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Do you know the difference between a multi-generational church and an intergenerational church? This is Vision Sunday, our first Sunday of the year, and our guest speaker, Dr. Tan Sui, is speaking on the topic of intergenerational dynamics in the church.

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Actually, it's a joy and privilege to be with you. For us, a lot of ministry is actually friendship. So we see some old friends. So we were really uh touched when we met uh Reverend Daniel and Danny when they were serving in SJSM, and we miss you guys. So it's good to see you guys again. And hopefully there are new friends that we will begin to walk with uh as we get to know the church better. So thank you for this privilege of coming to share with you all. So our small ministry, Grace Works. Uh, we actually uh do publishing and training. So there's uh a book table downstairs that may actually expand on some of the things I'm talking about uh today, and hopefully you can pick up something that would be useful. Actually, publishing is a very tough industry nowadays. Uh many people have actually closed shop, but we do it because we feel God as scholars to do it. And we think the right book in the right hand at the right time can still change our life. So can go in and take a look at our books later. Come, let's commit this time to the Lord. Oh God, new year, old year, Lord, you are our constant. Uh whether 2, 3, 2, 4, 2, 5 or what, Lord, you are our constant. And so we step into this year with confidence. Uh many things we don't know, but we know that God, you are there. And that's maybe all we need to know. So we commit this new year for ourselves, for our church. Lord, may this year glorify your name. May this year be one where we experience substantial healing, uh substantial ministry. Oh Lord, glorify your name in this year. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. The most uh high profile uh evangelistic ministry in recent times uh was the celebration of hope. I'm sure you all took part in that. I'm sure Bishop Renis came and told you all you must take part in that, so you all take part in that. But when we did our survey from Christians, so our generations project, we actually surveyed Christians from what we call the silent generation all the way to Gen Z. We found that the young and old saw the celebration of hope a bit differently. The younger people, they said, Wow, you all spend so much money, go to stadium. Is it Christians are big and strong? We have connections that allow us to use the stadium. Is it celebration of hope or are you celebrating yourself? You know, is this a wow look at Christians so great in Singapore? This is how the young people saw it and said, all that money, uh, thousands of dollars, could that be better spent helping the poor on missions where there's so many needy areas, but instead you all do this celebration of hope. So many of the young uh saw it that way. They were not convinced that that's the best way to do evangelism, interestingly. But the I was gonna say old people, older people, white hair, older people, they were the ones who saw the Billy Graham Crusade in 1976, uh eight, something already. Uh how many of you saw the Billy Graham Crusade first hand? Ah, you see there? So for us, Billy Graham, you're not yet born because Billy Graham Crusade was a turning point in the spiritual life of Singapore. Because of the Billy Graham Crusade, many came to know the Lord, many churches were formed, and really it really transformed the spiritual atmosphere of Singapore. So for that generation, they wanted God to do it again. They were concerned that spiritually Singapore is not doing too well. So God do it again, and the way they remember how this was done was a crusade in the stadium. So it's not that they are trying to show off or what, they just wanted God to move mightily again as he did during the Billy Graham Crusade. But the young people were not there, the Billy Graham Crusade, maybe not even born yet. So they don't know what's the big deal, why do you want to spend money in this way? But I'm using just using this as an example how people of different generations may view a situation. So if they don't uh understand each other, the older folks will say, hey, how come you young people not concerned for evangelism? Why you never support celebration of hope? Uh you're not concerned for church unity. It's a chance for all Christians to be united. And the younger ones were saying, is this the best way to spend money? Because on the lot on they are on the internet, they know so many pressing needs in Singapore and around the world. Is this the best way to spend God's money? Do you see how different generations may view a situation differently and not careful can lead to conflict? And this is what we are trying to address in this research that we are doing. There's another example. Once uh some uh young people thought that to honor God, they wanted to clean up the beach, so they spend the whole day cleaning up all the rubbish in the beach, and they came back and reported to the elders how they had cleaned up the beach, and they thought the elders would be very happy with them. Say, wow, you all spend the whole day cleaning up the beach, uh, because we need to take care of God's world, ma'am but the the seniors were not particularly impressed, and one of them said, uh, you spend so much money and