Moms Are Not Okay — And That’s Where This Vision Began

The seeds of All Gen Movement were planted in a season of breaking—not just in my own life, but in the lives of countless women around me, particularly mothers. Long before I had language for generational healing or a vision for a new kind of ministry, I felt a deep ache for the moms who were quietly drowning. I was one of them.

It was everywhere I looked. I worked with high-capacity, spiritually mature ministry leaders, but the moms among us were carrying a different kind of burden—one uniquely intensified by the pandemic years. We held it together each day, even as the fabric of society frayed around us. It was like someone had made the game harder just as we were running out of strength.

Of course, we rose to the challenge. No one makes better lemonade out of sour lemons than a mom. But over time, the cracks became too widespread, too consistent, and too heartbreaking to ignore. This wasn’t just about personal exhaustion. It was a systemic and spiritual crisis. As the world began to “thaw” after the pandemic, what we saw was not healing—but collapse.

The Root of the Problem: The Brink of Collapse
I became increasingly dissatisfied with ministry efforts that bypassed the root issues. At times, it felt like standing in a burning house while everyone else carried on as if nothing were wrong. Deep down, the moms knew: we are not okay.

But women—mothers in particular—also carry a sacred kind of power. We tend to our families, friends, workplaces, and churches with fierce devotion. We feel like mothers in every arena of life. We cry tears only a mother can understand. We notice what others miss. And though it’s hard to ask for help, we lean into trusted relationships for support when we can.

I began to sense that this collective exhaustion among mothers was more than personal—it was prophetic. God was drawing attention to the pain of women not to shame us, but to signal something deeper that needed to be healed in the Church and in our culture. The support systems that our mothers and grandmothers relied on are now fragile or gone. And yet, we still carry the same hope: to raise our children to thrive and to encounter the goodness of God. It was time for us to step out in our prophetic calling to raise our children to thrive in this moment.

That’s Where All Gen Movement Comes In
All Gen was born out of the realization that healthy next-generation Christians can only be raised by healed people—within families, churches, and communities. We may not be able to fix every broken system, but we can begin healing ourselves, and invite others to join us.

For me, this started as a day-by-day journey of discernment. I was trying to survive. I was longing for community. And I was wrestling with the sense that, after twenty years of working with emerging adults on college campuses, something had drastically shifted. It was no longer a gradual attrition. The old ways weren’t working anymore.

Because mothers are often society’s caregivers, we’re also the canaries in the coal mine. When faith communities, generational wounds, unsustainable systems, and caretaker burnout collide—we feel it first. But when we begin to heal, it becomes a ripple effect that transforms homes, churches, and communities.

Our Vision
All Gen’s vision isn’t just to help moms “feel better.” It’s to renew the faith ecosystem we all live in. That includes intergenerational healing, supportive communities, and spiritual practices that help us live from wholeness rather than survival.

In our prayer gatherings, healing groups, and communal spaces, we want no parent to feel alone—or to internalize their struggle as a personal failure. We honor both the spiritual authority and the soul fatigue of motherhood. And we believe that the burdens and tears of women today echo those of the women who showed up first on Easter morning. They came in their grief to do ordinary work, but left as the first witnesses to Resurrection.

If you're a mom feeling the weight of raising children in today’s world—this movement is for you.

If you’re a father, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or spiritual mentor—this movement is for you too.

Because a healthy family, including the Church family, requires every generation to engage in healing and wholeness.

Though All Gen now serves churches, ministry leaders, and families across generations, it began with the area of most acute need: mothers. We stand with more than one hundred con-founding women as All Gen’s first circle of supporters. We were inspired by a vision that we can create something new with the Spirit together, starting with moms.

It makes sense: when we tend to the ones who birth and nurture children, we tend to the future of the Church. When we listen to the voices of those who carry the weight but are often overlooked, we create the conditions for something new to grow—something fragile and vulnerable enough to be Spirit-infused, but also beautiful and powerful enough to be Spirit-led.

Adapted from Lisa Haller Liou’s original post on “Woman on the Front Line,” December 21, 2024.