The intermingling of generations that happens in the doing of intergenerational Christian education passes the skills of the past on into the future, and creates opportunities for innovations, building a foundation for the community’s ministry in the world.
In the melting pot of people that is the Intergenerational Religious Education setting, only facilitators are necessary because everyone is a teacher and everyone is a learner. People “share their lives and faith and values with one another.”[4] Thus, the insights and knowledge of each generation provide the catalyst for the Holy Spirit to act in the fellowship of believers. This integration of “knowledge…[the]…holistic growth to maturity of individual believers, and the development of the corporate Christian community”[5] promotes the overarching mission of the local church body because it provides “the foundation of consistency between the theology of the community and its educational strategies…[and encourages]…the corporate edification which enables the community as a united entity to more effectively live out its God-given vocation.”[6]
This coming together of people in Intergenerational Religious Education is
explicitly for faith lifestyle growth…Lifestyle initially refers to physical actions, to behavior, to conduct, to what people do with their bodies; but these bodies are neither decapitated or spiritless. Lifestyle includes…mental and emotional sides of a person and goes on to be quite holistic.[7] Therefore, “the religious instruction act is a pilgrimage.”[8]
The journey toward the heart of God over the course of one’s life is sustained by fellowship, by others helping to bring “the individual into…right relationship with God and his fellows within the perspective of the fundamental truths about life…[because]…theology is a description of relationships. It may be defined as ‘truth-about-God-in-relation-to-man’”[9] and man in relation to others and himself.
Curriculum
Since Intergenerational Religious Education is a unique theology, it requires a considered approach to curriculum. It involves all the generations of the body, and the curriculum needs to facilitate theologically between the educational arm and the large communal arm of the congregation. This facilitation dissolves the typically dichotomous nature of these two foci as it builds ties between the generations.
There are few professionally prepared intergenerational curricula on the market today. One common method currently used to encourage spiritual unity in the church is to utilize the lectionary in educational settings as well as in worship services. This does allow the proclamation and teaching of the Word to be consistent throughout the congregation, but it is applied to homogeneous groups of people, restricting the natural influence of the Holy Spirit to separate age groups. There is no flow of the Spirit between diverse generations, except as happens by chance in the large communal worship setting. Jesus, however, demonstrated both homogeneous and intergenerational ministry. In Matthew 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-15, and Luke 18:15-17 we can see the dual nature of his actions. "Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs. And he laid his hands on them and went on his way." (Matthew 19:13-15)
James W. White explains this scene:
Jesus does, in fact, teach the children a lesson, though not with words. He invites them to the inner circle of the adult followers and gives them concrete instruction in the Kingdom of God. He does so by letting them experience him as a physically warm and loving person. At the same time, Jesus uses the children as a foil to teach the adults an abstract conceptual lesson about the nature of the Kingdom of God.[10]
We can see from this example that Jesus values all people, no matter what their age or “gut level values.”[11] Here he teaches children in a way they comprehend, and simultaneously teaches the whole assembled group of people who are listening to him and watching his actions. By reaching the children surrounding him he also reaches young people and adults with a profound message about God’s love and his kingdom. Using this technique of teaching “different levels of meaning”[12] to homogeneous groups of people, or distinct generations, and also discipling within intergenerational educational contexts is a fine way to organize the congregation for Intentional Intergenerational Ministry because “intergenerational education settings are not the answer. They have great value. [However]…so does age-level education. Each congregation will want to develop a balanced approach.”[13] Harkness adds, “the preferred strategies will integrate both [intergenerational] and homogeneous-age strategies.”[14]
By using Jesus’ teaching model of demonstrating his nature with children while at the same time teaching adults, intergenerational curriculum is the opposite of the lectionary approach to parish discipleship. The lectionary method uses the scriptures and lessons of the worship center for guidance in teaching children and youth; therefore, the adult understanding of the Word and the Spirit is given to them for their weekly curriculum. The intergenerational approach to curriculum is “to take a unit for younger learners and adapt it upward…it is easier to add information, concepts, and activities for adults than it is to adjust adult-oriented material to children…[because]…adults can learn more from an approach for children than children can learn from an adult-oriented approach.”[15]
In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus says: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
A curriculum that focuses on the narratives of the Old and New Testaments, the traditions, worship rites, and the liturgical calendar of the church is carrying out Jesus’ command never to forget him and always to remember God. A prominent theme in Intentional Intergenerational Ministry, remembering God and God’s words and works, is primary to discipleship, for “a central concern of Christian education…is to help people to know the Gospel, to know the human situation, and to know the relationship between the two. In this sort of discovery intergenerational education can serve as a most valuable tool.”[16] Joining Intentional Intergenerational Ministry to a curriculum that meets these goals of knowing God, gospel, and the human situation is possible with Godly Play worship education, for it provides sacred story, parable, liturgical action, and religious language, along with existential spiritual play. It enlightens the disciple and stimulates communication, activity and connectivity among both homogeneous groups and different generations. These things are necessary for the support of a seamless process of ongoing fellowship among the traditions and innovations that are characteristic of congregational life.
[1] Koehler, Learning Together, 12.
[2] Ibid., 13.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid., 15.
[5] Allan G. Harkness, “Intergenerational and Homogeneous-Age Education: Mutually Exclusive Strategies for Faith Communities?” Religious Education 95 (2000) 53.
[6] Ibid.
[7] James W. White, Intergenerational Religious Education, 23, 184.
[8] Ibid., 26.
[9] Ibid., 134.
[10] Ibid., 73.
[11] Gambone, All Are Welcome, 16.
[12] Koehler, Learning Together, 35.
[13] Ibid., 16.
[14] Harkness, “Intergenerational and Homogeneous-Age Education,” Religious Education, 62.
[15] Koehler, Learning Together, 61. 55.
[16] Ibid., 13.
Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is educational when it involves one or more of three educational functions: nurture, discovery, or training…Nurture is rather intangible…[yet]…essential…It is perhaps our most fundamental work as a Christian fellowship. Intergenerational education, then means, in part, two or more generations engaged in mutual nurture, helping one another to be.[1]
Helping people to “discover the whole Jewish-Christian story, to hear and possess our thousands of years of rich heritage, belief, and tradition—in short, to know God’s good news for planet earth, the Gospel, is the primary aim of this theology of education. Secondly, it is to discover more deeply our own nature…”[2] Training people is the third aspect of Christian education and it is the art of “guiding people in their active discipleship in the church and world, helping them to do.”[3] The intermingling of generations that happens in the doing of intergenerational Christian education passes the skills of the past on into the future, and creates opportunities for innovations, building a foundation for the community’s ministry in the world.
In the melting pot of people that is the Intergenerational Religious Education setting, only facilitators are necessary because everyone is a teacher and everyone is a learner. People “share their lives and faith and values with one another.”[4] Thus, the insights and knowledge of each generation provide the catalyst for the Holy Spirit to act in the fellowship of believers. This integration of “knowledge…[the]…holistic growth to maturity of individual believers, and the development of the corporate Christian community”[5] promotes the overarching mission of the local church body because it provides “the foundation of consistency between the theology of the community and its educational strategies…[and encourages]…the corporate edification which enables the community as a united entity to more effectively live out its God-given vocation.”[6]
This coming together of people in Intergenerational Religious Education is
explicitly for faith lifestyle growth…Lifestyle initially refers to physical actions, to behavior, to conduct, to what people do with their bodies; but these bodies are neither decapitated or spiritless. Lifestyle includes…mental and emotional sides of a person and goes on to be quite holistic.[7] Therefore, “the religious instruction act is a pilgrimage.”[8]
The journey toward the heart of God over the course of one’s life is sustained by fellowship, by others helping to bring “the individual into…right relationship with God and his fellows within the perspective of the fundamental truths about life…[because]…theology is a description of relationships. It may be defined as ‘truth-about-God-in-relation-to-man’”[9] and man in relation to others and himself.
Curriculum
Since Intergenerational Religious Education is a unique theology, it requires a considered approach to curriculum. It involves all the generations of the body, and the curriculum needs to facilitate theologically between the educational arm and the large communal arm of the congregation. This facilitation dissolves the typically dichotomous nature of these two foci as it builds ties between the generations.
There are few professionally prepared intergenerational curricula on the market today. One common method currently used to encourage spiritual unity in the church is to utilize the lectionary in educational settings as well as in worship services. This does allow the proclamation and teaching of the Word to be consistent throughout the congregation, but it is applied to homogeneous groups of people, restricting the natural influence of the Holy Spirit to separate age groups. There is no flow of the Spirit between diverse generations, except as happens by chance in the large communal worship setting. Jesus, however, demonstrated both homogeneous and intergenerational ministry. In Matthew 19:13-15, Mark 10:13-15, and Luke 18:15-17 we can see the dual nature of his actions. "Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs. And he laid his hands on them and went on his way." (Matthew 19:13-15)
James W. White explains this scene:
Jesus does, in fact, teach the children a lesson, though not with words. He invites them to the inner circle of the adult followers and gives them concrete instruction in the Kingdom of God. He does so by letting them experience him as a physically warm and loving person. At the same time, Jesus uses the children as a foil to teach the adults an abstract conceptual lesson about the nature of the Kingdom of God.[10]
We can see from this example that Jesus values all people, no matter what their age or “gut level values.”[11] Here he teaches children in a way they comprehend, and simultaneously teaches the whole assembled group of people who are listening to him and watching his actions. By reaching the children surrounding him he also reaches young people and adults with a profound message about God’s love and his kingdom. Using this technique of teaching “different levels of meaning”[12] to homogeneous groups of people, or distinct generations, and also discipling within intergenerational educational contexts is a fine way to organize the congregation for Intentional Intergenerational Ministry because “intergenerational education settings are not the answer. They have great value. [However]…so does age-level education. Each congregation will want to develop a balanced approach.”[13] Harkness adds, “the preferred strategies will integrate both [intergenerational] and homogeneous-age strategies.”[14]
By using Jesus’ teaching model of demonstrating his nature with children while at the same time teaching adults, intergenerational curriculum is the opposite of the lectionary approach to parish discipleship. The lectionary method uses the scriptures and lessons of the worship center for guidance in teaching children and youth; therefore, the adult understanding of the Word and the Spirit is given to them for their weekly curriculum. The intergenerational approach to curriculum is “to take a unit for younger learners and adapt it upward…it is easier to add information, concepts, and activities for adults than it is to adjust adult-oriented material to children…[because]…adults can learn more from an approach for children than children can learn from an adult-oriented approach.”[15]
In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus says: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
A curriculum that focuses on the narratives of the Old and New Testaments, the traditions, worship rites, and the liturgical calendar of the church is carrying out Jesus’ command never to forget him and always to remember God. A prominent theme in Intentional Intergenerational Ministry, remembering God and God’s words and works, is primary to discipleship, for “a central concern of Christian education…is to help people to know the Gospel, to know the human situation, and to know the relationship between the two. In this sort of discovery intergenerational education can serve as a most valuable tool.”[16] Joining Intentional Intergenerational Ministry to a curriculum that meets these goals of knowing God, gospel, and the human situation is possible with Godly Play worship education, for it provides sacred story, parable, liturgical action, and religious language, along with existential spiritual play. It enlightens the disciple and stimulates communication, activity and connectivity among both homogeneous groups and different generations. These things are necessary for the support of a seamless process of ongoing fellowship among the traditions and innovations that are characteristic of congregational life.
[1] Koehler, Learning Together, 12.
[2] Ibid., 13.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid., 15.
[5] Allan G. Harkness, “Intergenerational and Homogeneous-Age Education: Mutually Exclusive Strategies for Faith Communities?” Religious Education 95 (2000) 53.
[6] Ibid.
[7] James W. White, Intergenerational Religious Education, 23, 184.
[8] Ibid., 26.
[9] Ibid., 134.
[10] Ibid., 73.
[11] Gambone, All Are Welcome, 16.
[12] Koehler, Learning Together, 35.
[13] Ibid., 16.
[14] Harkness, “Intergenerational and Homogeneous-Age Education,” Religious Education, 62.
[15] Koehler, Learning Together, 61. 55.
[16] Ibid., 13.
Thesis Chapter 4: The Vision: Intentional Intergenerational Ministry, Part 1
Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is the fostering of a deliberate “approach to breaking down the barriers between ages in our faith communities…bringing hope to those who feel isolated and separated from God.”[1] In this type of ministry the entire congregation becomes involved, intentionally seeking ways to enhance fellowship and “bring all of God’s generations together in worship, service, play, meals, and prayer.”[2]
Because the church body is the whole household of God (Ephesians 2:19), every person of every age is vital to parish life and ministry. Therefore, interaction between the saints of a particular congregation is essential for the entire spectrum of the worship of God. For it is through persons that God is revealed; it is in this way that “God enters our lives of isolation and alienation…[for]…God seems to come most vividly through other persons, through dialogues, through a hug, through mutual care with living, breathing human beings.”[3]
Paul tells us in Romans 12:4-5 that “just as there are many parts to our body…it takes every one of us to make it complete. So we belong to each other, and each needs all the others.” Therefore, all the saints are necessary for the fullness of the church; the stories and traditions of the church are a vital part of the present and a foretaste of the future. “There is something to be passed on, to be transmitted,”[4] and if people, who are the vehicles of these remembrances, do not give these traditions, stories, cultures, and knowledge to younger generations they will be lost forever. In Psalm 78:1-4 we read, Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.
Who are these saints, these generations? In the terminology of Intentional Intergenerational Ministry, they are divided into seven groups, two generations of which are not alive today and five that currently are a part of the American cultural fabric:
· Our ancestors who have passed on.
· The G.I.’s: born between 1901-1931. There are approximately 29,000,000 people in this generation alive as of 1997.
· The Silents: born between 1932-1944. There are approximately 40,000,000 people in this generation alive as of 1997.
· The Boomers: born between 1945-1963. There are approximately 69,000,000 people in this generation alive as of 1997.
· Generation X: born between 1964-1981. There are approximately 79,000,000 people in this generation alive as of 1997.
· The Millennials: born between 1982-2003. There are approximately 76,000,000 people in this generation that will be born by the end of this year.
· The people who are yet unborn.[5]
The people of the United States are divided into these groups because each generation living today is profoundly affected by a collective historical experience at an early age. Individuals growing up are influenced by their economic, social and political circumstances. What Morris Massey calls the development of “gut level values” occurs during each person’s formative years (sometime between the ages of 10 and 20)…they create a unique historical signature by living out their “generational gut level values” in the real world.[6]
These are the general trends among our population in the culture that makes up our society today. Popular advertising and marketing practices dominate our media and retail experiences and use this information to divide people, targeting the manufacture and sale of consumer goods. This fact of popular culture has entered our congregations where ministers of the gospel “divide today’s churches into neat, congregational market niches.”[7] This common practice of marketing the ministry of the church to secularly determined groups of people inhibits the telling of God’s story by breaking down the very interpersonal relationships that are so necessary to the cohesion, vitality, and longevity of the body of Christ. “For Christ is like a single body with many limbs and organs, which many as they are, together make up one body…” (1 Corinthians 12:12).
In contrast to market niche ministry, Intentional Intergenerational Ministry “fosters an intentional approach to breaking down the barriers between ages in our faith communities.”[8] This is important because “the church…[has]…the greatest opportunity for offering hope to…[our]… society…[which is]…increasingly isolated and separated by generations.”[9] And since the church is to minister to people in context, those in ministry need to address the “fragmentation, isolation and separation…[that]…are the most unheralded issues we face in…[American]…society.”[10] As James W. White, an expert in Intergenerational Religious Education, says, “isolation and insulation of individuals is all too real. The thought-full [sic] person is sensitive to the changed realities of our geographic mobility, single-parenting, age-specific social formations, the separations caused by various institutions, and more. These factors work to pull generations apart.”[11]
In contrast, the institution of “the Church is the only agency in Western civilization which has all the members of the family as part of its clientele. It is the only organized group which reaches persons through the complete life cycle from birth to death.” [12] This fact is an advantage for the furtherance of the gospel among the people of our culture today. It allows the church the potential to reach every American generation with the gospel and kindle in hearts the desire to worship God. It is a feature that should be emphasized and encouraged by church leaders so the people’s need for the love of God and the community of the saints does not go unmet among those we tend in this postmodern era.
