Messy Church
Recently, a new part of our church family met at All Saints: Messy Church.
The helpers started arriving early
They set up the hall and Perry Room with activities, including painting
paper weaving
cooking and decorating
and cutting and glueing.
Meanwhile, others re-arranged the church.
Before the morning started, the huge team of helpers – from both All Saints and
Peachcroft – met in the church for prayer.
We had been anxious about whether anyone would respond to our invitations, but
soon people started to arrive.
And they just kept on coming. We were overwhelmed by the response.
Some quite interesting characters arrived.
The theme of the morning was love – and friendship – and neighbours. Babies played
in the cosy corner.
Making badges was very popular.
We made animals from heart shapes.
People enjoyed painting their friends and neighbours.
Making felt was very popular, though it was hard to make a heart shape.
And we meant to build a road with our Rocky Road chocolate cakes, but we didn’t
quite get round to it.
Then we gathered in the church for the celebration.
We think there were two families from Peachcroft Christian Centre, and one from
Long Furlong. All the others were, as far as we know, entirely new to church.
We lit the candles on our Messy Church tree
and Bob told the story of the Good Samaritan.
We sang songs and danced.
Meanwhile, the helpers were laying the tables for lunch.
We served hot dogs and onions
and ketchup
and people of all ages sat down to eat together.
A huge thank you to the heroic helpers in the kitchen, who cooked
and served ice cream
and washed up
and then washed up some more.
It seemed to go on for ever.
Meanwhile, the church was magically put back to rights.
After lunch, people collected their works of art
and the clearing up began.
But some people
insisted on finishing
every last bit of ice cream
until at last, everyone was gone.
Outside, people were saying goodbye
and leaving with balloons and chocolate cakes.
But inside, our cameraman snapped a new pianist and his friend.
Messy Church was amazingly successful at reaching families who don’t usually come
to church. We’d like to say a huge thank-you to everyone who worked so hard to
make Messy Church a success. It’s now a regular feature, happening about every two
months. Let us know if you’d like to help!