It's Almost Here!

This is it! Aldersgate's first Messy Church is only a few short days away! Supplies are organized. T-shirts distributed. Props gathered. We are ready to take over the Fellowship Hall on Saturday morning. Sunday morning is going to be great!

I've had some calls this week from people asking about what Sunday will look like exactly. In a nutshell, it's going to be messy. Ha! But that's not what they meant I don't think...

So here's the schedule for Sunday - and this will be our schedule for any Sunday morning Messy Church event:
9:30 - registration begins (We'll have registration tables at both entrances to the Fellowship Hall. Please make sure you register your kids - even if we already have all that info, it's good to double check! And we also ask about allergies - that helps us plan future activities)
9:45 - the FUN BEGINS! When you go in the Fellowship Hall, you'll see activities all around the room ready for you to explore. Kids pick! There is no order to the activities and there is no plan. You don't need one. Kids can do one or they can do all. They can do one activity twice. It's up to them. All of the activities - even the snack - relate to the story of the day. This is the time for parents and kids to really enjoy playing together.
10:25 - Around 10:20, you'll notice a countdown start on the screen letting us know that we have 5 more minutes before story time. Start helping your kids wrap up what they are working on. When the countdown stops, it's time for the story! Activities stop and kids and adults can take a seat on the floor (yes, we'll have some chairs available!) The story will help pull all the activities together.
10:45 - Prayer and dismissal. Now it's time to head to worship! And yes, the scripture lesson in worship is going to sound pretty familiar!!

We're hoping for a pretty relaxed atmosphere but there are a few rules. As we were working on these rules, funny enough - there are more rules for the adults than for the kids!

For the kids:

• Be respectful: Don't use all the supplies, take turns, honor the adults that are helping. 
• Be creative! 
• Have fun!

For the adults:

• TURN YOUR CELLPHONES OFF!!!!
• Kids get to set the pace.
• Help when you are asked - but don't do for your kids what they can do by themselves.
• Play with your kids! Engage! Be present! Don't take this time for granted...
• Unless you are an official Messy Church volunteer, adults must have a child with them to participate. 

We look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday!