Intergenerational Familying

Hello Friends!

Intergenerational has become a big word in the church formation circles in the last decade as ministry leaders continue to see the negative impact of age segregation in the church.

SO welcome to episode 13 of Vibrant Faith’s Podcast, Familying the Faith. Our purpose is to connect with ministry leaders who are ready to dig into engaging and uplifting parents, the primary faith-forming agents in our world, grow in their capacity and confidence as they share a vibrant faith in Jesus with the next generation.

This episode turned out to be a remarkably interesting one for Jim LaDoux and Nancy Going as they had the opportunity to connect with a church-serving organization that has remarkably similar goals to Vibrant Faith, and yet a different ministry focus.

Today, we’re interviewing Liz Perraud and Brittany Sky from GenOn Ministries. Just like us, GenOn was the recipient of a Lilly Endowment sponsored Christian Parenting and Caregiving grant. Liz and Brittany joined us to talk about GenOn’s long history with intergenerational programming at churches, and their new focus on resources for intentionally intergeneration faith formation in homes through their grant.

It was compelling to hear both Liz and Brittany share their perspective on why intergenerational relationships matter so much for the formation of faith.

This was such a great conversation—you’re going to love it!

Some of our takeaways include:

1. Intergenerational relationships don’t just happen. We very naturally separate to spend time with people our own age, both at home and at church. GenOn’s Program AND resource work are both designed to intentionally create space for intergenerational relationships.

2. And GenOn’s intergenerational approach is just that: A foundational faith-formation approach, not a program. People of all ages are children of God and people of all ages need to be engaged with one another as they are involved with claiming Scripture and practicing their faith with one another.

3. Finally, we heard from Brittany that in HER work with resourcing parents for sharing their faith at home, it is so important to help them just LET GO of their worry that they are not enough, and to help them see how God is present in their every day.

Join us as we help you take that next faithful step!