Within the congregation, Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is a sincere fellowship paradigm that enhances the communal and individual experience of all aspects of the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit by every participant. This reach of God allows the Holy Spirit to move with energy and balance throughout a congregation, for the differences between the generations “can make the wholeness of life more comprehensible.”[13] This is important
because it is the elusiveness of wholeness that is prominent among believers and nonbelievers alike in our culture today.[14] Existential issues of contemporary society naturally become a part of church life in a way that no subgroup of the congregation can ignore when Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is introduced into the church fabric. The generations are no longer isolated from each other’s joys, sorrows, spiritual lives, and uniqueness. Instead, people affect each other in profound ways and each group experiences the other’s potential and limits more intimately than those felt between homogeneous groups of people. The similarities and differences that arise provide balance for the overarching worship mission of the church, completing God’s vision for the local body in a particular era: past, present, and future. This heightens the potential and dynamism of the Holy Spirit that is manifest in the congregation, for in Ephesians 3:20-21 we read, “Now to Him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.”
[1] Gambone, All Are Welcome, iii, 3.
[2] Ibid., 2.
[3] George E. Koehler, Learning Together: A Guide for Intergenerational Education in the Church (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 1977) 10.
[4] Ibid., 11.
[5] Gambone, All Are Welcome, 11-15.
[6] Ibid., 16.
[7] Ibid., 92.
[8] Ibid., iii.
[9] Ibid., v.
[10] Ibid., 1.
[11] James W. White, Intergenerational Religious Education, 160.
[12] Ibid., 13.
[13] Gambone, All Are Welcome, 94.
[14] www. ginkworld .net /position papers, (3/14/03).
Because the church body is the whole household of God (Ephesians 2:19), every person of every age is vital to parish life and ministry. Therefore, interaction between the saints of a particular congregation is essential for the entire spectrum of the worship of God. For it is through persons that God is revealed; it is in this way that “God enters our lives of isolation and alienation…[for]…God seems to come most vividly through other persons, through dialogues, through a hug, through mutual care with living, breathing human beings.”[3]
Paul tells us in Romans 12:4-5 that “just as there are many parts to our body…it takes every one of us to make it complete. So we belong to each other, and each needs all the others.” Therefore, all the saints are necessary for the fullness of the church; the stories and traditions of the church are a vital part of the present and a foretaste of the future. “There is something to be passed on, to be transmitted,”[4] and if people, who are the vehicles of these remembrances, do not give these traditions, stories, cultures, and knowledge to younger generations they will be lost forever. In Psalm 78:1-4 we read, Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.
Who are these saints, these generations? In the terminology of Intentional Intergenerational Ministry, they are divided into seven groups, two generations of which are not alive today and five that currently are a part of the American cultural fabric:
· Our ancestors who have passed on.
· The G.I.’s: born between 1901-1931. There are approximately 29,000,000 people in this generation alive as of 1997.
· The Silents: born between 1932-1944. There are approximately 40,000,000 people in this generation alive as of 1997.
· The Boomers: born between 1945-1963. There are approximately 69,000,000 people in this generation alive as of 1997.
· Generation X: born between 1964-1981. There are approximately 79,000,000 people in this generation alive as of 1997.
· The Millennials: born between 1982-2003. There are approximately 76,000,000 people in this generation that will be born by the end of this year.
· The people who are yet unborn.[5]
The people of the United States are divided into these groups because each generation living today is profoundly affected by a collective historical experience at an early age. Individuals growing up are influenced by their economic, social and political circumstances. What Morris Massey calls the development of “gut level values” occurs during each person’s formative years (sometime between the ages of 10 and 20)…they create a unique historical signature by living out their “generational gut level values” in the real world.[6]
These are the general trends among our population in the culture that makes up our society today. Popular advertising and marketing practices dominate our media and retail experiences and use this information to divide people, targeting the manufacture and sale of consumer goods. This fact of popular culture has entered our congregations where ministers of the gospel “divide today’s churches into neat, congregational market niches.”[7] This common practice of marketing the ministry of the church to secularly determined groups of people inhibits the telling of God’s story by breaking down the very interpersonal relationships that are so necessary to the cohesion, vitality, and longevity of the body of Christ. “For Christ is like a single body with many limbs and organs, which many as they are, together make up one body…” (1 Corinthians 12:12).
In contrast to market niche ministry, Intentional Intergenerational Ministry “fosters an intentional approach to breaking down the barriers between ages in our faith communities.”[8] This is important because “the church…[has]…the greatest opportunity for offering hope to…[our]… society…[which is]…increasingly isolated and separated by generations.”[9] And since the church is to minister to people in context, those in ministry need to address the “fragmentation, isolation and separation…[that]…are the most unheralded issues we face in…[American]…society.”[10] As James W. White, an expert in Intergenerational Religious Education, says, “isolation and insulation of individuals is all too real. The thought-full [sic] person is sensitive to the changed realities of our geographic mobility, single-parenting, age-specific social formations, the separations caused by various institutions, and more. These factors work to pull generations apart.”[11]
In contrast, the institution of “the Church is the only agency in Western civilization which has all the members of the family as part of its clientele. It is the only organized group which reaches persons through the complete life cycle from birth to death.” [12] This fact is an advantage for the furtherance of the gospel among the people of our culture today. It allows the church the potential to reach every American generation with the gospel and kindle in hearts the desire to worship God. It is a feature that should be emphasized and encouraged by church leaders so the people’s need for the love of God and the community of the saints does not go unmet among those we tend in this postmodern era.
Within the congregation, Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is a sincere fellowship paradigm that enhances the communal and individual experience of all aspects of the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit by every participant. This reach of God allows the Holy Spirit to move with energy and balance throughout a congregation, for the differences between the generations “can make the wholeness of life more comprehensible.”[13] This is important
because it is the elusiveness of wholeness that is prominent among believers and nonbelievers alike in our culture today.[14] Existential issues of contemporary society naturally become a part of church life in a way that no subgroup of the congregation can ignore when Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is introduced into the church fabric. The generations are no longer isolated from each other’s joys, sorrows, spiritual lives, and uniqueness. Instead, people affect each other in profound ways and each group experiences the other’s potential and limits more intimately than those felt between homogeneous groups of people. The similarities and differences that arise provide balance for the overarching worship mission of the church, completing God’s vision for the local body in a particular era: past, present, and future. This heightens the potential and dynamism of the Holy Spirit that is manifest in the congregation, for in Ephesians 3:20-21 we read, “Now to Him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.”
[1] Gambone, All Are Welcome, iii, 3.
[2] Ibid., 2.
[3] George E. Koehler, Learning Together: A Guide for Intergenerational Education in the Church (Nashville: Discipleship Resources, 1977) 10.
[4] Ibid., 11.
[5] Gambone, All Are Welcome, 11-15.
[6] Ibid., 16.
[7] Ibid., 92.
[8] Ibid., iii.
[9] Ibid., v.
[10] Ibid., 1.
[11] James W. White, Intergenerational Religious Education, 160.
[12] Ibid., 13.
[13] Gambone, All Are Welcome, 94.
[14] www. ginkworld .net /position papers, (3/14/03).
Thesis Chapter 3: The Mission: To Worship God
For a religious body to have a mission does not mean that it has a program that serves people or that it supports missionaries. Nor does it mean that it owns a building that is used to evangelize others. What it does mean is that a body has an essential understanding of and commitment to God’s call. For most congregations, this would be a call to worship.
To have a call to worship means the church praises, glorifies, and exalts God. The Larger Westminster Catechism says, “The chief and highest end…[of humankind]…is to glorify God, and to fully enjoy him forever.”[1] In the bible Luke 4:8 reads, “Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”[2] And in Psalm 99:2, we are told, “The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.” Psalm 150:6 the says, “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”
The above verses show us God is our ruler and that he has foremost created us to worship God. Believers are told nothing shall stand in the way of their individual and corporate relationships with God, that this worship is of paramount importance for the Body of Christ, and that we are to worship continuously. Therefore, since the worship of God is fundamental to the Christian life, programs and ministries of the church take the role of confessing that active faith through the life of the congregation.
