Generation to Generation By Scott BowerScot Bower - 11 Mar 2008

Ramsdorf is 45 minutes south of Leipzig in the East of Germany and was once part of the GDR and separated from the West by the legendary ‘Iron Curtain’.

It was in Leipzig during 1983 that a peace prayer movement began; a weekly prayer meeting for peace and reconciliation that would eventually play its part in bringing about the re-unification of Germany. Each week a small group would gather despite opposition at the Nikolei Church to pray through the beatitudes and for peace.

This call to prayer grew until the 2000 seater church couldn’t hold the numbers gathering to pray (as well as the hundreds of Stasi officers who came to spy!) and churches across the city took up the call.
 
A friend told me how he used to gather with his family at the Thomaskirche, an incredibly grand church in the centre of Leipzig where JS Bach once served as cantor. His family arrived at the church several hours before the service began. My friend told how every space was filled; people were sitting on the window sills and crammed in the aisles, latecomers were turned away, there was simply no more room.

In their bid to halt the peaceful protest prayer services motorway exits around Leipzig were closed and Police questioned and detained many who were simply coming to pray.

On the 9th October 1989 thousands emerged from the churches and joined with hundreds of thousands on the streets in a non-violent protest. One month later on 9th November 1989 the Berlin Wall fell.  Horst Sindermann, a member of the Central Committee of the GDR, said before his death: "We had planned everything. We were prepared for everything. But not for candles and prayers."

Misty and I walked with some English friends around the churches in Leipzig recently.  We chatted about the peace prayers and the tremendous effect they had on the country. “What an impact that must have on the people here” Jen remarked; surely such an obvious move of God, an answer to prayer of Global significance would leave a deep and holy impression on the city? And yet, we know that this region of Germany is today one of the most atheistic areas in Europe, probably in the world. This story of hope and salvation wasn’t passed on and consequently the memory lasted just one generation before it faded into a disconnected history.

There is a phrase which appears a few times in the bible; “From Generation to Generation” it’s an expression of permanence, not an ‘everlasting’ that we can take for granted but nevertheless something that has a permanence. It conjures up in me images of families gathered with fathers telling stories to their children and of old men instructing a younger generation with stories of God and His faithfulness or His judgement or His mercy

Story Telling is an art and one which 24-7 prayer is pretty good at, however we must make sure that this goes beyond generational boundaries. Its all very well listening to and re-telling tales from our friends and cohorts but how much more valuable would it be if we took the time to hear from previous generations their stories of Gods faithfulness? And as well as listening to stories from the past we need to cast them into the future

I need to ask myself how am I communicating my chronicle to my children? And how well do I communicate the old stories of God I read in the bible to a new generation?

I only went to Sunday School once or twice as a child but I do remember just how dull the stories were! Worse, a friend of mine who was dragged along to an aging Methodist church as a child was still under the impression 20 years later that Methodists worshipped John Wesley! such was the effect of the story telling in her Sunday School.   

Each morning at the 24-7 community in Ramsdorf as part of our daily prayer rhythm we have a God Story session for our children. The idea is that we mirror our private reading plan (where we journey through the bible chronologically looking at the narrative of God in the scriptures) with the same stories being told in a way that engages them. These times are always pretty visual and tactile, they have to be; half the children speak German and very little English and whilst Mimi and Evan are coming on strong in German they really need a hook to help them along. There are often lego figures and castles involved or songs and actions and usually some kind of acting/making a fool of ourselves.

And the root cause for these times? A desire to make sure we pass on the stories of God relevantly, respectfully and with all the grandeur and drama they deserve to ensure they survive from ‘generation to generation’

If you would like a copy of our ‘God Story for Children’ plan with resource ideas or would just like to chat more about how we can best engage in story telling across the generations please email.