time, uh, whole day, uh, cleaning up the beach, huh? How many souls were saved? The most important job of the church is to save people from going to hell, eh? So you go and do all this cleaning up, other people can clean up, but only Christians can share the gospel. So the young adults were taken by surprise. They thought that, hey, we as a as a God's people, we should take care of God's creation, right? But for that older generation, they were concerned that people were safe from hell. And really, when we do all this research, we don't talk about who is right and wrong. Different generations have different formative experiences that make us who we are. Anyway, we cannot choose what generation we are born of. So, okay, this is a special time in history. So you see all that up there? And of course, different people may tweak it slightly differently, but this is our working uh definition. The silent generation, my parents' generation, born 28 to 45. That's my parents' generation. They went through World War II. My father was bomb and he almost died. Uh and those of us who are not in that generation have no idea how much they suffered. No idea. Second is the baby boomer, my generation. Because after the war is over, then they got time to make baby. So there's a lot of so it's a boom of babies, boom of babies. So there's a huge generation, baby boomer, born 46 to 64. Then the generation X, born 65 to 80, which are more like a bridging generation. They are a very quiet generation, sandwiched between two very loud generations, the boomer and the millennial, very loud one. But generation very quiet one, generation X, they don't like to quietly slip away. And many churches, this is the missing generation. If things don't happen the way that they feel comfortable with, they won't go in fight or what, they just slowly go away. And numerically, it is also a very small number, numerically, in terms of the different generations. But just to make Generation X feel good, uh, our studies also show that all things being equal, Generation X make the best leaders. Because they are able to build bridge with up and down. They understand their older brother, their parents' values, but they're also tax heavy enough to understand the younger. So all things being equal. In fact, in Singapore, we see churches and organizations willing to trust uh Gen X. Actually, they are doing fairly well. Of course, this is not the only qualification for leadership, but no. Then there comes the millennials who grew up with the internet, born 81 to 96. So they see the world very differently because the internet globalization, they now see the world in a very big way. Many opportunities, many choices. Uh last time we only got one or two newspapers. They scroll down tons of news uh sites. So they see see the world very differently. And they are always willing to experiment. Uh, because the older folks are more concerned for security, for stability, safety. The young are open to experimentation because they know there are many options, so which is right and wrong, uh, and and they don't mind doing things which may not add to the bottom line but give them meaning or that. So you can see this clash of values already. Then Gen Z is the generation that live their life on the phone. Hey, my phone. The phone that shows I'm not Gen Z, but Gen Z, the phone will never leave you. So their whole life is lived on the phone. Not just that they use the phone, but their life is lived on the phone. So for entertainment, for news, for everything, is their life is on the phone. And interestingly, when we did our study and also other studies on the generations that are most lonely, the most lonely generations are the seniors. I get it, you know our friends tend to graduate to heaven. Uh our health also not so hot, maybe it's not easy to go and meet up with people or that. But the next generation that complained of loneliness are the Gen Z, you know. Those in college, poly, army, young graduates. So, how can Gen Z is lonely, man? You got a million friends on Instagram. How come you're lonely? I don't know. But maybe virtual connecting, not the same as face-to-face. I don't know. So I'm just saying that all these generations, uh, it's a very broad sweep. So I not say that everybody in their generation is exactly like that. When I do ministry and every, hey, what generation are you? Ah, you are like that. No, no. Each individual is unique. I don't use this as a means to judge people. Uh, it's just broad sweeps. It's not a way to judge each individual different. Not everyone acts the way that everybody in their generation acts. And that's why I don't stereotype people. But it's good to know the different uh strata, just to know how some of the differences in values are, because we are shaped by different values. Okay, now let me do a quick poll. Let me do a quick raise your hand when I call your generation. It is not being recorded. No, I don't know whether silent generation 28 to 45. Whoa! Well, Tamp respect. You all have survived, and you've gone through so much. Let's just give you a clap, man. Like I said, you have no idea what they went through, that generation. So we really need to respect them. Their quality, quality stand here, but you don't know what they went through. Okay, boomer, boomer, born 46-64. We are in leadership, and we are not dying anytime soon. Because now with good health care, we live longer. So last time uh boomer tends to retire when they grow. Oh, now we won't retire because we've got good health care. So we are elders forever. No, sorry. So there's boomer. Gen X 65 to 80. Oh, you got Gen X leader. Gen X leaders, you're in a good position. Really, not kidding. Uh you all built good bridges with all the different generations. Uh we can never tell me to say this one. I just then uh millennials born 81 to 96. They're probably in another worship service, right? No, are they? No. And Gen Z surely in another worship service. I don't know, 97 to 2012. Thank you for joining us. You Gen Z, yeah? Oh, you're kind of old Gen Z. Thanks for the keyboard. Um I'm saying all these things not to uh make fun of people, but to make us realize. So older folks are more concerned. Although I didn't go through the war, but I will imbibe my parents' values. So safety, security, stability, this is very important to us. And the younger ones, they like to experiment. They see the world is so big and they are not obsessed with survival issues, and they are willing to sample what life has to bring. It may not necessarily add to the bottom line. They want work-life balance, all that, because their world is different before COVID, anyway. There was no major pain or crisis, and and and the world was so big they wanted to experiment with the world. So you can see this group wants stability, this group wants experimentation, potential conflict. And so that's why there is the potential of the crisis of unity. We don't say it, but when we started the generations project, it's because many churches came to us, hey, our church, uh, losing young people. Maybe your church knows, I don't know, but our church are losing young people. Uh often there'll be a fight, usually between boomer and millennial. Fight five, then the boomer will win because we are still in power. Then the millennial cannot tahan, they will leave. So young adults leaving the church was one of those issues. Or even if they don't uh leave the church, they are here, but they do quiet quitting. They cannot leave because daddy mommy will scold them if they leave, so they still come to church. But their heart not so much in the church anymore, quiet quitting. Uh they may find their ministry outside the church, actually. But they show up because dad and mom are here. So young adults leaving the church or quiet quitting. But on the other hand, I get seniors of which now there are going to be a lot, you know. I warn you first, uh, a lot of seniors coming up. Right now, already one fifth of Singapore is 65 and above. And in a couple of years, it'll be one quarter, one-third. So the one-third is 2050. So I tell you, now the church is beginning to awaken of the need to minister to young adults. There'll be a huge group of uh senior adults coming to bite you in the backside. Huge group, huge group, who will also have their own uh perspective of life, what to do. So I'm telling you the potential for conflict is real if you don't pay serious attention to this issue. That's why I think uh pastor asked me to speak on this today. So, but then seniors will come to me and then they feel not respected. The young people just no, no, don't really respect me. They feel that don't need that. I meet them on the on the in the church, they just walk past me, they don't never talk to me, don't never come to me, no, they never ask me for advice or whatever. I also get the sense that I'm not needed uh because I am not very good at technology. So, no, not needed, no. So we often quote this story about there's a church camp. People have to sign up for the church camp, and then one uh senior lady calls up the church office. No, how how do I uh register? So it's okay, it's okay. Uh we'll we'll register for you, no, online for you. Then how much how to how do I pay? Uh you pay now, pay now. Huh? I must take a bus, go to the office and pay now. And worse still, you say pay later, even luggy, more confusing. So even more luggy confusing. So but you see, they shouldn't be made to feel embarrassed, right? And I mean, all of us should be learning new things, but people are who they are, and if we value people for who they are, we accept them as who they are. And so there are all sorts of potential fault lines for young and old. I'll mention a bit more later. But in a church that now has five or more generations, how do we work at unity in the church? It's a key question. Because, like I said, there are huge amounts of seniors coming up. Many young adults are disillusioned and leaving the church. We cannot just say business as usual. So we need to invest at least a bit of time uh talking about some principles. So you want to have a church that gives you lessons on unity. It's got to be the church at Corinth. That one, I don't care who you are, even if you're a pastor of the church at Corinth, show high blood pressure one. Sure. Church of Corinth, but they were so divided in so many areas. One, of course, Jew and Gentile. The Jew will say we are people of the book, God's special people are. Then the Gentiles are the intellectuals, Plato, Socrates, you know. Yeah, these Jews are just farmer, only farmer, you know, and fishermen. So, you know how much of this sort of conflict between the races. That's why Paul has to work so hard to make sure that the Jew Gentiles do not start up with two different churches. Because we've got to show that there's only one God and one church. Then rich and poor, you know, they had their uh church feasts where they also celebrate the Lord's Supper at the same time in those days, church feasts. And rich people got more control over your time. Say five o'clock, I'm the boss, I can come at five o'clock. But the poor, the slaves, they can only come and their boss allows them to come, right? They don't have that much control. In fact, a slave means you belong to somebody, belong to somebody. So they will come later. So the rich folks will come, well, all the food all lay out ready, what host? They come and just eat all the best food. And then the poor who come later, who probably need the food more, say, hey, the food all finished ready. Hey, you all finished the food ready, yeah? So the poor will feel out in the world, rich got more privileges than the poor. We know this. But you say church, everybody equal, huh? But same thing, still the rich has more power than the poor. So Paul says, cannot. So again, this is another fault line in the Corinthian church. I can name about six fault lines if we stop here. I can just imagine Paul will tell the rich people, hey, you hung you guys hungry, I go home and eat first, okay? Go home and eat first. You come here, it's a church feast where we are all equal. Don't come and then wipe all the food, and the poor come and then got no food. You're really hungry, you go home and eat first. Then you come and this is the church feast where we are all equal. But this is just two of many fault lines where the church was so disunited. So, really, we we need to see what Paul teaches the Corinthian church to have spiritual guidelines for us of division, may not necessarily be racial or social economic, although that's still with us. But I'm talking today about how it applies to the different generations. But the principle of unity uh for generations is what I'm looking at today. So the first thing that Paul tells the church is you guys are so divided over so many things. I said there are at least six or seven fault lines. The church is one body, okay? Because the message of the church is that there's only one God and there's only one mediator between God and man. That means if the same God in the Jew, same God in the Gentile, but you are fighting, then how can God fight against God? Hello? The same God in the poor, same God in the rich, how can you all uh be in this kind of conflict? Then why should the world believe that there's only one God in all of you? Right or not? You say same God, but why should God be fighting with each other? So if we say there's uh the same God for the boomers, millennials, whatever, but we see this kind of uh divisions and conflict, it it makes a lie of our gospel that there's only one God. So the need for the church to be united is very serious. It has gospel implications, especially in the world which is very divided, right? This world is so divided now. I think partly because of the internet or what, but the world is so divided. And if we want to say that we have the truth, there's only one God and one mediator between God and man, then they need to see that the different generations actually love each other. Otherwise, the gospel, you all say gospel, only one God, but see you're fighting. So why should we believe you that there's only one God? So Paul said, Hey, you are different parts but belonging to one body. Hello, one spirit, one body. Some things that we affirm regularly in our the things that we we share in our liturgy. So, my dear friends, we must take this unity thing seriously. I say this because sometimes the easy way to do this is to just have uh silo ministry. The old seniors have the own ministry, youth at the only ministry, young whether then then don't fight, don't fight different ministry. But and I'm not against age-specific ministries, because each age group has different needs, but not to the degree where we never come together. That's my point. Not that there's anything wrong with the young adult service. It's not that I'm against age-specific ministry, but it is not right if the generations are always parallel tracked and never come together. So today's worship was a song Many Generations Leading Together. That is a symbol of what we should aim at. We may have different needs for different generations, but we are still one body. So the it is unity that is important, and we mustn't take this lightly. Often we just come, sing a song, go home, that all these fault lines we we just ignore until something happens. Oh, no more young adult. Oh, Gen X disappear, or whatever. Then only we realize something is wrong. But let us be proactive and say that as Paul told the Corinthian church, God is telling us today, in an era where there are five or six generations, take unity seriously. Because it is a statement of the fact that there's only one God. Otherwise, it's as though there are different gods for different generations. This is not correctly. So that's number one. But the second point is God's understanding of unity is that it's a unity that celebrates diversity. He said, look at the different parts of the body, oh, different one, but no, the body, there's one body. So the call for unity is different parts make up one body. But it's also true that the different parts of the body are not the same. So in another life long ago, I did dentistry, and in our first year of dentistry, we had to do anatomy. When those days we have to dissect cadavers. Real one, not rubber. And at the end of that year, we'll see the human body, different parts, like