Theologically, worship is a liturgy that is a 2,000-year-old conversation between God and people; it is the “source and summit of the Christian life.”[3] The conversation began with Abraham, continues today, and will continue into the future. The early church’s worship patterns developed out of the Jewish synagogue, which was the focus of Hebrew worship and community life from the time of the Babylonian exile to the present day. This shows us that even before the biblical canon, there was worship in the churches.[4]
Historically, worship is composed of both variable and fixed elements.[5] The fixed elements are those that have been handed down through the tradition of the church and the variables are continuously evolving from the juxtaposition of the Bible with contemporary life;[6] therefore, elements that once were variables became part of the tradition, and new variables are developed daily in our churches.
The New Testament reflects the worship of the early church. There are eucharistic texts concerning Holy Communion, the bread of life discourse, the feeding of the five thousand, and the feeding of the four thousand. There are several creedal statements. There are hymns in the New Testament that include: the Magnificat, the benedictus, the gloria in excelsis, and the prologue to John. Homilies include eight speeches of Peter in Acts, ten speeches of Paul in Acts, the entire epistle to the Hebrews, a sermon in Timothy, and a sermon in 1 Peter. These elements of worship were in both homes and synagogues where liturgy, prayer, scripture, homily, Holy Communion, and benediction took place.[7]
In the United States, the church has gone through various changes from colonial times four hundred years ago to the present day. The years 1607-1789 saw the Comprehensive Congregation whose primary purpose and reason for being was the worship of God.[8] The Devotional Congregation, which evolved between 1789-1870, was a type of community that still saw worship as its primary purpose although it began to segment worship as a response to the increasingly segmented lives of its people in society at large. This division of worship took the form of prayer meetings, Bible classes, Sunday schools, devotional gatherings, and mission societies organized by age and gender.[9] Social Congregations unfolded during the years of 1870-1950 and the focus of these groups was community life formed around the people of the church. The goal of these groups was to “overcome the impersonality of large congregations, to eliminate class distinctions, to attract children and their parents, provide wholesome amusement for young people, and to draw men more actively into congregational work.”[10] Participatory Congregations became the typical style of community life during the years of 1950-1990. This ideal was the monopolization of “the lives of their members: worship, recreation, education, child-care, family life, vocational decisions...[offering to the community at large]…not simply worship but an array of other activities and services.”[11]
Today, the church in America at the beginning of the twenty-first century is in need of rediscovering its primary biblical roots of remembering and worshipping God. Worship is how God’s first person of faith on earth, Abraham, responded to his relationship with God, and this at God’s request. Therefore, the primary task for congregations in the United States today has truly become listening to the foremost call of God to worship God above all endeavors they undertake.
Worship is the primary function of a congregation in constant conversation with God. Unfortunately, over time that conversation has become instead a talk with, and response to, the pop society in which the church is imbedded, rather than conversing and responding to God in remembrance of God’s relationship with people. The personal lives of postmodern people have become cluttered with responses to God that are simply spiritual noise.[12] Americans are missing the love and nurture of God found in worship. Song of Solomon 2:4 says, “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his intention toward me was love.” And in 7:10 we read, “I am my beloved’s and his desire is for me.” Psalm 31:23a says we are to respond to God in love, and 1 John 4:19 tells us that God loved us first. God awaits our response.
This realignment of the mission of the church to the primary characteristic of praising and extolling God in community is the all-embracing umbrella that arches over every other function and goal of the congregation. The organizing vision of this is fellowship, for 1 Corinthians 1:9 says, “God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,” and Ephesians 2: 19 reads, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.”
Because worship as mission of the church is fundamental, all of the ministries and social works of the church stand under its chief call and its corresponding vision of fellowship. Let us consider the mission and vision of our congregational communities, and the means to realign them according to the Word of God, worship discipleship. These are the utmost priorities in our congregations today.
[1] Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Constitution, 201
[2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1990)
All citations are taken from this version.
[3] Mons Teig, “Theology of Worship.” (Lecture in Luther Seminary Worship class, St. Paul, MN., 2/11/2003)
[4] Arland J. Hultgren, “Jewish Roots of Christian Worship.” (Lecture in Luther Seminary
Worship class, St. Paul, MN., 2/18/03)
[5] Ibid.
[6] Gordon W. Lathrop, Holy Things: A Liturgical Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998)33.
[7] Arland J. Hultgren, “Liturgical Materials in the New Testament.” (Lecture in Luther Seminary Worship class, St. Paul, MN., 2/18/03)
[8] James P. Wind and James W. Lewis, eds., American Congregations: New Perspectives in the Study of Congregations, vol. 2 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994) 29.
[9] Ibid., 34.
[10] Ibid., 39, 40.
[11] Ibid., 43.
[12]Jerome W. Berryman, “Silence Is Stranger Than It Used To Be,” Religious Education 94 (1999) 258, 259.
To have a call to worship means the church praises, glorifies, and exalts God. The Larger Westminster Catechism says, “The chief and highest end…[of humankind]…is to glorify God, and to fully enjoy him forever.”[1] In the bible Luke 4:8 reads, “Worship the Lord your God and serve only him.”[2] And in Psalm 99:2, we are told, “The Lord is great in Zion; he is exalted over all the peoples.” Psalm 150:6 the says, “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”
The above verses show us God is our ruler and that he has foremost created us to worship God. Believers are told nothing shall stand in the way of their individual and corporate relationships with God, that this worship is of paramount importance for the Body of Christ, and that we are to worship continuously. Therefore, since the worship of God is fundamental to the Christian life, programs and ministries of the church take the role of confessing that active faith through the life of the congregation.
Theologically, worship is a liturgy that is a 2,000-year-old conversation between God and people; it is the “source and summit of the Christian life.”[3] The conversation began with Abraham, continues today, and will continue into the future. The early church’s worship patterns developed out of the Jewish synagogue, which was the focus of Hebrew worship and community life from the time of the Babylonian exile to the present day. This shows us that even before the biblical canon, there was worship in the churches.[4]
Historically, worship is composed of both variable and fixed elements.[5] The fixed elements are those that have been handed down through the tradition of the church and the variables are continuously evolving from the juxtaposition of the Bible with contemporary life;[6] therefore, elements that once were variables became part of the tradition, and new variables are developed daily in our churches.
The New Testament reflects the worship of the early church. There are eucharistic texts concerning Holy Communion, the bread of life discourse, the feeding of the five thousand, and the feeding of the four thousand. There are several creedal statements. There are hymns in the New Testament that include: the Magnificat, the benedictus, the gloria in excelsis, and the prologue to John. Homilies include eight speeches of Peter in Acts, ten speeches of Paul in Acts, the entire epistle to the Hebrews, a sermon in Timothy, and a sermon in 1 Peter. These elements of worship were in both homes and synagogues where liturgy, prayer, scripture, homily, Holy Communion, and benediction took place.[7]
In the United States, the church has gone through various changes from colonial times four hundred years ago to the present day. The years 1607-1789 saw the Comprehensive Congregation whose primary purpose and reason for being was the worship of God.[8] The Devotional Congregation, which evolved between 1789-1870, was a type of community that still saw worship as its primary purpose although it began to segment worship as a response to the increasingly segmented lives of its people in society at large. This division of worship took the form of prayer meetings, Bible classes, Sunday schools, devotional gatherings, and mission societies organized by age and gender.[9] Social Congregations unfolded during the years of 1870-1950 and the focus of these groups was community life formed around the people of the church. The goal of these groups was to “overcome the impersonality of large congregations, to eliminate class distinctions, to attract children and their parents, provide wholesome amusement for young people, and to draw men more actively into congregational work.”[10] Participatory Congregations became the typical style of community life during the years of 1950-1990. This ideal was the monopolization of “the lives of their members: worship, recreation, education, child-care, family life, vocational decisions...[offering to the community at large]…not simply worship but an array of other activities and services.”[11]
Today, the church in America at the beginning of the twenty-first century is in need of rediscovering its primary biblical roots of remembering and worshipping God. Worship is how God’s first person of faith on earth, Abraham, responded to his relationship with God, and this at God’s request. Therefore, the primary task for congregations in the United States today has truly become listening to the foremost call of God to worship God above all endeavors they undertake.
