A Tale of Two Buildings: Answering “The How” of Intergenerational Ministry
A Tale of Two Building Projects
When I was three years old, I lived between two houses—one old, one new, both shaping my understanding of “home.” The first house was an established structure my parents purchased from a previous owner years before I was born. When they first moved in, they spent most of their time putting up new wallpaper, repainting rooms, and remodeling portions of the house to accommodate their growing family. A few years later, they decided to buy a plot of land directly behind this older house. My dad wanted to build a new home where we could eventually live, so he slowly began preparing the ground. He cleared trees, bulldozed the earth, and began piecing together a new structure.
My childhood memories from this season are admittedly vague—I only have photographs to guide my recollection. There are pictures of me wandering from our old backyard with my dad’s building project on the horizon. There are snapshots of me standing on a dirt pile next to the framed house, looking at the camera as if I were the master builder behind it all. I can only imagine what this experience was like for me as a child. I would spend time playing in the familiar rooms of my first house, then venture over to the newly forming structure, walking along plywood floors and inspecting walls as they slowly emerged from my father’s hands. I imagine desperately wanting to hammer nails and ride the bulldozer—anything to help my dad build our future.
A Metaphor for Ministry
This childhood memory serves as a powerful metaphor for church ministry. Most leaders find themselves managing these two types of building projects simultaneously within their context. On one hand, the majority of ministers are placed within existing church structures. They inherit whatever those before them created and built: ministry initiatives, established ways of doing things, and particular identity markers. Much of the first few years in any new ministry involves learning what is already present and active in a congregation. Once leaders understand the landscape, they invest effort in finding ways to honor what came before, but they also consider ways of remodeling or reimagining what exists.
On the other hand, there are often undeveloped “plots of land” within the life of a church—spaces where ministers can build something entirely new. This might involve launching a fresh ministry initiative, introducing innovative approaches to the congregation, or establishing new identity markers. In unhealthy contexts, this spirit of creating and innovating is typically resisted and squelched. However, in healthy contexts, this kind of innovation and experimentation is not only welcomed but encouraged.
Ministry rarely offers a choice between one building project or the other. Instead, it requires constant movement between both approaches. Leaders spend time honoring and remodeling inherited structures—every house and family needs repairs and updates from time to time. They also invest energy imagining and innovating new possibilities—every house and family must consider what might help them live more faithfully into the future. This dynamic applies equally to where families live and where the family of God exists together.
A Guide for “The How” of Intergenerational Ministry
This metaphor provides a helpful framework for approaching intergenerational ministry in local contexts, offering two distinct pathways for developing “the how” of this vision for ministry. As we discussed in a previous post, intergenerational ministry is fundamentally about bringing generations together in mutual and meaningful ways. It focuses on developing opportunities for different generations to connect, engage with one another, and create unique formative experiences. Both old and young benefit and grow when they encounter each other in deeper, more direct ways. But how does a leader cultivate this culture within their specific context?
The Remodeling Approach
One pathway involves building upon what already exists in the community. This approach encourages leaders to assess current church structures and ask, “How can we add one more generation to this experience?” This remodeling mindset takes inventory of existing foundations while dreaming within those established walls. This approach might look like the following: a vibrant small-group ministry that launches an intentionally intergenerational group; two Bible classes, one focused on empty-nesters and one on young marrieds, decide to join together for a shared study for a short season of the year; a worship environment that begins to involve greater age diversity in the leadership of the service. All of these approaches can help remodel a church toward a more intergenerational culture.
The Innovating Approach
Another pathway involves creating something entirely new in the life of a church. I implemented this approach at my previous church during a Wednesday night in the holiday season. Our congregation traditionally took the Wednesday night before Christmas off, allowing people to travel and rest. Looking at our calendar, I saw an open space to develop something brand new. Therefore, I partnered with our children’s and student ministers to create a worship service that intentionally involved all generations through worship, artistic expression, and interviews featuring different ages within our congregation. This represented an effort to take undeveloped “land” and build something fresh.
Choosing Your Path
Ultimately, discerning which path to take—and when—rests with individual leaders and their specific contexts. However, these frameworks can spark imagination around developing intergenerational cultures in any given setting.
Questions for Discerning Your Building Project
As you consider what intergenerational ministry might look like in your church, reflect on these questions:
What are the current ministry areas within our church?
How could we meaningfully add one generation to an existing ministry area?
Where are the open spaces in our church’s life where we could experiment with something new?
What might it look like to create something intentionally intergenerational in these open spaces?
Who is someone from a different generation within your church who could help you brainstorm and dream around these possibilities?
These questions can guide your congregation’s journey toward more meaningful intergenerational connections, whether through remodeling existing structures or building something entirely new.
