From gathered assemblies in the Hebrew scriptures to the house groups of the earliest churches, ancient faith practices were inherently intergenerational. By blending theory and theology with examples of current intergenerational practice in Scotland, this webinar explores how core spiritual practices such as community, hospitality, learning, story-sharing, prayer, music and worship can shape communities of faith into intergenerational families of belonging.

1. Intergenerational Faith
Communities
Darren Philip, The Church of Scotland
dphilip@churchofscotland.org.uk

2. Faith Practices
Prayer
Hospitality
Worship Worship
Meditation
Ritual Community
Story-
sharing

3. What is hospitality?
Hospitality
“If there is any concept worth restoring to
its original depth and evocative potential, it is
the concept of hospitality. It is one of the
richest biblical terms that can deepen and
broaden our insight in our relationships to
our fellow human beings.”
Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out (London: HarperCollinsReligious, 1998), 44.

4. What is hospitality?
Hospitality
philoxenia
(love of the stranger)

5. An example: Boghall Parish Church
Hospitality

6. An example: Boghall Parish Church
Hospitality

7. An example: Boghall Parish Church
Hospitality

8. A free and friendly space
Hospitality
“Hospitality, therefore, means primarily the
creation of a free space where the stranger
can enter and become a friend instead of an
enemy. Hospitality is not to change people,
but to offer them space where change can
take place.”
Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out (London: HarperCollinsReligious, 1998), 49.

9. An example: Boghall Parish Church
Hospitality

10. Testimony
Story-
sharing
“People yearn to tell their story, yearn to
share their person with anyone who might
listen.”
Andrew Root, The Relational Pastor: Sharing Christ by Sharing Ourselves (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2013), 191.

11. Testimony
Story-
sharing
“What makes a story powerful is its hooks.
We are moved by stories that draw out our
person by connecting our own story with the
story being told.”
Andrew Root, The Relational Pastor: Sharing Christ by Sharing Ourselves (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2013), 191.

12. Testimony
Story-
sharing
• Informal
• Mentoring
• Twinning
• Befriending
An example: Claremont Parish Church

13. Worship
Worship

14. The cycle of faith
Worship
Paul Moore, Making Disciples in Messy Church: Growing Faith in an All-Age Community (Abingdon: BRF, 2013), 17-18.

15. An example: Livingston
United Parish Church
Worship

16. Worship
Worship
“When a middle-schooler sees that a young adult is
genuinely learning and growing in his faith, this
provides a powerful witness to the young adolescent.
Similarly, when a middle-aged adult sees a youngster
have an ‘aha’ moment of faith, it freshens and enlivens
the faith of the mature adult. When the whole
community learns the same things at the same time, it
strengthens the sacred nature of the whole
community.”
Mariette Martineau, Joan Weber and Lief Kehrwald, Intergenerational Faith Formation: All Ages Learning Together
(New London: Twenty-Third Publications, 2008), 62.

17. Intergenerational Faith Communities
Worship
The body is not made up of only one part, but many
parts, If the foot were to say, “Because I am not a
hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not
keep it from being part of the body… If the whole
body were just an eye, how could it hear? And if it
were only an ear, how could it smell? As it is, however,
God put every different part in the body just as he
wanted it to be. There would not be a body if it were
all only one part! As it is, there are many parts but
one body.
1 Corinthians 12:14-20
Story-
sharing
Hospitality