So what's so messy about Messy Church?

As the signs start going out about Messy Church at Aldersgate, the inevitable question is "What is Messy Church?!" Follow that question with "Where did it come from?" and maybe even "Why do we need it?" 

The original Messy Church came out of St Wilfrid's Anglican Church near Portsmouth, England. They were looking for a way to bridge generation gaps, create community, and draw children and their families into church. It is a concept that came from a group of church leaders willing to step outside the confines of what they had always been doing to explore what they could or should be doing to reach out beyond the walls of their church. And over the last few years, across the United Kingdom and beyond, the Messy Church idea has spread. The aims of Messy Church are clear: be a worshiping community, Christ- centered, all-age, hospitable, and creative. You can check out the Messy Church website for more about this amazing movement: http://www.messychurch.org.uk/

At Aldersgate, the aims of our Messy Church are exactly the same - worshiping community, Christ-centered, all-age, hospitable, and creative. We want to create a space where kids, young and old, can come together and explore their faith in Christ, where new-comers are welcome and the activities push us all to create together. Whew! That's a lot to pack in to one hour on a handful of Sunday mornings. But messes have a tendency to spread...and hopefully our Messy Church will, too.

But why does it have to be messy? Well...funny thing about those aims. Any of them on their own is enough to create a mess! Welcome in new people? You never know what you'll get! And new friends always push us out of our comfort zone and add to our world view. And that can be a little messy! Put a bunch of generations together in the same room? Well, that can get messy, too! Creativity pretty much implies a level of messiness. And well, all you have to do is read just a bit of the Gospel story to know that wherever Jesus went, he created a bit of a mess! Think about it. He used spit and mud to heal a blind man. He held an outdoor picnic for 5000+ people. He hung out with fishermen and tax collectors. He compared himself to a shepherd. And well, he was born in a manger. Let's face it. Jesus was completely okay with creating messes.

Put all that together on a Sunday morning, throw in a snack, some markers, cotton balls, and a slingshot? Well, let's just say that our first Messy Church on August 25 is gonna be exactly as advertised...messy!

Where God's World Comes Together

The dust has finally begun to settle after a great week of Vacation Bible School. This year's VBS theme - Everywhere Fun Fair: Where God's World Comes Together - proved to be both a challenge (it was way too complicated for a VBS!) but also a whole lot of fun. Throughout the week, we learned together - 106 kids + 75 volunteers, gotta love that ratio - about what it means to be a good neighbor in God's kingdom. Each day had a specific focus and by the end of the week, we had 5 main points. Neighbors are: friendly, giving, forgiving, welcoming, and bold.

As we switch gears now from VBS to getting ready for our first ever Messy Church at Aldersgate, I am again amazed by God's timing. From its inception, Messy Church has been about hospitality and reaching out. Hospitality is actually one of the 4 objectives of the whole Messy Church movement. Basically, it's all about being a good neighbor! So while I feel sure our kids learned some great lessons at VBS, perhaps the lesson is for us adults at Aldersgate as we prepare for Messy Church!

Messy Church kicks off on August 25, 2013 and we still have a lot to do to get ready. But things are moving right along. We have banners and signs ready to go out, volunteers signing up, activities to plan and games to organize. If you haven't volunteered yet, give me a call soon!

This blog is intended to be a place with several purposes. First this will hopefully be a place for volunteers, parents, grandparents and all those working with Messy Church to get inspired! We'll have devotions posted before and after each Messy Church along with some ideas for encouraging faith exploration in our kids. Secondly, this will be a place for information about the goals of Messy Church and upcoming Messy Church events.

For now, that's all! I'm off to find something to help me get the VBS songs from running constantly through my head!