All in together

I wonder what your first response is to the news of a family/all-age-service?  "Yay!! - the kids are in!!"  OR  "Noooooo – not all-age worship again. Can I sneak out before anyone sees me?"      I’m a yay person!   Although along with this I certainly admit that worship with all ages together is easy to do badly and hard to do well.    BUT this doesn’t mean we should give up in the name of a quiet life!So why should we worship all together, Liz? (“I hear you ask”)   Isn’t it better if we are hearing God’s word at an age-appropriate level?Well, yes, if church was only about cerebral learning.  But perhaps being at church is actually about being with God and each other, learning how to love God and each other better and then doing it with God’s help.  If so, do we do this better by usually being separate or by learning to live together?I’ve been reading a book by Lucy Moore who started ‘Messy Church’ in the UK (an all-age fresh expression of church) and she wonders why it has always been age that has been the separation point in churches.  She notes that we don’t split into groups based on such things as reading age, learning-style preference, concentration span, spiritual maturity, personality type or by whether we prefer to stay in our chairs or move around.    She also says, "How can we best learn together how to worship God - by usually sending out one particular group of people who reflect his glory through their energy, imagination, lack of inhibitions and readiness to express awe and wonder OR by staying together and modelling worship and discipleship to each other?   Jesus’ disciples learned by listening to him but also by being close to him and living close to each other."Some of this thinking is one of the reasons behind our new 5 O’clock Church service on Saturdays!  We are going to have a go at worshipping all together – which won’t be without it’s challenges I’m sure – but will, I trust, also offer many blessings and opportunities to learn  from both God and each other.  Although some might wonder about lost opportunity for deeper learning, I hope such people might be downloading sermons onto ipods and participating in other learning, and also recognise the opportunity for a deep experience of God as we share and pray together and see God at work in each other.  What will 5 O’clock church look like?    It’s still a work in progress, but there will definitely be sharing around God’s word, praying,  learning, eating together and having fun.    It’s for families but not just for families – all people, all ages are welcome!  We’d love to have you join us.And I also look forward to some more opportunities now and then for All-age Worship on Sundays at 9.30 where we can all worship together, learn from each other and celebrate being God’s family!With love and blessingsLiz