The Venta Group of Churches

Let’s talk about our generation!

As my teenagers are extremely fond of reminding me, the proportion of things which are older than me is getting smaller and smaller as the years go by. Even with my advancing years, occasionally I am surprised that something is much older than I remember, and I had this just now when I went to look up My Generation by the Who. In my mind I knew, really, that they had lots of hits in the 60s, but I think there is something timeless about it which makes it always feel very urgent and new.

It’s a very interesting song, because its main message is of a new generation who want to be listened to, but the way they seem to expect that to happen is partly by the current generation “fading away” – as if old and young somehow need to compete for attention, and there isn’t enough room for both of them.

In our churches over the years we have done all sorts of things to try and provide for everyone, rather than prioritising one group over another. We have a mixture of things on Sundays; we take equal care with baptisms, weddings, and funerals; we run school holiday clubs and youth groups as well as weekday gatherings for older people, and bereavement events every year.

But there’s always a bit more that we can do. At the moment we are in the process of thinking and praying about how we will gather as churches from September, when Cathryn and I and those teenagers I mentioned will have moved on to a new place. One of the things we have been looking at in particular is our morning and afternoon Sunday gatherings in Stoke, and what we can do to bring together the different generations reflected by these two congregations. We are going to have a little go at this when we meet together at the Church Hall on 14^th June, and you are welcome to join us for this – of course, you are welcome to join us at any of our events and services all round the villages and all through the month.

The Bible promises all of us who know Jesus that we have an inheritance waiting for us that cannot perish, or spoil, or fade, so even when generations or vicars or anything else come and go, there is nothing to be afraid of. And there’s certainly no reason to be worried about anyone else coming and taking what’s ours or pushing us out; every generation is God’s generation.

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