Worship is the primary function of a congregation in constant conversation with God. Unfortunately, over time that conversation has become instead a talk with, and response to, the pop society in which the church is imbedded, rather than conversing and responding to God in remembrance of God’s relationship with people. The personal lives of postmodern people have become cluttered with responses to God that are simply spiritual noise.[12] Americans are missing the love and nurture of God found in worship. Song of Solomon 2:4 says, “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his intention toward me was love.” And in 7:10 we read, “I am my beloved’s and his desire is for me.” Psalm 31:23a says we are to respond to God in love, and 1 John 4:19 tells us that God loved us first. God awaits our response.
This realignment of the mission of the church to the primary characteristic of praising and extolling God in community is the all-embracing umbrella that arches over every other function and goal of the congregation. The organizing vision of this is fellowship, for 1 Corinthians 1:9 says, “God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord,” and Ephesians 2: 19 reads, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.”
Because worship as mission of the church is fundamental, all of the ministries and social works of the church stand under its chief call and its corresponding vision of fellowship. Let us consider the mission and vision of our congregational communities, and the means to realign them according to the Word of God, worship discipleship. These are the utmost priorities in our congregations today.
[1] Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Constitution, 201
[2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1990)
All citations are taken from this version.
[3] Mons Teig, “Theology of Worship.” (Lecture in Luther Seminary Worship class, St. Paul, MN., 2/11/2003)
[4] Arland J. Hultgren, “Jewish Roots of Christian Worship.” (Lecture in Luther Seminary
Worship class, St. Paul, MN., 2/18/03)
[5] Ibid.
[6] Gordon W. Lathrop, Holy Things: A Liturgical Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998)33.
[7] Arland J. Hultgren, “Liturgical Materials in the New Testament.” (Lecture in Luther Seminary Worship class, St. Paul, MN., 2/18/03)
[8] James P. Wind and James W. Lewis, eds., American Congregations: New Perspectives in the Study of Congregations, vol. 2 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994) 29.
[9] Ibid., 34.
[10] Ibid., 39, 40.
[11] Ibid., 43.
[12]Jerome W. Berryman, “Silence Is Stranger Than It Used To Be,” Religious Education 94 (1999) 258, 259.
Thesis Chapter 2: A Theological Model: Unity of Worship and Education
In thinking about forming a theological model for the postmodern Christian congregation, the typical dichotomy between the two main parts of a body needs to be considered: its large communal worship functions and its typically individually focused education functions. This division is largely due to the perception that large communal activities in the worship center are primary to a congregation’s existence, and therefore higher in spiritual value than what are considered secondary educational operations.[1] This division of congregational life into two arenas sets the agenda for a paradigm of church architecture whose “spiritual spaces,” or large communal gathering areas, completely draw out the talents of designers and artisans while providing unremarkable educational spaces for the seemingly commonplace activities of teaching the Christian life. This usually produces buildings with soaring worship forms connected to secondary building masses that tend to be a mix of residential scale and institutional character, imitating the historical vertical worship spaces and horizontal education spaces of typical American church building forms. American church architecture is, therefore, typically symbolized by awkwardness of both design intent and execution.
One of the ways these two parts of congregational life can be brought into agreement is to wed them by pairing a single congregational mission with a vision focused on the nature of congregational fellowship. This coupling would facilitate a mission of communal worship and the teaching of personal worship, with the vision of intermingling the homogeneous groups of people found in our culture and, hence, in our churches. Utilizing Godly Play, a “worship method”[2] type of curriculum, and Intentional Intergenerational Ministry, a fellowship paradigm, as vehicles for creating harmony between worship and educational goals and activities promotes a continuity of theological aims between the two. A unified theological model for the church that joins worship and discipleship is the result, and this provides a particular method of religious education herein named “worship discipleship.” This theological process of unity unfolds an architectural theology built on the work of architect Ed Sovik, and pastoral educator Rev. Dr. Jerome W. Berryman, and promotes a building that intentionally conceives of itself as an element that enhances postmodern ministry. The ever-evolving organism that results from this interplay is what I call the “intentional church.”
Worship is the overarching mission of the Christian congregation.[3] A communal life of gathering to worship God joined with the teaching of the symbols, meanings, language, and experiences of worship, and its discipleship goals, would sharply define a body’s thrust to honor God in all things it undertakes.
Godly Play enhances this worship mission by providing a learning environment that teaches sacred story, parables, liturgical action, and personal “work,” or spiritual play,[4] among church members, creating a shared religious language. It is a curriculum that can further the goal of fellowship and shared experience within a congregation. What is important to say is that…[this]…approach to religious education…invites children (and adults) to enter sacred story, parable, and liturgical action in a seriously playful way, and so to learn the art of its appropriate use.[5]
As the congregation undertakes the Intentional Intergenerational Ministry vision to help forward the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it moves against the social tide of special interest groups within our culture, for “the general characterization of society as segregated by age still stands.”[6] Intentional Intergenerational Ministry enhances fellowship among members of diverse times of life. As one of the rare facets of our society where all generations have the chance to intermingle as spiritual equals, the congregation has the potential to promote the sharing of spiritual knowledge and experience without peer group separations experienced in everyday life. “The faith community is…the institution best suited to facilitate significant cross-generational life and learning.”[7] Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is such a vision for Christians, and it can be an enlarging experience for a congregation because of the benefits of the cumulative insights, perspectives, and counter balance found in the commingling of all generations.
This kind of harmony between worship and discipleship presents the architect with a new set of design parameters when considering how to accommodate the saints for fellowship with God and each other. Here the concept of “church building” becomes one of furthering and enhancing the proclamation of the Word, the sacraments, the gathering of the people of God, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This approach is different from the emphasis on functionality, visual composition, and artistic appearance found in most religious buildings. Instead, its thrust is to further the movement and vitality of the gospel and the people who are the temple of God, not to create an elaborate “house of God…[for God to indwell].”[8] New Testament life is about God indwelling people through the power of the Holy Spirit, and a congregation’s fellowship paradigm presents the architect with the challenge to articulate the work of the Trinity as it presents itself in the individual identity of a congregation. Beauty is the result of answering this challenge, in contrast to the fundamental pursuit of esthetics usually undertaken by the architect.
In particular, the theological and practical goal of enhancing Intentional Intergenerational Ministry and Godly Play worship education through architecture provides the designer with a basis for architectural programming and design conceptions. Here religious architecture becomes a meeting house whose spaces embrace the large communal and small group educational ministries focused on knowing God through worship, and the Holy Spirit through fellowship. Architectural relationships that express this single theological mission and its supporting vision are modified from the typical church building design concept and, therefore, have the potential to be expressed differently from typical church building forms. This paper is a discussion of the bottom-up, or theology first, process of conceiving such a postmodern, or “intentional church” community.
[1] Atlanta Inter-Seminary Religious Education Faculty Dramatists, “Leading With Hope 1: Identity and Vocation of the Religious Educator.” (Plenary Session at the annual convention of the Association of Professors and Researchers in Religious Education, Philadelphia, PA., 11/1/2002.)
[2] Godly Play evolved from Maria Montessori’s method of religious education, and is considered a method because its purpose is not to transmit knowledge, but rather to facilitate the theological knowing and experience of God through the shared experience of teacher and disciple within the lessons. This occurs in a worship context.
[3]Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Part 1, Book of Confessions (Louisville: Distribution Management Services, 1994) 201
[4] Jerome W. Berryman, Godly Play: An Imaginative Approach to Religious Education, (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1991) 18
[5] Ibid.
[6] James W. White, Intergenerational Religious Education (Birmingham: Religious Education Press, 1988) 11
[7] Ibid., 13.
[8] Michael S. Rose, Ugly as Sin: Why They Changed Our Churches from Sacred Places to Meeting Spaces—and How We Can Change Them Back Again (Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2001) 7.
