About Intergen

Intergen (formerly the Victorian Council of Christian Education and, before that, the Victorian Sunday School Union) was established by passionate laypeople in 1871 who championed the support and resourcing of the early bush missions and urban Sunday schools of Victoria. Before there were clergy or buildings, these little Sunday schools, meeting around kitchen tables or in tents, were the seeds of church planting, led by lay volunteers – often women. In many ways they were early versions of what we would now think of as Playgroups and Messy Church.

The Victorian Sunday Schools Union (VSSU), as it was called in those days, organised funding, shipment and distribution of curriculum resources and training. This movement grew and developed as a provider of Christian education, but also with a vibrant social justice edge – gathering many children who were impoverished in both urban slums and rural margins of Victoria, seeking to minister to their physical and financial needs. Fuelled by creative entrepreneurial godly minds the ministry broke new ground, for example in establishing new ways to train teachers building a ‘children’s church’ in Collingwood and setting up sewing workshops for young girls to gain skills.

In 2015 the Victorian Council of Christian Education (VCCE) launched into a new phase, refreshing the vision from 150 years ago and adapting it to twenty first century mission. Still committed to the work of supporting and resourcing those who work in ministry and mission with children and their families, the VCCE sought to express its mission through a range of partnerships – including, at the time, denominations and organisations such as the Christian Playgroup Network, Messy Church (UK), Scripture Union Victoria and CBM Australia.

In 2018 the Constitution was updated to reflect current governance standards and the organisation was renamed Intergen. Continuing with its historical focus of ministry and mission with children and their families, this name change sought to highlight the importance of an intentionally intergenerational environment as  crucial to best practice in ministry and mission.

In 2022 Intergen stands on the threshold of the next exciting phase in its 150+1 year journey of supporting and resourcing ministry and mission with children and their families. Amongst other important initiatives, Intergen is developing and implementing a fresh strategy that includes the provision of weekly resources for churches, the re-energising of Messy Church, the establishment of a new model for supporting leaders and much more. Continuing in the entrepreneurial spirit that has characterised our history, Intergen is making a remarkable contribution to ministry and mission with children and their families in Victoria, across Australia and beyond.