Can the generations truly learn from each other?

I often hear it said that when intergenerational interactions take place, the adults are teaching the younger generations and not receiving much spiritual teaching themselves.

This is such a roadblock toward engaging with all ages in many Christian settings and structures.  It is worth considering what is being said here and more importantly considering what the Word says.

The formal idea of teaching and instructing is strongly seen as an informational download.  This has become so strong in the church today that have a warped view of growing in our faith formation. Teachers today know there are many ways to learn other than pure informational download and in the spiritual sense age is not always connected to spiritual maturity.

Allen (2009), in the article, Reversing Age Segregation - Why the generations should be together in worship, states:

The fundamental difficulty is that spiritual development is not essentially the same as cognitive development. That is, the way children (and adults) grow in their understanding of math or science is not fundamentally the way they (and we) grow spiritually. Children sometimes comprehend spiritual realities far beyond their cognitive development. Therefore, applying cognitive developmental principles to a primarily spiritual enterprise could be problematic, even detrimental.

(Allen 2009, para 7)

But a deeper issue here is an attitude with which we come to this belief, which says that I as a Christian adult have nothing to learn from another, especially if they are younger than me. There is a pride here that to me is quite concerning.  As a pastor of an intergenerational faith community for 18 years, nothing gave me more joy than to create an environment where all voices were heard and the exploration of learning and growing together meant that while I might bring an outline or framework to our time together, we were all open to where God might take that and who would end up leading, depending on what people brought to this time together.

In my recent studies it was clear that different generations brought different strengths to the table, but these were not stated in a way that separated or boxed the generations but rather a way to celebrate the uniqueness of each and the ways in which we learn from each other.  The older generations were seen to bring ‘walking alongside’, wisdom, encouragement and life experience and the younger generations’ strengths were joy, fun, vibrancy, new perspectives and great questioner with a desire for truth and learning, as well as being hopeful and positive.[1]

This could be used to validate the idea that older people teach and the younger learn. But what if we saw this as the strengths that we all bring to the table and wonder in all humility what we can actually learn from each other?

Matthew 18:4 says,

“whoever humbles himself like this child – this one is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven”. 

Jesus himself had the attitude that,

“existing in the form of God, He did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead He emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humility”[2]. 

Jesus came as a man and humbled himself by being obedient to what He was called to do in the humble framework of humanity.

So, when we say, if children are in the midst, I as an adult don’t receive much spiritual teaching and I must simply teach them, can we see how this can sound prideful and how it just doesn’t match up with the Jesus we love or a desire to be more like Him.

In all humility we are called to come together as the body of Christ and learn from each other about who He is in all of us. We are called to bring what we know and experience and yet be open to what God might teach us through others. There is nothing more special than when the wonder of a child asks “why”, and you have the capacity to help them have that “ah” moment. It is equally special when you open the eyes of your heart to the wonder and simplicity that a child brings in their expression of faith and belief in God that gives the “ah” moment you needed to strengthen you or teach you something new.

It was a palm Sunday celebration and there were palms fronds laid out across the front of the church. Worship through music began and a 20-month-old child ran to the front, went to pick up the fronds and sway them to the music. There was no prompting, no asking him to do that, no coercing, no “this is a time for the children to come down the front.” He just responded to the music and the exploration of these large, strange branches that he had not seen at the front of the church before. A smile came to my face and then to my heart, what a beautiful and natural reaction to his surroundings on this palm Sunday.  It was quickly saddened by an adult coming and stopping him and taking him away, believing this was disruptive.

My mind went immediately to the first Palm Sunday when the crowds laid palm leaves and their cloaks on the ground as Jesus came humbly into Jerusalem on a donkey. They sang, “blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord”. The Pharisees told Jesus to quieten the crowd and Jesus said, “I tell you, if they keep quiet the stones will cry out”.[3]  I was saddened because the adults in my midst that morning missed it, as they were innocently trying to respect the moment, or some might say control the moment. They missed the ability to humble themselves like a child and on that day respond to His father in heaven in the most pure and greatest way.

We miss so much when we box the spiritual journey or learning to an informational download from the older generation to the younger generation. The community Jesus gathered around Him and the way He grew His disciples and all who walked with Him has so much to teach us about how best to grow up together. God grant me the humility to walk with my eyes open to all you have to teach me from whoever and whenever you choose. I don’t want to miss the moments, do you?

[1] Preston, p 188, PHD studies, 2025

[2] Philippians 2:5-8

[3] Luke 19:35-40