Dr. Tori Smit, a diaconal minister and professional Christian educator in the Presbyterian Church in Canada serving the 262 churches in the Synod of Central, Northeastern Ontario and Bermuda — yes, that Bermuda — offered an insightful workshop during last week’s annual event of the Association of Partners in Christian Education, addressing a situation many churches find themselves in: “What to do when the kids are few.”
To illustrate how older adults can build bridges to young people through intergenerational ministry, author and speaker Missy Buchanan selected an illustration that was brand new when many of her listeners were youngsters — the Golden Gate Bridge.
Pastors and Christian educators from around the country as well as Canada and the United Kingdom joined for a webinar Monday to find out from one another how they’re creating community among the generations during the pandemic and, just as importantly, once it’s over.
Worried about how mainline churches are communicating to the youngest and oldest in their congregations during a time
of online worship, Karen DeBoer, creative resource developer for the Christian Reformed Church in North America, recently surveyed a landscape of churches.
The COVID-19 era “is going to radically push what the church is in the future,” the Rev. Dr. Jason Brian Santos told the Synod of Lakes and Prairies’ Synod School Wednesday evening.
Worried about how mainline churches are communicating to the youngest and oldest in their congregations during a time of online worship, Karen DeBoer, creative resource developer for the Christian Reformed Church in North America, recently surveyed a landscape of churches.
The titles of two workshops held last week during the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators event — “Killing Church Softly” and “Reviving Church Loudly” — together served up a vision about what intergenerational worship and Christian education could look like in the coming years.
