Blog Takeover - Rev Julia Gordon updates us on Messy Church
Messy Church
So, you may have heard that we have started up Messy Church at The Elderdale Community Centre in Yewdale Gardens, which is a form of church for families to worship and learn together and welcomes existing church-goers as well as newbies of all ages from 0 – 99 (if you’re 100, you are welcome too!) It includes craft activities, all based around a bible theme, which involves conversation and building relationships, worship, teaching and singing, then we all finish off by sharing a meal together.
We’ve held two sessions so far and it’s been great fun. The people at Withins Action Group (WAG) gave up one of their slots once a month on Monday afternoon at the centre so we could hold it there and have been so supportive and encouraging, it had to be the Holy Spirit working His magic!
Our first session was a great success – not in numbers, but with the way everyone engaged in the craft, stories and of course sharing food. We had around 25 attending, including leaders, and the ratio of leader to guest was a real blessing. After all, we were finding our feet with it all and I think God knew just how many we could cope with! In fact, not only were we blessed with the number of guests who turned up but also the number of leaders who volunteered to be part of this amazing ministry. Praise the Lord! Our second session practically doubled in numbers and the Easter themed activities were brilliant with great feedback from the ‘congregation’. We are currently planning our third session (end of June) and we can feel the anticipation from those who came to the last ones – they’ve got the flyer firmly placed on their fridge!
I thank God for his amazing faithfulness and encouragement and can’t wait to see where He takes us with Messy Church!
God bless,
Julia