Karen Hodge wanted more.

The coordinator for the Committee on Discipleship Ministries’ Women’s Ministry wanted CDM to hold an event that would encourage and equip women, yes, but that would also move the needle on intergenerational ministry.

“I wanted something that would feel culture changing in a church. We do teaching well in the PCA, but I wanted to show that intergenerational ministry leads to a stronger church,” said Hodge.

Intergenerational ministry is the heartbeat of Made for More, CDM’s regional conference for women and girls held at churches across the U.S. The final conference will take place this weekend in Naperville, Illinois.

Made for More reflects an intentional shift in ministry strategy and in many ways is the culmination of Hodge’s ministry hopes and dreams. Before Hodge became coordinator, women’s ministry in the PCA was largely centralized. CDM Women’s Ministry would host a large women’s conference in Atlanta every four years, with smaller trainings in between.

But just two years before Hodge became coordinator in 2014, The Gospel Coalition started holding a women’s conference, and Hodge didn’t want to compete. This sparked an idea—instead of hosting one big conference, what would it look like to move toward the edges of the PCA, hosting regional conferences in the less-resourced parts of the denomination? A new format was born, and since 2016, CDM Women’s Ministry has held four sets of regional conferences, with the goal of helping to strengthen women’s ministry in each region.

For the most recent round of conferences, Hodge fulfilled a years-long dream: an intergenerational conference. In Hodge’s experience, women’s ministry and children’s ministry don’t work together in most churches, and churches don’t think in terms of cradle-to-grave ministry. So for Made for More, she approached Katie Flores, coordinator for CDM Children’s Ministry, about the possibility of a joint conference.

Hodge says it was a step of faith—when she and Flores approached other denominations and ministries to get suggestions on how to host an intergenerational conference, nobody had any. And because involving minors requires child safety protocols and more volunteer training, it’s more logistically challenging.

But the work has been worth it.

After the first conference in Birmingham, Hodge felt like she had reached the pinnacle of women’s ministry.

“I could just be done [with ministry] because I’ve seen … the philosophy of ministry we’ve worked towards come to life,” she said. “I had never seen the generations literally learning, laughing, worship – full engagement with young women on up.”

Ellen Dykas, Harvest USA’s director of equipping for ministry to women and one of the speakers at Made for More, says that the feedback has been wonderful, with girls reflecting that they have felt honored to be a part of the event.

Made for More, Dallas

A few weeks ago, I attended Made for More in Dallas, Texas, at Park Cities Presbyterian Church. The conference followed a common format. There were three plenary sessions that included worship, icebreakers, ministry promos, and a keynote. For the plenary keynotes, Paula Miles spoke on “Creation Design,” Dykas on “Gospel Identity,” and Hodge on “The Joy of Intergenerational Friendships.”
There was also one split session where girls enjoyed a mini version of Created for a Purpose (an arts camp ministry for girls hosted by Covenant Presbyterian in Birmingham) while Ellen Dykas spoke to the adults on sexual faithfulness.

Though the format was conventional, the intentionality of the conference’s design was evident. Woven throughout the conference were elements designed to make the content accessible to the 105 3rd-12th graders in attendance and to foster intergenerational dialogue. Conference goers received pencil pouches full of bracelets and colored pens, and the conference program incorporated spaces to doodle. One icebreaker required attendees to seek out people in different generations than them. The keynote speakers used alliteration, call-and-response, and examples that would resonate with different age groups, and each of the three main sessions ended with “Turn & Talk” discussion questions. Participants even received questions to foster intergenerational conversations on the trip to the conference.

And finally, CDM created a Follow-Up Resources page and wrote an eight-week study so that attendees could continue the conversation. What struck me in all of this was that many of the elements that were included to make the conference intergenerational are also best practices in education. Learning that is participatory and application-focused is more effective for everyone, adults and children alike.

Made for More is an intergenerational conference, but that doesn’t mean it’s a mother-daughter conference. As I looked around the sanctuary and interacted with attendees, I saw groups of all types. Some women attended by themselves, while one church from Temple, Texas, brought 47 people. A group from an Oklahoma church appeared to be mostly in their 20s and 30s. Speakers touched on singleness and spiritual motherhood as well as marriage, acknowledging the range of experiences and life stages in the room.

While not the only draw, the intergenerational nature of Made for More was attractive to many attendees. Jeannette Young from CrossPointe Church in Austin said that her church group came because they are considering an intergenerational theme for a whole year and want to bring Created for a Purpose back to their church. Another attendee reflected on how nice it was to attend something that was designed to encourage conversations with your daughter, since so many things in life seem designed to do the opposite.

Several churches used the conference as their women’s retreat, and the women I spoke to appreciated getting to connect and grow in relationship with other women, worshipping together and meditating on their identities in Christ.

“Because I get distracted, I need people in my life to show me the way home,” Hodge said in the final session of the conference. This is what intergenerational ministry is all about—walking one another to glory. CDM reports that 3,905 women and girls from more than 530 PCA churches attended a Made for More conference.

“That can help change our denomination,” says Karen.