What if we teach children with their parents or caregivers? Family-focused, intergenerational learning offers a variety of positive benefits for all.

Family Sunday School

Intergenerational learning offers so many benefits for all ages: strengthening faith, nurturing community, passing on traditions, and promoting spiritual development. Classes like these can be a powerful tool for connecting the generations and encouraging a sense of belonging. 

I absolutely love to teach these classes! 

There are a variety of subjects and classes that can be taught in this way that connect specifically to your community of faith’s worship. I am highlighting just six of the possibilities. I have taught these in one or two sessions once a month during the program year.

Ten Commandments – Kindergarten

Kindergarten-aged children understand rules. They might not like them or understand the whys of them, but they understand what a rule is and how to challenge them.

Read the Moses story from a children’s Bible. Search online for “10 commandments for children,” and choose the version that fits your class.

Ask family groups to come up with ten rules they would make in their world today. Share. Compare which of their rules are like the Ten Commandments.  

Communion – First Grade

Share the story of the first communion during the Last Supper. What else do we celebrate with a meal? Thanksgiving, birthdays, etc. What were Jesus and the disciples celebrating? Passover.

Explain the story of Passover and why it is called Passover, lightly covering the deaths of the firstborn sons in Egypt (see Exodus 12–13).

Communion is remembering Jesus. What do they remember of Jesus’ stories?

Read and explain how your church observes communion. Practice by trying the wine/juice and bread/wafers. 

Prayer – Second Grade

Second graders can be creative when given permission.  Explain that prayer is talking to God anytime and anyplace.

How do you pray? Try each of these.

• Quietly calming your body and talking to God in your head.
• Popcorn prayer – jumping up and saying a “Thank you, God” out loud.
• Playground prayer – swaying, pretending you are on a swing.
• Telephone prayer – put your hand to your ear like you are talking on the phone.
• Writing prayer – write out your prayer.
• Map prayer – point to a place on the map and pray for the living things there.
• Five Finger Prayer
• Brainstorm all their ideas of where, how, and why to pray.

Practice one-line prayers of Thank you, I’m sorry, needs, wants, about others, praising God, and asking for forgiveness. 

The Bible – Third Grade

Many churches give third graders Bibles. Third graders have likely heard about the Bible and can read most versions. Most third graders excel when given structure. This class is how to navigate and understand how the Bible is organized and structured. (Check out our Bible 101 unit for help!) 

• Two parts, Old Testament (before Jesus) and New Testament (after Jesus’ birth)
• How to look up a Bible verse. (Book, chapter, and verse) Help them look up several verses.
  • Psalm 103:1 – middle of the Bible
  • John 11:35 – shortest verse
  • Esther 8:9 – longest verse.
  • Luke 2: 6 and 7 – Christmas
• Have the class guess facts. (Write in their new Bibles if possible.) How many chapters? (594) How many verses? (31,173) How many Bibles sold? (6 billion) How many languages? (3,576) How many different versions? (over 450) What version do you use in worship?
• Brainstorm all the Bible stories that they know and figure out which testament they are in. 

Lord’s Prayer – Fourth Grade

Fourth graders in general have heard the Lord’s Prayer, know the rhythm, but do not understand what in the world they are praying. Usually, this is prayed in a group/community, and this age can find comfort in praying the same thing all together. I suggest going through the prayer line by line, explaining what it means.

• Example: The Lord’s Prayer is an example that Jesus taught to his disciples. It’s a prayer of requests and appeals, asking God for deliverance, forgiveness, and protection. (Read: Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4.)
• Our Father: Jesus said “Abba,” which literally means Daddy. Jesus felt so close to God that he didn’t say, “Father,” he said, “Daddy.” Maybe if we want to lean into the feminine traits of God, we could call God “Mommy.” Whatever we call God, we can call on God whenever we want, because we are God’s children and we have God’s love.
• Rewriting: Challenge family groups to rewrite one of the lines or the whole prayer into their own words.

Apostles’ Creed – Fifth Grade

I usually wait until students are in fifth grade, so they hopefully have some background in sex education and can talk in general about death. 

Introduce yourself with three of your names. (Example: Name, Mom, Aunt.) Tell each other three names. You are the same person with different names. In the Apostles’ Creed, God is talked about in three different names. God (the Father), Jesus, and the Holy Spirit; same God, different names. (Note: This is very oversimplified, but Trinitarian theology is complicated for adults to understand!) All three sections start with “I believe.” What do you believe?

• Believe game – Place on opposite walls signs that say YES and NO. Ask the class to move their whole bodies to a wall to answer what they believe, or stay in the middle if their answer is a maybe.  Bigfoot exists, Santa Claus is real, you are loved, Jesus loves you, church is fun, you love snow, God exists, etc.
• Go through each section of the creed.
  • I believe in God. Would you add anything to this sentence? What is not included?
  • I believe in Jesus. This paragraph is a statement of Jesus’ birth and death.
    • Define words: Conceived – Your (biological) parents conceived you. Mary and the Holy Spirit conceived Jesus. Virgin – Someone who has not had sex. Crucified – killed by hanging on a cross. Descended/Ascended – Moving downward or upward. 
    • What else from Jesus’ life do you want to add?
  • I believe in the Holy Spirit.
    • Define words: holy catholic church – This means the fellowship of all believers. Communion of saints – All believers alive and dead.

Many Benefits

Intergenerational learning offers so many benefits for all ages: strengthening faith, nurturing community, passing on traditions, and promoting spiritual development. These classes can connect the generations and encourage belonging. 

Remember to pray. Remember to breathe. And enjoy!

Grace & Peace

Kirsten Patterson

About the Writer

Kirsten is an educational professional with 28 years of experience in communities of faith, skilled in motivating, teaching, and team building. She has demonstrated expertise in building an arc of faith formation and educational opportunities from age 2 through adult. This has included fellowship, outreach, and intergenerational and age-specific classes.

With Spirit & Truth Publishing, Kirsten is happily employed as a writer and collaborator.

This blog post is part of a monthly series of practical advice for faith formation leaders by faith formation and education professionals. Summaries of these posts are sent in a monthly email to email subscribers. Subscribe today!