Looking Back and Moving On

As we move past Holy Week and into the Easter season, I've been doing a little reflecting about just how far we've come in a year with Messy Church at Aldersgate. Last year during Holy Week, my dear friend Pam Attaway and I decided to do a 24 hour fast together as we prepared for Easter. We'd been doing a study on spiritual disciplines and it seemed like this was something we both wanted and needed to do. As we were preparing to fast, Pam asked if I would pray for her and her family as they worked and prepared to go and serve as missionaries in Thailand. They were still raising money and everything was up in the air. And I asked her to pray for children's ministry at Aldersgate. I remember telling her that I knew we needed something, but I just couldn't grasp what that might be.

Within one month, plans for Messy Church fell into place. Within two months, we held our first Messy Church information meeting and by August we were off and running. By December, the Attaways were settling in to life as missionaries in Thailand. And now, here we are a year later - it's so amazing to be able to look back and see all that God has done (and is doing!).

It's great to be able to look back and give thanks for God's work. But it's also a time to look forward. Summer is our big planning time. While everyone is off on vacation, swim team, sports, etc, I get to spend time planning and pondering the future. Summer can be one of the best times of the year - and also one of the hardest.

One of the questions we'll need to address is what does the future of Messy Church at Aldersgate look like. What will we need to move forward? What's the next step for us and this ministry?

Ultimately I think it will come down to three things:
- Outreach - helping to move Messy Church outside the walls of Aldersgate and to spread the word about this opportunity for families to grow in faith together.
- Support - Messy Church costs money. Each event costs something - though most of the time it doesn't cost much (between $50-$100 for one event, 30+ kids). Still, communication, signs, outreach, supplies - all of this adds up. We have money budgeted. But still, wouldn't it be nice to know that money would not be an issue?
- Planning - The planning aspect of Messy Church can be the most fun, and also the biggest stress. Wouldn't it be great to have a small team coordinating an event? Teams could rotate even so that they aren't having to do every event...maybe just every other one. A small group working to plan activities, sources supplies, and gather volunteers would go a long way to make Messy Church even better.

Prayerfully consider if you would like to be a part of Messy Church moving forward! And look for more details about how you can be a part of this ministry! Look how far God has already taken us - and imagine what next year will bring!

And if you'd like to know more about Pam and her awesome family as they serve in Thailand, check out their blog: http://www.loveshareserve.blogspot.com/

The Greatest Story We Get to Tell

Sunday wrapped up our last Messy Church of the school year - and we couldn't have ended the year with a better story! We're a little ahead of Holy Week this year, but Holy Week and spring break always seem to interfere with one another. As much as I wish that spring break travels didn't interfere with Holy Week worship services, they do. So part of our job is to make sure that our families experience the drama of Holy Week - even if it is a week early!
Messy Church this time was all about Holy Week - from Palm Sunday through Good Friday. We had fewer activities - only four - so we could spend more time on the story. The kids were able to craft palm branches which will be incorporated into our Palm Sunday worship service this coming Sunday. For the Last Supper, we focused on Jesus washing his disciples feet. (In October for World Communion Sunday our whole Messy Church will be about Communion - so we saved that part of the story for later!) We also had an activity related to prayer and Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. The kids made pretzels out of modeling clay with a card that explained how pretzels came about and how they remind us

all to pray. This was our messiest craft for sure. I would have loved to have been able to actually make pretzels the kids could eat, but time didn't allow for that. They did get to eat some pretzels for their snack!

And finally, the kids made "stained glass" crosses using contact paper and tissue paper. An easy craft - but they turned into very beautiful crosses. We'll be displaying these crosses in either the Commons or the Sanctuary during Holy Week.

For our story time, we had some great youth who helped tell the story of Jesus' last week. Hopefully the story will stay with our kids as they celebrate Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter.