Multigenerational Missions Transform Springfield Baptist Church

Second Baptist Church’s multigenerational missions strategy is reshaping how one congregation serves at home and abroad. In Springfield, Missouri, the church is sending teenagers, college students, working adults and retirees into the field together — and leaders say the results are visible. At a time when many congregations struggle with age silos and declining volunteer engagement, this multigenerational missions model is building unity and momentum.

“It’s difficult to engage cross-generationally, but when you put believers of varying ages alongside each other with a common cause and a common love for Christ, it becomes beautiful,” Missions Pastor Rob Brewer said, according to short term mission reporting in Christianity Today. “We’re not doing this in silos. The youth minister isn’t running his own missions thing; the missions minister isn’t just leading a group of adults. We’re doing this together.”

Whether they are serving in a community center in Munich, a church-planting effort in St. Louis or a disaster-relief hub in Toronto, Second Baptist seeks mission work where an 80-year-old can stand beside a college sophomore and a high school freshman, handing out water bottles to the same community residents and sharing the gospel.

Lead pastor John Birchett has seen many members from Second Baptist commit to serving in missions, and he shared how this is a churchwide emphasis. “It’s important for me that we not simply be a financial resource to our mission field,” Birchett said, “but to really engage our people to live at a missional level.”

In 2025, the church sponsored two trips to serve in Toronto. Another team recently went to Munich, Germany. The team featured a mixture of college students and retirees. The church sent a similar crew to serve in Northern Africa. When the teams returned to Springfield, the impact was palpable, Brewer said. Church hallways buzzed with familiar faces, exchanging hugs and handshakes among different age groups.

Second Baptist leaders offer practical guidance for churches exploring multigenerational missions:

• Find leaders with a mission heartbeat. Prioritize those who have walked the mission field themselves.
• Make partnership criteria explicit. Ensure host ministries can accommodate multiple generations.
• Build a pipeline that begins in grade school and continues into lifelong service.
• Invest in preparation. Applications, interviews and vision trips sharpen focus.
• Encourage cross-generational teamwork. Let retirees mentor college students. Let youth invite older adults into worship and service.

Church leaders acknowledge the model requires intentional planning. It also requires humility. Teenagers and octogenarians don’t naturally share the same rhythms. But that’s the point.

For Second Baptist, multigenerational missions are not a trend. They are a theological conviction – that the body of Christ works best when every generation stands shoulder to shoulder.

And in Springfield, they are doing exactly that.

–Alan Goforth