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BEING A ‘TOGETHER’ CHURCH
HOW INTERGENERATIONAL FAITH BUILDS STRONGER COMMUNITIES
A dirty, sweaty family got out of the car in my driveway. I offered my guests something to drink.
“May I have some water, please? I have lost every drop of liquid I had in my body!”
“May we wash our hands in your bathroom? We are covered in mud.”
“It was so exciting; we got caught in the sprinklers! And something destroyed all our spinach, but the beans are growing nicely.”
“I was attacked by ants...!”
Four people were talking simultaneously, obviously excited about their experience at the community garden.
“We are going to be able to feed billions of hungry people and we enjoyed together-church with other families” the youngest of the family summarised the morning.
One Saturday per month, Peter and Marion take their kids (aged seven and nine) along to help in a community garden. They form part of an interdenominational group that cultivates a large vegetable garden, working together as families and individuals.
Watching them, I realised something: INTERGENERATIONAL FAITH TRANSFERENCE is merely a fancy term for doing life together as believers.
Why is it necessary to include faith in doing life?
All humans are born with an inner emptiness, a cavity. The NIV Exhaustive Concordance Dictionary partly defines this cavity (“koilia” in Greek) as:
G3120 κοιλία koilia, n. [23]... belly, stomach, womb, etc.; by extension: the source of feelings and emotions.
If this longing is not filled with the presence of God, people try to satisfy it with activities, work, entertainment, money - anything that provides temporary meaning.
This longing exists in both young and old. Yet, when we limit children's spiritual experiences to "children-only activities", we unknowingly restrict their growth. Similarly, adults who are not exposed to faith alongside children also miss out.
A friend once described intergenerational faith transference as:
"Generations growing together in faith—learning with and from each other."
Faith is strengthened in community. Intergenerational connections create deeper, richer faith experiences for all involved.
How Do We Foster a "Growing-Together" Faith?
For generations, churches followed the principles of educationalists like Jean Piaget, leading to the well-intended but unfortunate segregation of age groups in worship.
We reasoned:
While these efforts weren’t all wrong, they missed something crucial: faith is more than education - it is caught, not just taught.
At Petra Institute, we often say:
"Faith is transferred in the same way you’d catch chicken pox—you need to be close enough for long enough to ‘catch’ the way someone else expresses faith in real life."
One sad result of generational segregation is that many churches consist mainly of older believers - faithful, wise individuals with powerful testimonies but no one younger to share them with.
"I Forgot How to Laugh": A Retired Friend's Story
A retired friend once confided in me:
"I was lonely and bored with my orderly, senior lifestyle. Then I started taking care of a friend’s son after school. Now, I know about TikTok, I hear new jokes, and I understand the fears of a 10-year-old. Best of all, we figure out together how God reveals Himself in everyday challenges - health crises, being dropped from the team, or when a parent loses their job."
"I never imagined I could still laugh, cry, and grow alongside a child. And I guess, he learns from me too."
Do we have Biblical examples of growing-together-faith?
First, we can all relax—this is not a new trend. In fact, it’s a 2,000+ year-old way of doing life as believers!
Even in the Old Testament, children were included in faith practices:
- As a child, Samuel was dedicated to the Lord by his mother, Hannah. He served in the temple under the priest Eli (1 Samuel 1 - 3) and continued his prophetic ministry as an adult.
- Numbers 8:5-26 describes how Levites were consecrated for service, indicating a process that included the young.
- The Passover, as well as the Feast of Tabernacle and other celebrations, involved the participation of the whole family (Exodus 12; Leviticus 23).
In ancient Israel, these forms of inclusion fostered a sense of community and continuity in faith practices.
The New Testament continues this pattern:
The early church was an intergenerational, together church. They grew together, prayed together, and served together.
A House Church That Changed My Perspective
I recently attended a house church service where the host prepared a discussion topic from the Bible. However, something unexpected happened - the children led the entire worship session and discussion.
With a guitar, bongo drums, and some homemade instruments, they joyfully guided us through a discussion on the Second Coming of Jesus. Despite the group spanning six decades in age, it was one of the most moving, spontaneous acts of worship I’ve ever experienced.
Final Reflection: A Call to Build a ‘Together’ Church
Faith grows in relationships, not just in structured lessons. The Biblical model of faith-building has always been one of togetherness, where generations share experiences, wisdom, and struggles in a way that strengthens everyone.
So, how can we be more intentional?
What steps can we take to build churches, families, and communities that do life together, so that faith is not just taught, but caught?
Let’s take time to include the younger and the older. Let’s open spaces for stories, laughter, and shared wisdom.
Because a church that grows together, stays together.
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RESOURCES
NIV Exhaustive Concordance Dictionary. 2015.
