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- Nearly all the above could be used with mixed age groups. Make sure that all ages groups have a voice, and are heard by the others. Most adults will be much more used to making sure that they have their say than most children are, so it will probably be the children who need to be encouraged and enabled! It can be helpful to establish a convention within the groups that a small item, such as a pencil, is passed around from person to person. Only the person holding the object has the right to speak and be heard.
- Split into age strata (for a few minutes), e.g. under 10, 11-15, 16-20 or whatever fits your group. Give each group a large sheet of paper with their age group written on the top. The papers are passed (as in a game of consequences) to each group in turn, who then describe the kind of church that they think would most appeal to the given age group. (Start at the bottom so that when the paper is passed to the next group it can be folded over to hide what has already been written.) When all the groups have finished this activity, return the papers to the organiser so that they can be read out and displayed.
- In some settings a similar activity could be done after dividing up the main group into subgroups of those who are married, single people, parents, children or whatever matches the experiences of those present. This needs to be done with care and sensitivity, and some people will obviously fit into more than one category. If this is the case, let them choose which group they would like to be in, or allocate them to the smaller of the groups into which they could fit.
- In mixed-age small groups try to build the tallest tower of boxes (provided!). Catch: each box must have an idea written on it describing a way in which the church could be more like a family, or a way in which the church could help families.
- Use an open forum to gather views. You will need plenty of post-it notes, pens and/or flip chart paper. Write the questions you want to ask on separate sheets of flip chart paper and display these at intervals around the room –perhaps were you have coffee after Mass. Give each participant a number of post it notes and a pen. Invite them to wander the room, read the questions, write their views on the post it notes, and stick the notes up on the appropriate flip chart paper. They can also read others responses as they go round the room and this should spark some interesting conversations! Leave the forum open for a couple of weeks or more to allow for fullest participation, though the longer this is done the more chance there is of the post it notes becoming unstuck. Arrange opening and closing rituals if desired. Use the pulpit or the parish bulletin to share the main points of what has been learned. Invite responses from pastors, parishioners and parish volunteers by timetabling a period of reflection at parish meetings.
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