lung, oh look, lung, tung, no, heart, all different. And so Paul is saying, although you are united, but it's a unity that celebrates diversity. It's not that we want everybody to be exactly the same. God's idea of unity is not homogeneity where everybody is exactly the same, like cookie cutter, like factory. We are different, and that is God's plan. The differences are God's plan. So my desire and hope is that people of all generations will come into church, come into the life of the church and feel that they belong. Because it says that just because uh I'm not this, I don't belong. I don't belong to the body. So, does every generation come into this church and feel that they belong? I'm not saying we make everybody happy. That's a very selfish way. Where you just protect your own turf. Why the church never take care of my generation one? But that's not what I'm aiming at. But the way the church is functioning makes people of all generations, not everything we may fully appreciate or what, but I still, this is my family, I feel at home here. That celebrates diversity. People feel that they belong. So I I get different uh kind of feedback from the young graduates who come to me and said, as a young graduate trying to follow Christ in the world, the world is so diverse, there's so many agendas, internet makes it all in my face. I'm looking for help, how to navigate following Jesus in the real world, because the real world is so gray. But I go to the church, and all the church tells me, you pray some more, you pray some more. I need more help than that. How do I follow Christ in the real world today? And many of the boomer leaders, our world was much more black and white, much more less complicated. So we, based on our own experience, we we then you pray some more, read the Bible. But said, I need more help than that. I've been blown away. There's one girl who tried to share the gospel with her classmates, and the classmate said, You want to share the gospel? Are you Christians are the people who have a low view of women or not? And you're so harsh against the gays. You're supposed to love people, you're so harsh against the gays. So before she can even open the mouth and share the gospel, she already gets whacked by this sort of cultural backlash already. You guess how old was this girl? How old? Do I hear uh huh? You heard my talk before, right? Yeah, 14. You get the price later. You get a bag when you buy your book. She was 14. In 14, I was playing football. Hello? We've got to think of such deep things when 14 I'm playing football. So sometimes the thing is we don't realize the kind of challenges our young people are going through. We have no idea. If you are a boomer or what we or we don't idea what our young people are going through. And will they feel at home in the church? Will they feel they belong? Do we give them real help for the world that they are in? Sometimes it's not that they don't believe that Christianity is true because they are not sure how relevant it is to their existential questions, to the issues they face every day. You know, it's all real. Then for those who are more senior, often they find that they they struggle because they feel that they can't contribute or they think that they are made to feel that they can't contribute because they don't know the latest technology. I've seen heard many seniors, people seem to bypass us. It seems that our time has passed. It's now the time of the younger people. But if you're going to be healthy and strong for many years, I think that is not the right way to minister to our seniors. We should help them to contribute. Because of the large numbers of seniors and a large number of seniors who are still healthy. We have never had this kind of phenomena before. Singapore, our successful health care has made people still so diverse. My mother, 94, when she passed away, she had had dementia for a number of years. But my professor in Region College is much slowed, much slowed down now, but at 101, Dr. Houston is still producing devotions. 101. Still producing devotions. So will the seniors find that they feel that they are valued and have a place in the church or not? Or they no, in though in the old days, seniors' ministry was like a nursery for old people to make them uh get engaged until it's time for them to go home, kind of thing. So just go eat durance. Of course, those who like it, I'm all for you. Ukulele, chingi ching, ching-ching, line dancing, I don't know. But now all these things are fine. If this is your thing, all power to you. But often they don't feel that there is a contribution they can make. But if your health is still there, and what are some spiritual gifts you still have? Why can't you all be ministering? But does the church understand the contribution of the old? So I'm saying, young and old, does the church make sense to you? Do you feel that you belong or not? And the way to understand this is actually to ask them. So at recently at the chapel of resurrection, the church camp, I asked one representative of each generation to share what are their main struggles at this point of their life. So the silent generation person came and said, I'm very disturbed that I'm losing my memory. I'm very worried. So the younger people said, Oh, I didn't know that, man. Then the boomer came and said, Many of my friends are passing away. I feel a lot of grief. So young people, I didn't know that, man. So going down the line, Gen