New material for Intergenerational Events

The CRCNA has prepared a new raft of material simply called 'WE' designed to help churches create faith shaping, genuinely intergenerational events (see below why these are important.)

These are not services where children are given activities while adults are addressed, nor are they simply beefed-up Sunday school lessons. Rather around a meal, people of all ages gather, talk, learn, sing and participate in activities that are designed to help the generations mix and share faith. Each event goes for about 1.5 - 2 hours and all the resources needed are included in the outlines.

The event has three parts (with a meal or snack).


Step 1: Welcome, gathering, and building community

Step 2: Learning experiences for all ages

Enter the story through things like dramatic readings or a photo montage combined with a reading. Then live into the story as you do a fun activity.

Step 3: Reflect and praise
Share what you’ve learned, praise God in song, and learn how to “take it further” with ideas for living out what you’ve learned.

You can get a sample here.



Behind the 'WE' curriculum is the belief that intergenerational interaction is vital for healthy faith development. It was certainly the pattern God established for Israel (see Deut 6.) While our traditional  approach of separating children, youth and adults into separate groups has some benefits, it also has had some unintended consequences:

• Children and youth don’t feel like they are an integral part of the church’s life and ministry. They’re a part of “children’s church” or the “youth group.” They feel a sense of belonging to their particular silo rather than to the church as a whole.


• They don’t have an opportunity to see their parents and other adults talk about and live out their faith close-up. They miss out on hearing the “faith stories” that abound in the church—the struggles and triumphs, the doubts and deep faith—that make faith real and ground it in practice.


• Adults lose the opportunity to learn from young people’s faith. Anyone who has spent time around children and teens knows that they can be excellent teachers if adults are listening.

For these reasons WE is a welcome addition to the stable of Reformed material that can be used to build up the people of God.

Why not download the sample and let me know what you think.

Has anyone tried this or another kind of intergenerational event? How did it go?

Relating the Story: A resource for reflection and training.

At a recent team meeting we had a brief training session on how to relate a story. We used the "Relating the story" worksheet to discuss the kinds of questions and statements we can use to effectively relate a story to children.

At his next Sunday school class, one of our children's leaders raised the issue of doubts and questions with his small group of older boys. The result was a raft of questions about God and the Bible that were living just below the surface in each child's mind; "How do you know the Bible is true." "What about miracles?" And the questions went on. The leader was left with some work to do and set about finding helpful ways to handle the questions raised. Then, this week, a parent of one of the boys said that his son, who normally never talks about what happens in children's church, has been full of conversation and enthusiasm about the discussion in his group. It's certainly made an impact and it's all part of relating a story to a child that goes beyond just telling the it.


How well do you ask questions that encourage children to relate to the story? What kinds of statements draw children out, what shuts them down?For example, I will sometimes start with a "I wonder...." statement, followed by the thing in the story which I find interesting or about which I have a question.

What questions and/or statements have you found helpful? Which ones do you avoid?

You can download the worksheet here. Use it with your team.