The Upper Room

What Inspired Us

Two moms who wanted to be with their children and know what they were learning. Five young children who needed some Christian education. A church of just 40-some members with unused space. A retired pastor/Christian educator.

We came together to try to figure out how to fill the children's needs and honor the mothers' desires. Discussion evolved into ideas for a Saturday night gathering with food, learning, and fellowship.

We started with 8 people ranging in age from 5 to 65 (moms, children, retired pastor). Now, two years later, our group of about 25 people (if we are all there at the same time) spans ages 2 to 92.

We have become a very supportive community that welcomes all newcomers to join us for food and activities.

Things We Do

• Tell and hear stories: the Bible's and our own
• Make music with our wide variety of instruments, including our own voices (coming soon: handbells!)
• have fun
• play games - some for fun, some for learning
• color pictures
• make cards and gifts
• use puppets and wooden figures in our storytelling
• pray for each other and people we may not know
• explore our Bibles
• learn about God, our world, other people
• worship God
• love one another

Hands-On Mission

• Making Nametags for school back packs given out at Dallas Family Night Out (300-500 each year)
• Providing reusable shopping bags to help contol plastics hurting our environment (distributed 500 in 2018)
• Providing Fair-Traded coffee, tea, and chocolate to our congregation, the Play Park, and for sale. Support small farmers internationally!

An Experiment in Intergenerational Ministry

How do we share the Christian faith between generations if we are not together? Over the past 60 or so years churches have moved from programs from 'everyone together in worship and Bible study in family groups afterwards' to 'worship for adults, Sunday school for children, and youth group for the in-betweens'. That is, we've gone from ministry centered around the nuclear family to ministry centered around the ages and stages of life.

While everyone loves to be with their peers, we also need time in multi-age groups and multi-generational groups. Think of you and your friends or 'buddies': that's usually a peer group. Then think about a couple of households getting together: that's a multi-age group. Now think about when your whole extended family is together, from great-grandparents to the newest baby: that is a multi-generational group.

It is at these gatherings of multi-generational groups that the stories are told. The older folk spin yarns about when they were young, or when the middle-age folk were children, or what has been invented over their lifetime. These stories give us roots, a sense of belonging, an understanding that not all of our ancestors were perfect (but loved none the less), and a history to be a part of.

In the church, it is in these multi-generational gatherings that faith is passed from one person to another, where we learn that we are a part of a great line of Christians that extends back to the first disciples of Jesus, and of faithful people that extends back to Adam and Eve. From pillars of the faith to mis-fits and screw-ups, our ancestors have all been loved by God just as we are.

Intergenerational ministry gives us the chance to meet our Christian family with all it's glory and woes, and to learn that God is with us always ... in good times and bad.