X, they were not told to comment on another generation, talk about their own generation, and what is the main struggle of their generation? Because to help the different generations understand each other. Otherwise, you don't know what. We assume everybody likes us. So we all have different challenges at different generations. But how can the church make sense so that all generations feel at home? But then the next point is that we are different, not as an accident, but we are different so that different generations have different strengths to comp to contribute to the body of Christ. So it really is a waste if you do not help each generation to contribute. Because each generation got different gifts or different strengths. So we often say that the young have a lot of learned expertise. They are very good at acquiring new knowledge. Their world is changing all the time, so they're always learning new things, learning new things. For those of us, I don't know, I can never catch up to my children. Can ever? They know more than me. They know so much about so many things. I try also, cannot cannot follow up. So they have a lot of learned expertise and they know better the world as it is today. Isn't it well in my time? Yala, not your time already. So, how do we help the young to educate us about the world today? If you're trying to reach the world today with the gospel, the gospel never changed. But no, I need help. I tell my younger friends, you teach me, you teach me what the world is like today. And I'd like to know more so that maybe personally and as a church we can help and equip all of us to be more relevant. The gospel never changed, but how to speak to today's world, what are the issues that they are grappling with? So the learned have young have more learned expertise. But we say older folks have more lived experience. We have lived longer, we have gone through failure, heartache, we have fumbled and have to bounce back or not. Uh we have fallen into temptation, all these things we have learned through the years, huh? And nothing, nothing, no, no criticism on the young, but they have just not lived long enough because we have lived long enough, we have gone through all that stuff. Often lessons learned the painful way. So, how can we then uh have that wisdom share with our younger friends? And I would say share with you from the mistakes I made, not because I'm cleverer than you. And one of my burdens on my heart is I want the young, I want my children, I want the people of their age to be better than me. Want you guys to be better than me. So let me give me a chance to share with you some of the hard lessons I learned. Not because I'm cleverer or whatever, no, because these are lessons God taught me the hard way. And I'm hoping you don't have to go through that hard way. So you see, uh, learn expertise, live experience, how young and old actually can contribute to each other's lives. So it'd be a shame, it's very silo, young go their way, old go their way. We never interact, and there's so much we can learn from each other. So much we can learn from each other. But I tell you now, it requires humility on both sides. The young, hey, I don't have TikTok, can you still respect me? Anyway, uh the young must consider the older better than themselves. And the old must also say that the young have things to teach us. We have to be humble also. We can't always be saying, hey, we eat more salt, uh, eat more salt. I said that's why you got hypertension, uh, eat whole salt. Too much salt, uh blood pressure, kill. So we we need to learn from each other, and that requires humility. And that sometimes I think it's not a matter of theology or sociology, it's a matter of love. That we are humble, we things to learn from each other. And maybe the onus is stronger on the older because we probably have more positional power. That we listen to our young, give us some guidelines, and hopefully the young will respond and listen to the old as well. So we are stronger together. Amen. But then it's a National Day slogan. But finally, we can only live like this if we truly love each other. That's why 1 Corinthians 12 becomes 1 Corinthians 13. Paul is clear that telling you all these things, boyong, no use, unless we genuinely love each other. As a senior, do you love your children's generation? And juniors, do you love your senior's generation? And there is no love without knowledge. To love someone, I need to understand their world. Otherwise, we love them through our own framework. So I need to shut up and listen to the young. I need to understand your world. What are your struggles? What are your joys? And young, you need to listen to the old. What are your struggles? What are your joys? It really goes beyond just hate knowledge. There must be a revolution of love. The Holy Spirit gives us signs and wonders, gives us anointed worship, but he also empowers us to love people who are not like us. So if you say the Holy Spirit is here, I want to see whether you can love people who are not your generation. And don't come and talk to me about the power of the Holy Spirit just for signs and wonders, just for anointed worship. But also empowering me to love people who are not like me.

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We pray that you've been ministered to by the Word of God today. If you'd like to know more about East Free Christian Church, please visit our website at yccang.com. Have a blessed day.