Who is Jesus...?

Jesus asks "Who do you say I am?"

In February we asked ourselves another big question...who is Jesus? I wonder how you might answer? Around 100 of us asked ourselves this question, and in just 2 hours we explored the big picture of Jesus' life. We thought about his birth, his baptism, and particularly his work of helping people know how much they are loved, of lightening the darkness and mending broken lives and the world, and of bringing people back to God and each other through his dying and rising to life.

This was thought provoking stuff and perhaps the most challenging theme we have explored so far, but we all came away learning a little more about Jesus. As always, our crafts and games helped us think about the theme as we explored different aspects of Jesus' life, and another yummy tea fed our brain power, chit-chat and fellowship.

We all went away with some things to think about until we meet again and here they are if you'd like to join with us in thinking too:

  • What part of the story of Jesus do you like best?
  • Which part do you want to think more about?
  • How would you answer if Jesus asked you: "who do you say I am?"

So...as always we look forward to next month! See you on Sunday 16th March. 3:30-5:30pm to find about a bit more about Jesus and his live as He grow up.

See you everyone and God Bless!!

One of the wonders about something like Messy church is exploring a big question like this in an accessible way through the activities and conversation over a meal, and importantly in learning together - whether there as one of the helpers or as a family who have come along together. What makes Messy work is that it is a team thing which is how I answer when I am asked what will happen when I leave Messy Church in March.

Messy Church is God's church, not my church, and over the last year we have worked hard together as a team of over 80 people to see this vision seeded a few years ago come to reality. God is using Messy Church to reach out into our community and it will continue to go from strength to strength, with the commitment and enthusiasm of an abundantly gifted bunch of helpers from across our partnership. Readily, a number of people have shared my responsibilities between them and they all did so well as I took a back seat this February.

On a personal level, it has been a privilege to be part of the launch and growth in Messy Church over the past year. I feel blessed to have worked in a team of God-filled people and leaving is not going to be easy, but Messy goes on. Please do pray for the team in this time of transition and encourage them - a word of support every now and then goes a long way - and don't forget to tell them how fab they are because they are!

I will continue to pray for Messy Church as it enters a new phase and I look forward to hearing all the news in the months and years to come. So go for it team! And above all, remember that God is with you and He equips those He calls.

With my love and immense thanks for your hard work and the love and encouragement you have given to me. I will miss you.

Who is God?...

Now that's a question and a half isn't it? But that's what we started 2014 thinking about. We explored how the things people have made tell us a lot about them, so we thought about who God is through creation - the universe, land, sea, creatures, fruit and veg (and he even made Brussell Sprouts although I personally would like to ask him why).

Sometimes we make God too small and He surprised us with how many came along - it was a wonderful, buzzing, busy time together and we can't wait until the next one! In the meantime you might like to think about those questions we suggested and how you personally may answer them:

  • If you had a chat with God, what would you like to ask Him?
  • If you could have created our world what would you have done differently?
  • What do you think God is like?

See you next month! Sunday February 16th at 3:30-5:30 King William Street School!

Messy Christmas!

What a fab Christmas party we had! So many of you turned up for our first Christmas together and again we were treated to wonderful crafts, party games and had a brilliant time singing carols around the piano.

We learnt about how Jesus came to be amongst us and explored this through various objects: a jigsaw piece (he is the piece that makes sense of our lives), a phone (he has a message that he loves us) and an eraser (he rubs out stuff in our lives which isn't as it should be).

We all went away with a smile on our face and a nativity scene in a matchbox to put in our homes. A very happy day was had by all. Happy Christmas everyone!

Messy Harvest

It was great to be back in the swing of Messy Church and to celebrate Harvest. Thank you to everyone for coming out on such a yukky, windy and rainy day, but we are all warm and sunny inside.

We had fun thinking about the different fruit and vegetables that grow and we painted, made pasta necklaces, thought about which countries our food comes from, made origami fruit and found out what our favourite food was playing parachute games. What a lot we fitted in!

We reflected on the gift of food and explored a time when Jesus fed 5,000 people just from a little gift a boy gave him of 5 loaves and 2 fish. Wow - what s story. We thanked God for all the gifts he gives us and thought about how we can share with others. Great fun, and as usual rounded off with a yummy tea and cakes together.

Soon the days will be drawing in and we will be having a light party in October! Do bring your torches and anything else that's sparkling and bright! We will be shining at King William Street School at 3:30pm on 20th October so do tell your friends and invite them to come along.

Watch this space for more information nearer the time!

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside...

It was certainly hot for our July Messy Church so what a great theme of Seaside Bible stories! It was good to see you all again as we explored some of the stories that Jesus told on a seaside theme, or that he shared with his followers by the water's edge of the lakes.

We made fish mosaics, sand pictures, boats from junk (which were amazing and even floated!), seaside scenes, shell friends with googley eyes and much more. In our time together we explored the story that Jesus told about the wise man who built his house on the rock and the foolish man who built his on sand.

The one of the sand fell flat in the rain and we shared that Jesus wants us to be strong and build the foundation of our lives on him. We played Jenga to prove that you need a firm foundation to build on, although the tallest structure got to a massive 27 layers before it toppled! We then ended with a yummy tea, topped off by scones and jam. What a treat.

We are continuing to meet in the summer, but will be meeting for a picnic in Town Gardens on 18th August. Bring your own family picnic and come and find everyone gazebo which we will put up. We'll have a relaxed time of chill and chat together, and will have a few garden games with us too. We're back at King William Street on September 15th for the usual crafts, games, activity, fun and tea and we look forward to seeing you then as we all get back into the swing of things!

Love is...

Our theme for June Messy Church was loving our neighbour. It was another great afternoon of fun, laughing and learning. We explored the Bible story that Jesus taught about the Good Samaritan and how he helped a man who had been attacked by robbers.

We had our very own poorly man and a willing crowd of Samaritans, so we wrapped him up in bandages (loo roll!) and we're hoping he felt a bit better after our love and care!

We also made the characters from the story in junk modelling (see the fab photos), and we painted scenes, decorated gingerbread men, made friendship bracelets, produced some beautiful hanging decorations, and loads more! It was finished off with some time all together thinking about our everyday lives and how we can show people that we care about them. We then munched our way through the best tea so far!

The next Messy Church is on Sunday 21st July at 3:30 at King William Street School so we look forward to seeing you then! Thinking further ahead, we will be meeting in August on Sunday 18th August at 3:30 in Town Gardens. So bring your own picnic and we'll play some games and sport together. But see you before then in July!

Messy Church is fun!

"Messy Church is completely different to traditional church services. The idea is to have fun while discovering something about the Christian faith. I am sure most people who came this afternoon would never think of coming to a normal church.

It's all about churches reaching out to the community. Messy Church has grown all across the country and this has been a fantastic start in Old Town".
Rev'd Trudie Wigley - Curate

Birthday celebrations!

Our second Messy Church theme was exploring the birthday of the church and the Holy Spirit! We got a bit wet and messy exploring the holy spirit in explosive experiments (they were safe!) as well as in all our crafts. We made streamers, planted fiery red plants, decorated party cakes and cakes, made wind spirals and loads more. We can't believe how quickly the time went! We then had a short worship time together with songs and the Bible story all about the beginning of the church, followed by high tea - yum yum!

Love our World

Our first theme was "Love our World" and there were lots of activities, linked to this - planting seeds, making bugs and butterflies, playing games, making underwater scenes, making paper plate animals and junk modelling. There was also a short worship time with songs and a Bible story followed by refreshments.

Positive feedback

There were many happy faces and we enjoyed talking and getting to know new friends, being creative and eating together with a yummy tea. And when it was time to leave there were lots of "See you next time" and a comment from one boy who shared "this is the best church ever"!