Messy Church

Come and Join Us For

The hall is buzzing with conversation. Around a table adults and children burst into laughter as they wrestle with metallic tubing and googly eyes and their teenage helpers despair of ever creating the promised artefact.

A toddler slaps green paint on a huge sheet of card under the watchful eye of a Granny (not sure if they're related or not - it doesn't really matter). A five-year-old watches wide-eyed as an enthusiastic leader shows her how to bang in a nail.

There's a delicious smell wafting out of the kitchen. The ten-year-olds, intent on their glass-painting, agree it must be jacket potatoes. The minister takes a photo of the surreal result of the junk modelling and two mums catch up on the gossip as they drink welcome cups of tea and slowly decorate gift bags while their children make something unidentifiable but very chocolatey.

The cooks should be getting the plates stacked, but one of the mums needs to talk about her problems with her foster children.

I would be panicking about the story for the celebration later, but there's a huge collage of The Great Banquet to assemble before five o'clock, the powder paint has proved a formidable weapon of mess creation in the hands of Jack, and we've barely got started on the lettering and whoops, someone's kicked over the gluepot...

Just another Messy Church.

Messy Church is the church's attempt to be church for families who might want to meet Jesus, belong to their local church and bring up their children as Christians but can't cope with traditional Sunday morning church services.

It's a once-a-month time of creativity, worship and eating together (we start with Lunch at 12.30).

Helen Brown, a textiles teacher from Chace Community School, and her friends from the the Embroiders Guild will teach us quilting.

We meet once a month on the fourth Sunday from 12.30pm - 3pm and would love to see you and your family there.