One of the ways these two parts of congregational life can be brought into agreement is to wed them by pairing a single congregational mission with a vision focused on the nature of congregational fellowship. This coupling would facilitate a mission of communal worship and the teaching of personal worship, with the vision of intermingling the homogeneous groups of people found in our culture and, hence, in our churches. Utilizing Godly Play, a “worship method”[2] type of curriculum, and Intentional Intergenerational Ministry, a fellowship paradigm, as vehicles for creating harmony between worship and educational goals and activities promotes a continuity of theological aims between the two. A unified theological model for the church that joins worship and discipleship is the result, and this provides a particular method of religious education herein named “worship discipleship.” This theological process of unity unfolds an architectural theology built on the work of architect Ed Sovik, and pastoral educator Rev. Dr. Jerome W. Berryman, and promotes a building that intentionally conceives of itself as an element that enhances postmodern ministry. The ever-evolving organism that results from this interplay is what I call the “intentional church.”
Worship is the overarching mission of the Christian congregation.[3] A communal life of gathering to worship God joined with the teaching of the symbols, meanings, language, and experiences of worship, and its discipleship goals, would sharply define a body’s thrust to honor God in all things it undertakes.
Godly Play enhances this worship mission by providing a learning environment that teaches sacred story, parables, liturgical action, and personal “work,” or spiritual play,[4] among church members, creating a shared religious language. It is a curriculum that can further the goal of fellowship and shared experience within a congregation. What is important to say is that…[this]…approach to religious education…invites children (and adults) to enter sacred story, parable, and liturgical action in a seriously playful way, and so to learn the art of its appropriate use.[5]
As the congregation undertakes the Intentional Intergenerational Ministry vision to help forward the ministry of the Holy Spirit, it moves against the social tide of special interest groups within our culture, for “the general characterization of society as segregated by age still stands.”[6] Intentional Intergenerational Ministry enhances fellowship among members of diverse times of life. As one of the rare facets of our society where all generations have the chance to intermingle as spiritual equals, the congregation has the potential to promote the sharing of spiritual knowledge and experience without peer group separations experienced in everyday life. “The faith community is…the institution best suited to facilitate significant cross-generational life and learning.”[7] Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is such a vision for Christians, and it can be an enlarging experience for a congregation because of the benefits of the cumulative insights, perspectives, and counter balance found in the commingling of all generations.
This kind of harmony between worship and discipleship presents the architect with a new set of design parameters when considering how to accommodate the saints for fellowship with God and each other. Here the concept of “church building” becomes one of furthering and enhancing the proclamation of the Word, the sacraments, the gathering of the people of God, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. This approach is different from the emphasis on functionality, visual composition, and artistic appearance found in most religious buildings. Instead, its thrust is to further the movement and vitality of the gospel and the people who are the temple of God, not to create an elaborate “house of God…[for God to indwell].”[8] New Testament life is about God indwelling people through the power of the Holy Spirit, and a congregation’s fellowship paradigm presents the architect with the challenge to articulate the work of the Trinity as it presents itself in the individual identity of a congregation. Beauty is the result of answering this challenge, in contrast to the fundamental pursuit of esthetics usually undertaken by the architect.
In particular, the theological and practical goal of enhancing Intentional Intergenerational Ministry and Godly Play worship education through architecture provides the designer with a basis for architectural programming and design conceptions. Here religious architecture becomes a meeting house whose spaces embrace the large communal and small group educational ministries focused on knowing God through worship, and the Holy Spirit through fellowship. Architectural relationships that express this single theological mission and its supporting vision are modified from the typical church building design concept and, therefore, have the potential to be expressed differently from typical church building forms. This paper is a discussion of the bottom-up, or theology first, process of conceiving such a postmodern, or “intentional church” community.
[1] Atlanta Inter-Seminary Religious Education Faculty Dramatists, “Leading With Hope 1: Identity and Vocation of the Religious Educator.” (Plenary Session at the annual convention of the Association of Professors and Researchers in Religious Education, Philadelphia, PA., 11/1/2002.)
[2] Godly Play evolved from Maria Montessori’s method of religious education, and is considered a method because its purpose is not to transmit knowledge, but rather to facilitate the theological knowing and experience of God through the shared experience of teacher and disciple within the lessons. This occurs in a worship context.
[3]Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Part 1, Book of Confessions (Louisville: Distribution Management Services, 1994) 201
[4] Jerome W. Berryman, Godly Play: An Imaginative Approach to Religious Education, (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1991) 18
[5] Ibid.
[6] James W. White, Intergenerational Religious Education (Birmingham: Religious Education Press, 1988) 11
[7] Ibid., 13.
[8] Michael S. Rose, Ugly as Sin: Why They Changed Our Churches from Sacred Places to Meeting Spaces—and How We Can Change Them Back Again (Manchester, NH: Sophia Institute Press, 2001) 7.
Thesis Chapter 1: Introduction
In our country’s twenty-first century culture there is a need for Christian people to be enabled to be “theological in their everyday relationships…and to connect it with daily living…[because]…life and faith are not integrated in modern U.S. society.”[1] This can be done when people are taught there is a process to learning…[and to]…religious growth…The question…[then becomes one]…of how to educate for faith…[how to]…transcend old patterns to respond to what God is doing new in our midst.[2]
Congregational life is structured by beliefs about its main foci, worship and education, and the emphasis of contemporary Christian educators has been on “empowering the laity to embody discipleship in the world.”[3] Attaining this goal involves the whole Christian congregation in the process of learning religious language, knowing the triune God, and the intimate guided discipleship experience of an existential method of worship and religious education, joined with fellowship. This paper concerns itself with these matters.
There are several predominant approaches to Christian ministry and congregational learning in the United States of America today. There is education for social transformation, the community of faith model, the education of individual people who are to become the spiritual salt of the earth, and the family religious educational model.[4] Each type strives to address postmodern American culture from unique viewpoints, yet none seems to provide the opportunity to intricately join the congregational mission of worship with the vision of community and discipleship found in intergenerational ministry and education. Intergenerational Religious Education[5] supports the paradigm of Intentional Intergenerational Ministry,[6] yet this theology of Christian education requires the selection of a curriculum that supports its aims. Readily able to support both intentional congregational ministry and Intergenerational Religious Education theology, Godly Play[7] worship education[8] can be utilized for the worship discipleship[9] of both child and adult because it is suitable for each member of a congregation, no matter what the age or history of respective generational groups. The Godly Play method of religious education evolved from Maria Montessori’s discoveries, and since it can be utilized to develop a discipleship ministry for all ages in the congregation, it unifies the large communal worship gathering and small group educational worship throughout the church body, enhancing a congregational vision of fellowship in a theological model suitable for the postmodern church.
A unique opportunity to clarify a congregation’s spiritual life arises from its desire to receive as its principal worth the call of God to worship. This means that an overarching mission of worship will surround and guide everything the church sets out particularly to express. The vehicle for the expression of this mission is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ himself breathed this person of the Trinity into his disciples (John 20:22), and, therefore, the Holy Spirit is found in the people of God.
Because the people of God have the Holy Spirit in their heart, the Spirit is manifested in the community of the saints,[10] and the comprehensive vision of the church is fellowship. God ministers to us with naturalness when we are intertwined with other people; therefore, the aim of congregations should be focused on interactive relationships between all the saints.
To maximize the Holy Spirit’s gifts within the church, all generations need to interact with each other and minister to each other through their unique individual qualities, whether through communal functions or homogeneous activities of congregational life. A body effective in the call of God has a guiding vision for the parish that promotes the ministry of the spiritual gifts lodged within each community member. This task, when undertaken with intention, allows no aspect of God’s call to worship to be overlooked. Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is an abundant vision for a body to have because it involves the seven generations in a particular time and place simultaneously, entwining them in church ministry.[11] This model of church worship, fellowship, and religious education has every generation sharing its nurture, knowledge, experience, hope, and vitality with every other generation. The work of God in a particular era moves forward through this shared perspective and the balance that results from that heritage.
Such a worship mission and fellowship vision supported by religious education and permeated with worship influences the theological architectural considerations of the church building and its environment. Thus, church building forms, spaces, and their relationships are re-thought so that they promote this energetic theological model of the body — in contrast to the typical church building of static and elaborate worship spaces attached to educational buildings that are given less consideration by the architect. Rather, in this reformed model, architectural concepts become intentional servants of all aspects of the worship discipleship community, providing restrained building forms that respond sympathetically to both the congregation’s internal theology and the external ecology of their surrounding community.
