A Call to Pivot
A Call to Pivot: Ways Intergenerational Ministry can Flourish during Covid
by Cynthia S. Fischer
The first Covid Sunday morning I worshipped God in my sock feet swathed in an afghan with two dogs at my feet. My husband fiddled with the Zoom App and then like magic we were wrapped in the familiar praise songs of our church. It wasn’t long before I was singing softly rather than with gusto. My husband has a rich bass voice while I have a solid range of three keys: C, D, and E. Not only was I off key, I was drowned out. Apparently I only sing enthusiastically when blended with my pew mates.
As the weeks passed, couch worship became challenging for many. There is no substitute for corporate worship, for hands held high, for passing the bread and the wine with the sweetest of words, “The body of Christ broken for you; the blood of Christ shed for you.” We miss the power of sermons and homilies finding home in our hearts while sitting in the sanctuary of God’s house among one another. We miss our rich liturgy such as corporate confession, pastoral prayers for our church and the world, and the closing benediction flowing to our open hands. We miss “Meet and Greet,” bagels and coffee visits, and even I miss the kids running through the hallways.
For many, online worship remains the best option either due to personal risk factors or limits on sanctuary attendance. Yet this separates a large component of our church body. We are missing one another. Are there new, beautiful ways to connect with one another? The church would do well to “pivot,” to creatively and intentionally be the church beyond the sanctuary.
It’s been said that out of loss, out of lament, creativity blossoms. We’ve seen some of that already—backyard movies, Zoom church, four-star meals available for pick up, and screen sharing Catan and other board games complete with trash talking banter. What is God calling us to creatively do now as the body of Christ?
Perhaps the key is right before us. We embrace covenant theology, the truth that the Triune God not only exists in the relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but that He designed us to be in relationship with him and with one another. Our sin severed those relationships. However, God’s covenant promises to bless the entire world through Abraham and Sarah’s family set in motion his plan to restore all that had been broken.
As recipients of God’s covenant through Jesus Christ, the church is uniquely equipped for forming and growing relationships that bless one another and the world. In so many ways, covenant theology calls us to open our silos. It provides context for the church to become a family. Rather than merely being multi-generational, the church flourishes when it is inter-generational (IG), when it is connected across age groups that lead to spiritual maturity. IG ministry has been a goal of many churches, but fostering it has been a high challenge.
Dr. Daniel Kwon, a pastor of youth and families at Young Sang Presbyterian Church in Horsham, Pennsylvania, defines inter-generational ministry as “involving and incorporating the entire church, from each individual to the church community so to nurture the spiritual growth and maturity mutually.” He cites both Lifeway Research and the Orange Group who report that youth and children connected with differing generations of church members are far more likely to develop long-term faith formation.
While we don’t have data for other generations, we know that singles, childless couples, single parents, and the elderly for example often feel over-looked yet they have vast resources to share. Well-executed IG ministry can open our eyes to the entire community of believers. More than ever, we need each others’ gifts of service, of prayer, of wisdom, to bless one another and our neighbors. Could this be the ideal time to foster faith connections between all generations of the church? And as everyone is experiencing the limitations of a pandemic, could we create ways for our faith community to connect with our neighbors and plant seedlings of conversation about Jesus and his life and death on our behalf?
Rather than adding additional commitments to congregants, it could be advantageous to have ministry leaders redirect their furloughed volunteers to similar areas of service. Nursery workers might enjoy supporting young families with toys and books. Children’s Sunday School teachers could create online lessons for their students. Adult Sunday School teachers could use their gifts in leading neighborhood Zoom Bible studies. Work teams could assist with yard work and outdoor repairs. Community and discipleship groups could creatively assist their neighbors. Creative pivoting will differ from church to church but there are endless ways for all the members of our churches to flourish in their calling during this time.
Families with school-age children will be under greater stress this semester. Especially for single parents and those with two working parents, time is one commodity that will be a luxury. Parents will need to coach and tutor their children as well as build deeper relationships with them as so many other human interactions will likely be restricted.
What if God’s people who aren’t experiencing the added stress of overseeing school provided extra time for these families? What blessings would the gift of a meal, a fresh-mowed lawn, a weed-free garden, or a week’s worth of groceries yield? Are there safe ways for low-risk people to clean homes of exhausted parents? Wouldn’t these acts of grace knit the body of Christ together? How many beautiful outcomes could there be? I doubt we could name them all.
Our children have ideas about how they view this challenge. They have experienced virtual learning, they know firsthand what a weekday at home looks like. It may seem surprising, but children do have ideas to help the household run better, to help siblings through school, and to support neighbors. We should no longer be surprised at the ways children have served others during Covid. Some have made masks. Others have baked cookies for neighbors, and others have created driveway tic, tac, toe games for passersby.
Finally, the church has financial resources that could be used to assist parents in hiring childcare, tutors, and other extra help. This is the time for Covid needs to be a line item in our church budgets. Money budgeted for suspended youth and children’s programming could be directed towards these families. Special offerings would bless both givers and receivers. To paraphrase Mordecai’s charge to Queen Esther to risk her life to save her people, “Who knows but that the church, the body of Christ, was designed for such a time as this.”
