The Biblical Basis for Multigenerational Integration
Throughout Scripture, we are commanded to “tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord—his power and the wonders he has done” (Ps 78:4). This “telling” is to be carried out in the context of relationships lived out in ordinary, everyday life (Deut 6:4-9). Over and over, we are warned not to forget the things of the Lord, but to “remember” and to teach them to our children and their children after them. The latter part of Psalm 78 and the entire book of Judges are indictments against Israel, against the generations who “forgot”—who were too rebellious, or too taken with Canaan to pass the baton of truth.
In the New Testament, Paul exhorts Timothy to entrust the gospel to reliable men who will, in turn, teach it to others (2 Tim 2:2); and likewise, to Titus, to teach the older women that they, in turn, would teach the younger (Titus 2:3-5). This is the “making disciples” of which Christ spoke (Matt 28:19-20), for thus is the kingdom advanced!