This theological model is a twenty-first century concept of the congregation and its church building, and it contrasts with the typical twentieth century characteristics of the Christian body still seen today. Congregations that adhere to a Modern, twentieth century type of ministry and cultural model are program driven, and find truth in absolutes and objective, or linear, thinking. Their culture is mono-cultural, they see the world as either “secular” or “sacred;” they believe in salvation, and therefore, that everyone is good. The people in these faith groups tend to have only a few close friends, as these are valued more than acquaintances. For them, families consist of two parents and two and one-half children, and are viewed as more important than friends.[12]
Postmodern congregations, on the other hand, generally are people driven, and they believe truth is circular and found in the life narrative. Their worldview leans toward the organic with connective communities at all levels, including the church, which is seen as both inside and outside the church community and their building. Postmodern Christians are multi-cultural, are looking to be engaged, included, and inspired, and they see no difference between the “sacred” and the “secular,” believing everything belongs to God. Most of them believe in sin, but not in salvation, and so are seeking the grace of Christ. Many come from broken homes; therefore, friends are important and are seen as family.[13]
This paper envisages a congregational model of worship, fellowship, and discipleship that is twenty-first century in its conception. It is not a prescription for American social ills, nor a solution for cultural decay, as Intentional Intergenerational Ministry and Intergenerational Religious Education were originally proposed to be when first introduced in the 1970s. Rather, it is a contemporary conversation regarding the major concerns of congregational life: worship and education.
These concerns were not generally integrated and addressed in the Modern congregation and its church buildings; however, there is a call among Americans today to have a primal set of spiritual needs met that involves these predominant aspects of congregational life. The postmodern church is the ideal place to provide this spiritual nourishment, and its buildings can be a place to shelter these activities. To answer this call coming from our society, and ultimately from God, the contemporary congregation’s conversation must turn from debate with American pop culture to listening to the call of God to worship, fellowship, and to disciple God’s people.
[1] Jack L. Seymour, Mapping Christian Education: Approaches to Congregational Learning
(Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997) 9, 12.
[2] Ibid., 10.
[3] Ibid., 15.
[4] Ibid., 5.
[5] Intergenerational Religious Education is the teaching of sacred story, the history of the saints, congregational history, and the symbols of Christian language, promoting the remembrance of God in all areas of the disciple’s life. Its goal is lifestyle worship of God.
[6] Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is the deliberate provision of ministerial and lay leadership within a congregation that produces opportunities for intergenerational mentoring, teaching, and social interaction. The goal is to encourage a “multi-cultural” environment that promotes the passage of sacred story and Christian symbols from one generation to the next, while lessening postmodern social isolation found in the culture of the United States.
[7] Godly Play is the teaching of religious language based on the Christian system of symbols, and sacred story, parables, and liturgical action. This language assists disciples to develop morally and spiritually, helping them discover how to cope with, and transcend, the existential issues of death, aloneness, the threat of freedom, and the need for meaning. The out-working of the intuitions produced by wondering about the lessons of this curriculum produce contemplative “spiritual play,” or creative and existential art work and the manipulation of symbolic objects.
[8] Worship education is the preparation of children to worship the Trinity through teaching the Godly Play curriculum. The goal is lifestyle worship, and the development of the ability to personally work through existential issues with God.
[9] Worship discipleship is the teaching of sacred story, parables, and liturgical action, and the wondering about them with the storyteller, or teacher. This includes the structuring of the “worship center” classroom around the sense of time Holy Communion provides the community, or the “church circle” of children.
[10] Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds., “Apology of the Augsburg Confession,”: The Book of Concord (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000) 174.
[11] James V. Gambone, All are Welcome: A Primer for Intentional Intergenerational Ministry and Dialogue (Crystal Bay, MN.: Elder Eye Press, 1998) 11-15.
[12] http:// www. ginkworld. net/ position papers. Taken from a comparative chart of modern and postmodern characteristics of people and Christian ministry (cited 3/14/03)
[13] Ibid.
Congregational life is structured by beliefs about its main foci, worship and education, and the emphasis of contemporary Christian educators has been on “empowering the laity to embody discipleship in the world.”[3] Attaining this goal involves the whole Christian congregation in the process of learning religious language, knowing the triune God, and the intimate guided discipleship experience of an existential method of worship and religious education, joined with fellowship. This paper concerns itself with these matters.
There are several predominant approaches to Christian ministry and congregational learning in the United States of America today. There is education for social transformation, the community of faith model, the education of individual people who are to become the spiritual salt of the earth, and the family religious educational model.[4] Each type strives to address postmodern American culture from unique viewpoints, yet none seems to provide the opportunity to intricately join the congregational mission of worship with the vision of community and discipleship found in intergenerational ministry and education. Intergenerational Religious Education[5] supports the paradigm of Intentional Intergenerational Ministry,[6] yet this theology of Christian education requires the selection of a curriculum that supports its aims. Readily able to support both intentional congregational ministry and Intergenerational Religious Education theology, Godly Play[7] worship education[8] can be utilized for the worship discipleship[9] of both child and adult because it is suitable for each member of a congregation, no matter what the age or history of respective generational groups. The Godly Play method of religious education evolved from Maria Montessori’s discoveries, and since it can be utilized to develop a discipleship ministry for all ages in the congregation, it unifies the large communal worship gathering and small group educational worship throughout the church body, enhancing a congregational vision of fellowship in a theological model suitable for the postmodern church.
A unique opportunity to clarify a congregation’s spiritual life arises from its desire to receive as its principal worth the call of God to worship. This means that an overarching mission of worship will surround and guide everything the church sets out particularly to express. The vehicle for the expression of this mission is the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ himself breathed this person of the Trinity into his disciples (John 20:22), and, therefore, the Holy Spirit is found in the people of God.
Because the people of God have the Holy Spirit in their heart, the Spirit is manifested in the community of the saints,[10] and the comprehensive vision of the church is fellowship. God ministers to us with naturalness when we are intertwined with other people; therefore, the aim of congregations should be focused on interactive relationships between all the saints.
To maximize the Holy Spirit’s gifts within the church, all generations need to interact with each other and minister to each other through their unique individual qualities, whether through communal functions or homogeneous activities of congregational life. A body effective in the call of God has a guiding vision for the parish that promotes the ministry of the spiritual gifts lodged within each community member. This task, when undertaken with intention, allows no aspect of God’s call to worship to be overlooked. Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is an abundant vision for a body to have because it involves the seven generations in a particular time and place simultaneously, entwining them in church ministry.[11] This model of church worship, fellowship, and religious education has every generation sharing its nurture, knowledge, experience, hope, and vitality with every other generation. The work of God in a particular era moves forward through this shared perspective and the balance that results from that heritage.
Such a worship mission and fellowship vision supported by religious education and permeated with worship influences the theological architectural considerations of the church building and its environment. Thus, church building forms, spaces, and their relationships are re-thought so that they promote this energetic theological model of the body — in contrast to the typical church building of static and elaborate worship spaces attached to educational buildings that are given less consideration by the architect. Rather, in this reformed model, architectural concepts become intentional servants of all aspects of the worship discipleship community, providing restrained building forms that respond sympathetically to both the congregation’s internal theology and the external ecology of their surrounding community.
This theological model is a twenty-first century concept of the congregation and its church building, and it contrasts with the typical twentieth century characteristics of the Christian body still seen today. Congregations that adhere to a Modern, twentieth century type of ministry and cultural model are program driven, and find truth in absolutes and objective, or linear, thinking. Their culture is mono-cultural, they see the world as either “secular” or “sacred;” they believe in salvation, and therefore, that everyone is good. The people in these faith groups tend to have only a few close friends, as these are valued more than acquaintances. For them, families consist of two parents and two and one-half children, and are viewed as more important than friends.[12]
Postmodern congregations, on the other hand, generally are people driven, and they believe truth is circular and found in the life narrative. Their worldview leans toward the organic with connective communities at all levels, including the church, which is seen as both inside and outside the church community and their building. Postmodern Christians are multi-cultural, are looking to be engaged, included, and inspired, and they see no difference between the “sacred” and the “secular,” believing everything belongs to God. Most of them believe in sin, but not in salvation, and so are seeking the grace of Christ. Many come from broken homes; therefore, friends are important and are seen as family.[13]
This paper envisages a congregational model of worship, fellowship, and discipleship that is twenty-first century in its conception. It is not a prescription for American social ills, nor a solution for cultural decay, as Intentional Intergenerational Ministry and Intergenerational Religious Education were originally proposed to be when first introduced in the 1970s. Rather, it is a contemporary conversation regarding the major concerns of congregational life: worship and education.
