When Beckie Dotson moved her young family nearly 150 miles from London, her hometown, to the edge of Telford back in 2017, it was a leap of faith in all senses. Little did she realise how eight years later she would be reflecting on how much the experience reshaped her own life and that of her family, but also of the local churches she came to live in. As she talks, it’s obvious that the experiences of intergenerational mission work have reinforced what she’d always known to be true but hadn’t fully connected to in her faith: “Patience, persistence and prayer are the key foundations to life with God.”
In 2017, she was appointed as one of seven intergenerational Missioners (IM’s), essentially ‘agents of change’ in Hereford Diocese. The project placed the IM’s, lay workers, in key market town parishes alongside clergy. Beckie was tasked with stimulating transformation and exploring fresh approaches to doing church in Sutton Hill and Woodside on the edge of Telford. Found at the most northerly edge of our intensely rural diocese, the area is described by Beckie as “not always the easiest of places to live.” As the only intergenerational Missioner to remain in the same location for the full duration of the project—extended for a further three years in 2022—her eight-year journey reveals a rich learning both personally and for the wider church and diocese. Beckie, naturally humble by nature, is quick to repeatedly point out that the transformation was not exclusively the result of her hard work: "This is God in action. We’ve achieved this through teamwork, Dawn (the local vicar) has been incredibly supportive as have the local church wardens who were completely up for doing this together," she acknowledges. “The Deanery Chapter team was crucial, praying and making me feel welcome.”
The experience is compelling evidence of renewal, showing that change often happens without people realising it and that the Holy Spirit, who moves and knows God's mind, leads the way. Beckie reflects: "The most exciting part of the project has been seeing older members of the church, watching their confidence grow. Early on I realised it wasn’t just a job I was doing; it is my life - here in this community.” Her story offers encouragement to others in lay ministry across the diocese, showing that transformation is always possible, even amongst those reluctant to embrace change. “As my confidence grew, so it was easier to bring others with me.” She explains.
The culmination of the work is summed up in her description of the church service fit to bursting last Easter Sunday: “It was incredible.” Beckie describes a service full of joyful people of all ages and backgrounds. “When I looked around, I knew the personal stories, the ones who didn’t really like children, but who obediently responded to God’s call to help, they may have previously sat at the back.” Beckie uses many examples: “There are the members of the craft group, who didn’t really ‘do church or God’ but who now provide twiddle muffs and busy books.” These are objects now in use each week by the family with a child who has learning difficulties, who comes to church. “They are able to relax and join in because their child is occupied”, she explains. “Each one in that service is known and loved by God and accepted here in our church community for who they are.” She goes on to add, “ For us, an intergenerational church is just church. My girls have multiple sets of extra grandparents looking out for them.” As society and families are more isolated and disconnected, this vibrant all age community, is bucking the trend. There are important relationships and safety for all the people present.
The key points of the project show how churches can learn to listen. In Sutton Hill this was always rooted in prayer and trusting that God has a plan, so work was never in vain “even if I don’t reap the harvest, God does. I scatter the seeds or farm the land” explains Beckie. There is an underlying theme of faithfulness evident in Beckie’s language; she is knowledgeable about the Bible without being intimidating, and she weaves it in subtly, without it being obvious. She’s a Mum, a wife, a sister, a daughter, an auntie, a friend and a leader, and she is real, or as younger generations describe it, she’s authentic. “My life has been difficult. It’s not and is still not easy at times.” She admits but quickly adds: “The team, although initially small, have been so important helping me when I couldn’t lead. We all know our attitude is important. We learned to try things, to fail, to ask for feedback, and to refine. We face down the fears together. Take our Messy Church. We had to adapt in 2020 to Muddy Church. Lockdown made it impossible to meet indoors. Once restrictions eased, we tried meeting again in person when it was ok again, restarting the things we’d done before, but it didn’t work. We asked what people wanted, and we made the changes.” Beckie also shares the powerful example of helping the local Year 6 pupils immediately post covid, using the Scripture Union programme, “It’s Your Move” to build connections. We had over 300 pupils in St Michael’s on one day. It was chaos. We learned not to do that again and now split the event over 2 days.” The event is a giant assembly, and there’s an opportunity for Bible study, fun games and competition between primary schools, before pupils are moved into the secondary school groups in the afternoon. “We’re sowing seeds, telling the children that God loves them and praying that this carries them through into their secondary journey.” She notes, “Four years on from that first event, friendships have been formed, we even get one or two coming to our youth church.”
The IM project funding ended in December, but the learnings continue to underpin how the church, local leaders and Beckie are moving forward. “We’re now working together across the deanery because, as a bigger team, we are confident we can achieve even more." That subtle determination to remain patient, willing to try, to wait and see, or to tweak things and trust God is just happening across a broader geography.
The experiences provide a roadmap for other churches seeking to bridge generational divides. What comes next is in God’s hands, as Beckie concludes, “You don’t have to be 80 to come to church and do life with God. But if young people don’t see older people, who may have lost loved ones or faced challenges and difficulties, and still have faith, they don’t know how to live that life. Selfishly, one of the reasons I’ve done what I’ve done is because I want my children to stay engaged with the church. The things we’ve experienced in life shape us, sometimes we don’t know why they happen, but God does. He uses it all to build His Kingdom.”
