But first, to focus on our last Messy Church...It was all about Advent. On the one hand, it could have been very difficult to plan specifically for Advent and to not jump straight ahead to Christmas. Maybe that's one good thing of having another Messy Christmas event later in the month. It made us distinguish between the season of Advent and the season of Christmas. And it turned out great! This might have been our best Messy Church yet! The crafts and games were a hit and we had a wonderful turnout. We even had a visitor who had been at our Milk and Cookies with Santa event the Thursday before Messy Church - we had fliers that doubled as coloring sheets.
The biggest hit might have been the ring toss Advent wreath game.The kids loved it. It will be making a return appearance on December 22! We knew having a few more games would be good - this one was simple but lots of fun.
Our crafts were also a hit this time, thanks to some wonderful volunteers who came up with great ideas! We had an Advent calendar that was a paper chain with Scripture verses to read as family for each day in December. It was a simple craft (though took some time to make) but it is a great way to get our families reading the Bible together. One of our members also turned it into a different kind of countdown - countdown to her baby!
We had a really cute craft making a nativity set for kids to take home and play with. All I can say is "Thank goodness for Pinterest!" We also had the kids make chrismon ornaments like the ones on our tree in the sanctuary. It gave us a chance to talk about the symbols and what they mean. This was another simple craft - card stock, gold glitter, and glue (it was the messy one, though, along with decorating sugar cookies!) - but the kids loved it and it was a good teaching moment.We also did an Advent wreath - yet another simple craft that turned out so well! It really was beautiful. The picture of the craft is one done by one of our 4-year-olds, even the writing. We were all really proud! It was construction paper, glue sticks, and some markers!
Did you catch the theme? I didn't even realize as I was typing how many times I said "simple." But this Messy Church really was all about simple crafts and games that turned out great. I do think that sometimes we forget that sometimes the best things are the simplest - construction paper, glue, crayons and a bit of glitter can make almost any kid happy! And maybe our Advent lesson is in there, too - simple can often times be better, even in this season of craziness and excess.
So now it's on to Messy Christmas coming up on December 22. This one is taking the place of our "family friendly" Christmas eve service. Plans are coming together - but watch and listen for announcements about this one. For now, though, please note that we will be collecting canned goods/food for United Ministries as the offering for this service. It is an Aldersgate tradition to give the Christmas eve offerings to United Ministries. We thought that the food goods will be something good for the kids to see and participate in. So consider purchasing some extra food and bring it on December 22.
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