The Church of All Ages: Generations Worshiping Together

by Howard Vanderwell (Editor)

Many congregations today experience collisions between parents who ant to spend time with their children and age-segregated church programming, as well as between the children worshiping in their pews and the increasing number of seniors in the same pew. Among the questions these congregations struggle to address are these: Should we try to hold the generations together when we worship? Is it even possible? Led by pastor and resource developer Howard Vanderwell, nine writers--pastors, teachers, worship planners, and others serving in specialized ministries--offer their reflections on issues congregational leaders need to address as they design their worship ministry. In addition, numerous sidebars illustrate the diversity of practices in the church today. Contributors do not propose easy answers or instant solutions. Rather, they guide readers as they craft ministries and practices that fit their own community, heritage, and history. Each chapter includes questions for reflection and group discussion, and an appendix provides guidelines for small group use. The thread that connects these varied contributions is the belief that there is no greater privilege for Christians than worshiping God, and there is no better way to do that than as an intergenerational community in which all are important and all encourage and nurture the faith of the others.

248 pages, Paperback

First published December 17, 2007

Reviews

[John Medendorp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Howie strikes again with another awesome, and awesomely helpful, book on the life of the church, this time concerning the topic of intergenerational worship. Very direct topical chapters from people like Bob Keeley, Darwin Glassford, Stan Mast, and Norma deWall Malefyt (and others) on topics from faith development to culture changing to preaching to worship planning. Throughout, the book is peppered by stories about intergenerational relationships and church issues that are great sermon material. I really liked it.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vanderwell has collected some good overall ideas on how to encourage a valuable worship environment in a multi-generation congregation. Most of it is common sense backed with some excellent real-life examples of both success and failure.

[Amy Fetterman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciate what Vanderwall sought to put together with this book: a one-stop resource for those interested in intergenerational worship. I will reread several chapters in the book (Keeley's, Rendle's, and Glassford's in particular) whenever I need a good grounding in the how's of this work. I also found many of the discussion questions (found at the end of each chapter) to be good resources for council meetings.

The book loses one star for some of the weaker chapters and another star for the lack of diversity. I don't mean a lack of gender, racial, or geographic diversity (though that is a draw back - is being a white male from and/or connected to Michigan a prerequisite to write about this stuff?). The lack of generational diversity in the contributors is a problem given the topic of the book. The book read as though it was coming from those closer to retirement than graduation - and based on what a quick google search or two, it seems there's a reason for that. There are (and we're at the time the book was written) younger authors who would and could contribute to such s book. Their voice was noticeably lacking.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book on intergenerational ministry. Although its focus is on worship, it provides ideas and theory to reach the entire life of the congregation. 4.5 stars