Connected Through the Ages: Building Multigenerational Community

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Connected Through the AgesBuilding
Multigenerational Community

• Joseph Priestley District
• Annual Spring Conference
• Wilmington, DE
• Presented by Patricia Hall Infante
• Saturday, April 26, 2009

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• I have found a definition of family values
  that seems to make sense. I think it means that
  we are all family. And that we all have value.
  Christopher Reeve

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Clash of Cultures

• Personal Culture
• Institutional Culture

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Congregational Generational Continuum
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Mono-Generational

• Only one Age Group Present
• Most often people between the ages of 45 and 65
• Sunday Morning Worship usually the only main
  program
• If RE is present it is small and more like a
  childcare program

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Generationally Segregated

• There might be 3 to 4 generations present
• RE is the realm of children, youth and their
  parents
• Sunday worship is the realm of the middle aged
  and seniors
• Generations rarely mix socially

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Pseudo Integrated

• Looks like the Generationally Segregated Church
• Main differences is specific and limited
  intergenerational events like
• Yearly youth worship
• Holiday worship
• Children attend first part of service only

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Multigenerational

• There are programs present that are designed to
  meet the specific developmental needs of all
  generations
• There are programs the regularly bring different
  generational groups together in meaningful ways
• These two are part of an intentional church plan

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Multigenerational Minute

• Where do you think your congregation fits on the
  continuum?

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Components of Faith Development

• Learning
• Worship
• Social Justice
• Community
• Leadership

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• Horizontal
• Vertical Integration

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Path of Faith Development
Mature Faith Development
Transcendent
Relational
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Congregational Factors that Promote Growth and
Faith Maturity
Search Institute Study Found Six Factors

• Effective and formal education program
• Members perceive that their congregation
  encourages questions, challenges thinking, and
  expects learning.
• The congregation successfully recruits members to
  volunteer to help people in need.
• Members perceive their Sunday worship is of high
  quality.
• Members see their congregations as warm and
  friendly.
• Members personally experience other members care
  and concern.

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Eight Dimension of Mature Faith(Benson Eklin,
1990)

• Trusts in Gods saving grace and believes firmly
  in the humanity and divinity of Jesus. For UUs -
  trusts in life and believes in inherent worth,
  one love for all.
• Experiences a sense of personal well-being,
  security and peace.
• Integrates faith and life and sees work, family,
  social relationships, and political choices as
  part of religious life.
• Seeks spiritual growth through study, reflection,
  prayer and discussion with others.

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Eight Dimension of Mature Faith(Benson Eklin,
1990)

• Seeks to be part of community in which people
  witness to their faith and nourish one another.
• Holds life affirming values, including a
  commitment to racial and gender equality, an
  affirmation of cultural and religious diversity
  and a personal sense of responsibility for the
  welfare of others.
• Advocates social and global change to bring about
  social justice.
• Serves humanity consistently and passionately
  through acts of love and justice.

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Multigenerational as a Leadership Issue (Adapted
from Rendle, 2008)

• Train and challenge leaders to look beyond the
  preferential
• When preferred practice is simply endorsed
  leaders have difficulty hearing and responding to
  new voices.
• The task of a leader is to lead change and learn
  new ways.
• Congregations mistake strategies for purpose as
  if the practice itself were holy and not an
  approach to the sacred.
• Leaders must learn how choosing a practice will
  most faithfully fulfill the purpose of the
  congregation.
• Multigenerational leadership is a way of seeing.
  Leaders need to be prepared to share the
  leadership table.
• It is an act of radical hospitality which shapes
  a new community because of what we see.

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Generational Cohorts

• The GI Generation - born 1901 - 1924 hero
• The Silent Generation - born 1925 - 1942 artist
• The Boom Generation - born 1943 - 1960 prophet
• Generation X - born 1961- 1981 nomad
• The Millennial Generation - born 1982 - 2005 -
  hero?
• The Homeland Generation - born 2005 - 2025

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Generational Watershed

• Gil Rendle identifies a generational watershed
• Pre 1946
• GI Generation Values
• Post 1946
• Consumer Generation Values
• The Bridge People

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Gil Rendles Four Markers

• Deferred Pleasure v. instant gratification
• Group v. individual orientation
• Assumptions of sameness v. assumptions of
  difference
• Spirituality of place v. spirituality of
  pilgrimage

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Multigenerational Minute

• What side of the generational watershed do you
  identify with?

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Building Multigenerational Community

• Start with Intention
• Develop a Plan that addresses 3 Points
• Points of Entry
• Points of Difference
• Points of Connection

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Points of Entry

• Programming
• Fellowship
• Education

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Multigenerational Minute

• Can you identify several points of entry in your
  congregation?

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Points of Difference

• Cultural differences
• Identity based differences
• Theological difference

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Multigenerational Minute

• Are there particular differences that you are
  already aware of in your congregation?

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Points of Connection

• Friendship
• Mentorship
• Shared Experience
• Sense of community

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Multigenerational Minute

• Are there existing points of connection that are
  already part of your congregational culture?
• How can you build on them?

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Multicultural Community
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Strategies for Building Multigenerational
Community

• Worship for all, all the time.
• Themed worship and religious education
  programming, for all.
• Sunday morning religious education, for all.
• Mentorships and relationship building.

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Sharing Stories as a Strategy

• Sharing faith stories between generations is
  meaningful and powerful.
• It serves to carry the flame forward to a new
  generation.
• One aspect of spiritual maturity is knowing when
  to pass the torch of leadership.

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Resources

• The Worship Workshop Creative Ways to Design
  Worship Together by Marcia McFee
• Come Into the Circle Worshiping with Children by
  Michelle Richards
• Worship That Works Theory and Practice for
  Unitarian Universalists by Kathleen Rolenz,
  Wayne B. Arnason
• Hardwired to Connect Report www.americanvalues.org