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| Wednesday, June 25, 2008 |
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Generation to Generation
Church of God Ministries, Church of God - General
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Bridging the intergenerational gap in women’s ministry
By Courtney Porter
 Often I have the privilege of answering the phones for the national offices of Women of the Church of God. One question that seems to be on the hearts of the women across the country is, How do we get younger women involved with Women of the Church of God? That is a great question, yet the answer is not as easy as we would like it to be.
One thing that Women of the Church of God has done in the last two years is to offer a conference during North American Convention on intergenerational women’s ministry. Last year’s response to this conference was overwhelming. This year was no different. The “Generation to Generation” conference, led by Angela Sagase, youth pastor from Avon Community Church in Avon, Indiana, was held in the Newberry Room at Park Place Church of God.
The women who gathered from all over the country were challenged and encouraged as they listened to Angela. They were instructed that women of the younger generations need the women of older generations to invest in their lives, taking them under their wings and pouring into them, even if the older mentors do not understand the younger women or their culture.
Biblical mandates from Deuteronomy 6:4–7 and Titus 2:3–5 were used as examples of how God wants the church to work intergenerationally. The women were also challenged to take a look inside their own lives to see what they are doing, as well as what their churches are doing, to carry out these mandates.
Angela provided five steps to getting started. It’s all about relationships, being an intergenerational champion, finding other intergenerational champions in each generation, learning generational distinctives (i.e., finding out what their needs are and setting goals). Angela Sagese set a challenge before the women to get involved, see what the women’s needs are around them, and then take care of those needs. She cautioned them: “There is great importance to bridging the gap; however, there is much work involved.”
The attendees left with resources that they could take back to their home congregations and with fresh ideas that they could implement in their ministries. But most importantly, they left with a renewed confidence that they could help bridge the intergenerational gap in women’s ministry.
A version of this article appears in the Thursday, June 26, 2008, edition of the NAC roundup/08 newsletter. To view the newsletter in its entirety, click here (1.57 MB). The document is in PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat in order to read and/or print it. If you do not have Acrobat installed on your computer, you can download a free copy of Acrobat Reader here.
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