to integrate or not to integrate, that is the question gareth crispin – youth, children &...

To integrate ornot to integrate,

that is the question

Gareth Crispin – Youth, Children & Families Minister, St. John’s Lindow.

Today we will mostly be...

Reviewing the range of approaches to the question of integrating young people into the church, from youth congregations through to all age church and everywhere in between. We’ll explore the theological underpinnings of the different approaches and the relationship between theology and practice in considering the question of integration.

In order to do that we will...

Place the discussion in context;Look at the continuum of approaches to integration;

Examine features of the different ends of the continuum;

Look at Family Ministry and Intergenerational church.

I won't...

I won't...

Be telling you what you ought to do

Placing the discussion

Family work

Family Ministry


Family Support

SegmentingY&C

Work with

Youth,Children

&Families


Integrating

Y&C

SegmentingY&C

FamilyMinistry


Integrating

Y&C

Placing the discussionWithin the 'We are Family' family?


Section 6.3 Future training needs:• Develop a theology of family ministry providing the context for reflective thought and practice;• Developing approaches to family ministry: increase awareness of models of family ministry;• Family Ministry with a focus on discipleship: and equipping families to talk about faith at home;• Intergenerational Church: exploring models for all-age and intergenerational worship.


Section 9.1 Key Findings:“To focus the whole church community on

supporting each other to have a lifelong relationship with Jesus. The priority is usually identified as embedding faith in children and young people so that they continue in faith into adulthood. There was a strong view expressed that parents should take back some responsibility for nurturing faith in their children. People talked about the whole church family coming together to nurture faith in each other.”


Section 9.1 Key Findings:“There is concern that traditional church models

have become too differentiated in a bid to appeal to more people.”

“There is a view that the segregation has been exacerbated by a ‘consumerist’ approach.”


Section 9.1 Key Findings:“Conversely, there is concern that specialist

skills are being diluted where children’s or youth workers.”

(A tension we will revisit)


Section 9.1 Key Findings:“This research suggests that more opportunities

to undertake training encouraging the development of knowledge and practice at a greater depth is much sought after by family workers. Enabling them to become reflective theological practitioners is a vital area to explore with potential to embed current good practice as well as cultivating valuable understanding for the future.”


The wider context.........



We're talking about integrating because we see segregation and think we might want to change that.



We're talking about integrating because we see segregation and think we might want to change that.

So let's first think about why we see segregation in Y&C ministry.


Why do we see segregation in Y&C ministry?


Why do we see segregation in Y&C ministry?

Cultural reasons (emergence of adolescence and theories of adolescence and development of youth culture);

Economic reasons (economic growth and the emergence of choice, through purchasing power and market development);

Educational reasons (dominance of stage based developmental theories – Piaget et al);

Philosophical reasons (modernity and the rise of specialisation);

Social developments (e.g. Sunday school);Religious developments (the rise of secularism and

pluralism)Theological/missiological reactions to the above.


Y&C

Church

SegmentingY&C


Integrating

Y&C

?!

“there is an irresolvable tension between the twin imperatives upon the church of being both an all-age community standing out from the fragmentation of society and being a community taking shape within a culture.”

Mountstephen and Martin

Continuum of integration

Increasing integration

Uni Reg Local Trad


FBM FEM


FIM IG

Uni Reg Local Trad


FBM FEM


FIM IG

What features would you expect to see as you move between the extremes?

What features would you expect to see as you move between the

extremes? Some questions to help...

How would workers in this area describe themselves?

What is there view of the trinity and holy spirit?

What is their view of the established church?

What is their view of power and authority?

What is their view of culture?

Youth worker as the primary agent The church as the primary agent

Self-identifying as missionary Self-identifying as Pastor

An outside in ministry model, or An inside-out ministry model

Focus on the non-Christian ‘out there’ Focus on the Christians ‘in here’

Youth work Youth ministry

Seeing Y&C as individuals Seeing Y&C as part of a family

Incarnationally focussed Christology Holistic Christlology

Negative/cynical toward the established church

Positive/hopeful toward the established church

Pragmatic Principled

Missiologically dynamic ecclesiology Essentialist ecclesiology

Consumerism as benign Consumerism as malignant

Social Trinity (Pneumatology?) Hierarchical Trinity (Pneumatology)

Culturally adaptive Culturally conservative

Gospels OT, Acts and the Epistles

Suspicious of power/institution OK with power/institution

Uni Reg local Trad


FBM FEM


FIM IG


FBM FEM


FIM IG


FBM FEM


FIM IG

Family Ministryvs

Intergenerational Church?


FBM FEM


FIM

IG

Family Ministryvs

Intergenerational Church?

Family ministry?

“The process of intentionally and persistently coordinating a ministry’s proclamation and practices so that parents are acknowledged, trained and held accountable as primary disciple-makers in their children’s lives.”

Jones

Inter-generational ministry?

“when a congregation intentionally brings the generations together in mutual serving, sharing or learning within the core activities of the church in order to live out being the body of Christ to each other and the greater community."

Allen & Ross

“When a congregation intentionally brings the generations together in mutual serving, sharing or learning within the core activities of the church in order to live out being the body of Christ to each other and the greater community."

Allen & Ross (IG)


Jones (FM)

Points of disagreement?

“When a congregation intentionally brings the generations together in mutual serving, sharing or learning within the core activities of the church in order to live out being the body of Christ to each other and the greater community."

Allen & Ross (IG)


Jones (FM)

Points of disagreement?

Think about:relationship between

bio-legal family and church family, and;

How the community of faith interacts;

View of children.

Relationship between bio-legal family and the church family

“It takes a family to raise a child.”

“It takes a parent to raise a child.”


“It takes a family to raise a child.”

Deuteronomy 6 as corporate


“It takes a parent to raise a child.”

Deuteronomy 6 as bio-legal family

How the community of faith interacts

Intergenerational church...

Significant stress on situative-socialcultural learning (peripheral participation).

There is learning in the process and situation.

How the community of faith interacts

Family Ministry...

Less recognition of the need to think about learning theory.

View of Children

Family Ministry...

Children as recipients

View of Children

Intergenerational ministry...

Children as participants

The way ahead?

The why and the how of integration (we know a lot about why, but not a lot about how!)

Consider these theologically (everything is theological)

Questions?

[email protected]

Recommended books:

• Body Beautiful by Mountstephen and Martin – Grove Booklet on all age church

• Mend the Gap by Jason Gardner – Book on why we're in the place we're in and what we might be able to do about it.

• Family Ministry Field Guide by Timothy Paul Jones – Practical workbook on implementing Family Ministry.

• Family Based Youth Ministry by Mark DeVries – Classic treatment of the why of Family based ministry (and some suggestions how too).

• Intergenerational Christian Formation by Holly Allen ad Christine Ross – One of the most detailed and comprehensive treatments of Intergenerational church to date.

to integrate or not to integrate, that is the question gareth crispin – youth, children &...

Documents

family family

church family

family workers

theology of family ministry

key findings

age church

church community

home intergenerational