These concerns were not generally integrated and addressed in the Modern congregation and its church buildings; however, there is a call among Americans today to have a primal set of spiritual needs met that involves these predominant aspects of congregational life. The postmodern church is the ideal place to provide this spiritual nourishment, and its buildings can be a place to shelter these activities. To answer this call coming from our society, and ultimately from God, the contemporary congregation’s conversation must turn from debate with American pop culture to listening to the call of God to worship, fellowship, and to disciple God’s people.
[1] Jack L. Seymour, Mapping Christian Education: Approaches to Congregational Learning
(Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1997) 9, 12.
[2] Ibid., 10.
[3] Ibid., 15.
[4] Ibid., 5.
[5] Intergenerational Religious Education is the teaching of sacred story, the history of the saints, congregational history, and the symbols of Christian language, promoting the remembrance of God in all areas of the disciple’s life. Its goal is lifestyle worship of God.
[6] Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is the deliberate provision of ministerial and lay leadership within a congregation that produces opportunities for intergenerational mentoring, teaching, and social interaction. The goal is to encourage a “multi-cultural” environment that promotes the passage of sacred story and Christian symbols from one generation to the next, while lessening postmodern social isolation found in the culture of the United States.
[7] Godly Play is the teaching of religious language based on the Christian system of symbols, and sacred story, parables, and liturgical action. This language assists disciples to develop morally and spiritually, helping them discover how to cope with, and transcend, the existential issues of death, aloneness, the threat of freedom, and the need for meaning. The out-working of the intuitions produced by wondering about the lessons of this curriculum produce contemplative “spiritual play,” or creative and existential art work and the manipulation of symbolic objects.
[8] Worship education is the preparation of children to worship the Trinity through teaching the Godly Play curriculum. The goal is lifestyle worship, and the development of the ability to personally work through existential issues with God.
[9] Worship discipleship is the teaching of sacred story, parables, and liturgical action, and the wondering about them with the storyteller, or teacher. This includes the structuring of the “worship center” classroom around the sense of time Holy Communion provides the community, or the “church circle” of children.
[10] Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert, eds., “Apology of the Augsburg Confession,”: The Book of Concord (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000) 174.
[11] James V. Gambone, All are Welcome: A Primer for Intentional Intergenerational Ministry and Dialogue (Crystal Bay, MN.: Elder Eye Press, 1998) 11-15.
[12] http:// www. ginkworld. net/ position papers. Taken from a comparative chart of modern and postmodern characteristics of people and Christian ministry (cited 3/14/03)
[13] Ibid.
Friday, January 5, 2007
Thesis Work for Master of Arts in Christian Education Leadership
Today I would like to begin with the process of publishing my thesis entitled: WORSHIPPING GOD: GODLY PLAY JOINED WITH INTENTIONAL INTERGENERATIONAL MINISTRY AND THE ENSUING ARCHITECTURAL IMPLICATIONS. This was A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, Mn., in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. My Thesis Advisor was MARY E. HESS, PhD.
Here is the format of the work:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PREFACE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION.
2. A THEOLOGICAL MODEL: UNITY OF WORSHIP AND EDUCATION.
3. THE MISSION: TO WORSHIP GOD.
4. THE VISION: INTENTIONAL INTERGENERATIONAL MINISTRY.
5. THE MEANS: WORSHIP DISCIPLESHIP.
6. THE METHOD: GODLY PLAY WORSHIP EDUCATION.
7. THE FORMGIVER: ARCHITECTURAL THEOLOGY.
8. THE FORM: ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN CONCEPTS.
9. CONCLUSION: THE INTENTIONAL CHURCH.
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Here is the format of the work:
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
PREFACE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Chapter
1. INTRODUCTION.
2. A THEOLOGICAL MODEL: UNITY OF WORSHIP AND EDUCATION.
3. THE MISSION: TO WORSHIP GOD.
4. THE VISION: INTENTIONAL INTERGENERATIONAL MINISTRY.
5. THE MEANS: WORSHIP DISCIPLESHIP.
6. THE METHOD: GODLY PLAY WORSHIP EDUCATION.
7. THE FORMGIVER: ARCHITECTURAL THEOLOGY.
8. THE FORM: ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN CONCEPTS.
9. CONCLUSION: THE INTENTIONAL CHURCH.
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Acknowledgements: For perceiving my gifts and supporting me when I was
a young woman, I’d like to honor Dan & Dee O’Neill and Royal & Ruth Irving.
For encouraging me while I was a seminary student, I’d like to thank Dick & Ann Fitch and Mary Anne Greco and her family.
And for guiding me in my thesis studies I give my appreciation to Professor Mary E. Hess and Professor Mons A. Teig Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Preface:
In the postmodern culture of the United States today, “[t]here is no overarching meaning to life, only episodes, and therefore meaninglessness has become the primal sickness of society. There is no sense of community among a people so physically and socially mobile and therefore loneliness has become the primal symptom of society.”[1]
For American congregations to respond appropriately to this condition among themselves and their contextual community, they need to provide people with an overarching mission and an organizing vision that answers the primal call of God to God’s people. Worship is the source of a relationship with God, and fellowship is the movement of the Holy Spirit among God’s community. Therefore, that call is a call to an overarching congregational mission of worship, and an organizing congregational vision of fellowship.
In order to accomplish an overarching mission, the congregation needs to address its two main foci, worship and education. The aims of these foci must to come into agreement if the mission is to go forth, and a vehicle for the realization of the organizing vision of fellowship needs to be developed if the mission is to be implemented. This paper suggests “worship discipleship,” or the teaching of worship through the educational method of Godly Play, combined with Intentional Intergenerational Ministry, and its teaching paradigm, Intergenerational Religious Education, answers the needs of contemporary American congregational ministry.
Godly Play is the teaching of sacred story, parables, liturgical action, and contemplative play, so that God is disclosed to the disciple of worship. This disclosure allows the disciple to “cope and transcend the existential issues…[of]…death, aloneness, the threat of freedom…[and]…the need for meaning”[2] that permeate American postmodern culture. Intentional Intergenerational Ministry is a fellowship paradigm that deliberately produces a melting pot of generations within the social fabric of a congregation, fulfilling the postmodern need for community and the congregation’s need for spiritual balance. Intergenerational Religious Education is the teaching of a single curriculum, in this case the Godly Play curriculum, to the whole congregation in both homogeneous and intergenerational groups so that all the generations mentor and learn from each other, enriching each other’s lives.
When a congregation prioritizes and reorganizes themselves in this way, one result is the theology of the architectural paradigm of the typical church building needs to be reevaluated. With the full integration of the congregation’s mission and vision, the usual distinctiveness of the building form for the large communal worship gathering, and the generally awkwardly attached, low-slung, boxy form of the educational wing, cannot express the melding of worship and education into worship discipleship. A different approach to church building design needs to be found. This paper suggests that the theology of space in the one-room concepts of Lutheran architect Ed Sovik, and religious educator the Reverend Jerome W. Berryman, are fertile ideas for manifesting a united building form based on architectural theology.
The joining of Godly Play, Intentional Intergenerational Ministry, Intergenerational Religious Education, and its resulting architectural theology, creates what I call the “intentional church.” This is a church whose mission of worship, vision of fellowship, religious language curriculum, and theologically based architecture stand in deliberate and strategically planned harmony with one another. The ensuing architectural design concepts are carried through generations of people, and are focused on serving the presentation of the gospel to contemporary American culture by implementing the congregation’s response to the primal call of God to worship God, and to communion among the saints. In this way, a new design concept for church architecture, or a theology of building form, is made available to the architect, and hence to the congregation for the spread of the gospel.
[1] William J. Bausch, S.J., Storytelling the Word (Mystic, CT.: Twenty-Third Publications, 1998) 2.
[2] Sonja M. Stewart and Jerome W. Berryman, Young Children and Worship (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1989) 7, 8.
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