B13: Let's Kill Sunday School (and Birth the Cross+Gen Movement) - Volume 3

by Dr. Rich Melheim and Friends

What started out as a dozen churches gathering to brain-storm more wholistic systems of faith formation for the Millennial generation has grown into a movement across the church. This movement is replacing class with community, programs with process, and the one-way television-era method of teaching age-segregated Sunday schools into a blending of pastoral care, education and worship (eduworship) in the context of engaging, bonding, strengthening Cross+Generational relationships.

Six years into gathering, curating and coaching hundreds of pioneer congregations in Cross+Gen concepts, Faith Inkubators offers this Volume 3 of the series: 12 new case studies by faith formation pioneers.

From a tiny 300-year-old East Coast church finding new life to a suburban Chicago church that rented a strip mall and saw 50,000 parents, grandparents and children walk through the doors last year; from a two-point congregational redevelopment site that went from 6 kids to 150 and a national church body in Latvia bringing Christ to families and families to Christ in new, exciting ways, these churches all share a common DNA and a simple vision. The DNA is FAITH5 (share, read, talk, pray, bless).

The vision? Life together where the wisdom of the elder and the wonder of the child collide on a weekly basis in the same sacred space at church and in each other’s prayers every night in every home. If you are ready to explore designing new faith formation models that engage all ages and stages of life in joy, discovery and love, come on in. The adjacent possible of Cross+Gen ministry is waiting for you. And it is going to be grand.

PART I: WHY CROSS+GEN?

Preface: The Winnebago Tour
What’s In This Book?
Glossary
Foreword by Dr. Brian Hughes

PART II: 12 CASE STUDIES

Case Study 1 - An Introvert, an Extrovert and the Art of Boiling Frogs by Jen Kempter Kooistra
Case Study 2 - New Life by the Power of the Spirit by Rob Nelson
Case Study 3 - Making Cross+Gen Big and New in the Little Old Church by Erika Wesch
Case Study 4 - Warming to Cross+Gen: FAITH5 Fires by Brian Derrer & Robin Patras
Case Study 5 - Beating a Dead Horse by Chris Deines
Case Study 6 - Everything I Need to Know About Church I Learned in the Kitchen by Emily Dalen
Case Study 7 - Building a Cross+Gen Movement Across a Synod by Bradley Burke
Case Study 8 - Cross+Gen: Wired for Joy by Dana Hanson
Case Study 9 - Infecting a National Church (Latvia) with FAITH5band Cross+Gen by Ivars Jekabsons
Case Study 10 - Big Ship, Slow Turn by Eric Anspach-Hanson
Case Study 11 - KidStreet PlayCenter: Bringing the World to the Church and the Church the World by Linda Bailey
Case Study 12 - Alive! Worship? by Betsy Hoium

PART III: STARTING THE CROSS+GEN CONVERSATION

The Possible, Probable, and Preferable Futures
12 Steps to Crafting a Workable Cross+Gen Plan

Appendix A - The Neurology of Nighttime Rituals
Appendix B - Tips for Riding a Dead Horse
Appendix C - Conformation (sic!) Is Dead