One Church Four Generations

Offers insight into the four generations found in modern churches and gives practical suggestions for effective ministry to each generation.

Updated and expanded, the second edition of The Teaching Ministry of the Church offers churches a step-by-step plan for establishing and maintaining effective teaching methods for every age.

Are you ready to produce ministry that includes the millennial generation? Many find this task difficult, searching for inviting strategies that remain appealing to the younger generation. This book provides insight regarding the ministry needs of the millennial generation and highlights a successful approach to maintaining the interest and church involvement of millennials. The reader will explore a theoretical and practical approach that will inform how to do ÒChurch without Limits, Ó in order to make a successful connection with the millennial generation.

"One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts." —Psalm 145:4 Most churches and faith communities segment their ministries by age and generation. In some congregations, people may never interact with those of other ages. But it was not always so. Throughout biblical tradition and the majority of history, communities of faith included people of all ages together in corporate worship, education, and ministry. The church was not just multigenerational; it was intergenerational, with the whole church together as one family and people of all ages learning from one another in common life. The process of becoming Christlike does not happen alone, and intergenerational faith communities are designed for Christian formation. All generations are gifted parts of the body, and churches need all the parts. In this comprehensive text, Holly Allen, Christine Lawton, and Cory Seibel offer a complete framework for intentional intergenerational Christian formation. They provide the theoretical foundations for intergenerationality, showing how learning and spiritual formation are better accomplished through intergenerational contexts. Then the authors give concrete guidance for intergenerational praxis on how worship, learning, community, and service can all be achieved intergenerationally. Case studies of intergenerational congregations provide models for how a culture of intergenerationality can be created in local churches. This second edition has been revised and updated throughout with new empirical research, intergenerational spiritual practices, and Gen Z realities, with fresh stories of intergenerational formation both in the US and around the world. Discover the riches of intergenerational ministry, and let all generations commend the works of God to one another.

"If only we were a Christian country again!" Christians, particularly those in the West, often lament their loss of influence in modern politics and culture. It seems that everywhere one turns, Christendom in the West is dealt another blow, with Christian reactions ranging from withdrawal and entrenchment, to cries of persecution and talks of organized resistance. Pentecostalism, Secularism, and Post Christendom seeks to address these concerns via an examination of Classical North American Pentecostalism as it wrestles with the very real challenges posed by the increasing post-Christian ethos of Western culture. In addition to providing a number of concrete steps, Pentecostals may take in their efforts to better understand and connect with modern culture, this work will argue that counter-intuitively, the death of Christendom (if properly addressed), may in fact herald the arrival of the Church's finest hour.

About the Book This book acknowledges the need to identify and embrace todays generations. Under One Roof provides pastors, church leaders, and laypersons with insight for the cultivation of an intergenerational church. This resource offers the necessary tools, allowing each generation to be valued while keeping the church focused on its mission of kingdom building. Book Reflections Congregations interested in closing the generational divide will find Smiths book a must read. He gives keen insights for how to attract younger individuals and incorporate them into the life of the congregation with older generations. A great resource for leaders and congregations! (Dr. F. Douglas Powe, James C. Logan professor of evangelism and urban ministry and associate director of the Center for the Missional Church at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, DC, and author of New Wine, New Wineskins). Dr. William Smith has emerged as a new and fresh voice in the intergenerational church movement. Using biblical models, historical research, theological reflection, and coupled with his own research, Dr. Smith creates an intergenerational ministry model that will help to close the generational divide within the African-American community. This book is beneficial not only to the African-American church but to Christendom in general. Every pastor and mainline church needs to have this book on their shelf. This is a masterpiece that will last for the ages (Dr. Lucius Dalton, senior pastor of Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Washington, DC, and mentor at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio).

This is the first time in American history that we have had four different generations working side-by-side in the workplace: the Traditionalists (born before 1945), the Baby Boomers (born 1945-1964), Gen X (born 1965-1980), and the Millennials (born 1981-2001). Haydn Shaw, popular business speaker and generational expert, has identified 12 places where the 4 generations typically come apart in the workplace (and in life as well). These sticking points revolve around differing attitudes toward managing one’s own time, texting, social media, organizational structure, and of course, clothing preferences. If we don’t learn to work together and stick together around these 12 sticking points, then we’ll be wasting a lot of time fighting each other instead of enjoying a friendly and productive team. Sticking Points is a must-read book that will help you understand the generational differences you encounter while teaching how we can learn to speak one another’s language and get better results together.

The past thirty years have witnessed tremendous societal and ecclesial changes that continue to inform ministry education in the 21st century. In Seminary Formation, Katarina Schuth, OSF, examines the many aspects of theologate-level schools including their structures and missions, organization and leadership, student enrollment, backgrounds of both seminarians and lay students, and the evolution and development of degree programs, including human and spiritual, intellectual and pastoral formation. Seminary Formation also helpfully includes substantial commentaries on Schuth’s research by Ronald Rolheiser, Thomas Walters, Leon M. Hutton, Barbara Reid, and Peter Vaccari. An exploration of the changes in seminaries and schools of theology, with statistical analysis, from 1985 to the present, Seminary Formation anticipates the challenges ahead and considers new directions for the future.