The Sunday our youth led Intergenerational Sunday Bible Study, Mark Ernstes declared to Gina and me, “We need to do this more often!” As we seek to know and understand each other as a church, we certainly were afforded a beautiful opportunity that morning! I want you to hear from a youth and an adult about what they gained from the church being together in conversation. What an important opportunity this was for our church to know one another more intentionally!
– Lee Ritchie
Before that Sunday, I had told Dane that I wanted to know the adults of the church. Some of them know us by name and we want to know them. That morning in Bible Study, I gained a lot of intergenerational understanding hearing different people’s perspectives. The experience surprised me at how much we all have in common along with our differences. I felt like the experience went really well, though I was rather sad that we didn’t get through all the questions we had planned because we ran out of time. I hope we’ll get to do it again soon!
– Brook Fowler, 10th Grade Sunday Bible Study
When I walked into the Fellowship Hall for the Intergenerational Sunday Bible Study, my first thought was what a first-time visitor would feel like. Maybe they had children; maybe they were non-believers; maybe they were single or a young couple. As a church, we are talking about “growing young.” I couldn’t help but think that if we had just one morning for people to see our church family, this was the way to do it. The room was full and full of energy with all ages together and interacting. The panel on stage gave insights to discussions at the tables.
At our table, we were able to interact with people who we may see in passing on Sunday mornings but don’t have the time to get to know. We opened up, based on the questions asked by the youth, to express our thoughts in relation to our faith walk. Dane and our youth leaders put together a great format that we can build on. I’m always amazed, but not surprised, when our youth lead us in worship … and this was worship!
Many of us say we don’t like change. For me, this was a change that I could get used to.
– Mark Ernstes, Pathfinders Community SBS
