Messy church is a relaxed version of church which suits families and those who are less comfortable with a traditional service. We meet for a range of craft activities, fellowship, food and worship.
You will need to book a place in advance to attend Messy Church. This can be done via our Facebook page, or by using the ‘Contact Us’ section on this website. We usually meet at 4.00pm on the 3rd Saturday of the month.
What to expect when you come to Messy Church
On the day, you will walk down the alleyway at the side of the church, and enter the church hall through the outer double doors. There will be helpers inside the hall, waiting to welcome you, and when the inner double doors open at 4pm, you will give your name to the helper at the table on the right hand side, inside the hall. If you haven’t been to Messy Church before, we will also ask you to fill in a form with your contact details. There will be background music playing in the hall.
You’ll be given a piece of paper with all of the available activities listed on it. There will be 6-8 tables around the hall, each with a different activity on, and a church helper who can explain the activity, or help you. Many of the activities are art or craft, some might be games, and sometimes we have a simple science experiment. There are different activities each month. You might make items you can take home, and on one table, we often have a group art activity which we will display in church later. Occasionally in better weather, there might be an activity set up outside the hall. You are free to do as many or as few of the activities as you like.
After about 5 or 10 minutes, the leaders will ask everyone to pause, while they welcome all the visitors, and will explain what the theme of this month’s service is. They might tell a very short story at this point. Afterwards, everyone will continue with the activities. Please feel free to move onto another table whenever you are ready to. There are toilets in the hall’s entrance lobby, and a disabled accessible toilet up the slope between the hall and the church. A helper can show you, if you ask.
At about 4.45pm, the leaders will call all visitors into the church, for the worship time. They will call out a warning, about 5 minutes before, so you have time to finish the activity you’re doing. You will then follow a leader through a set of doors near the back of the hall, up the slope and into the church. In church, you can sit wherever you like.
The leader will then talk about the day’s theme, tell a story, and there will be a song or two. One might be an action song. You can stand up and join in with the actions on the video, but you don’t have to. Everything that you can join in with, will be on the large screen at the front of church. The leader will finish worship time with some prayers, and we will say the Messy Grace. The words will be on the screen for everyone to join in with, and you can do the actions as demonstrated by the leader, if you wish.
Then everyone will go back down the slope and into the hall. The helpers will have tidied away all the activities, and will have put food on the tables. You can find a seat wherever you like, and the leader will then say the Superman Grace, which you can join in with. Everyone can then sit and eat, and the food is normally a selection of sandwiches on white bread, chicken nuggets, cucumber strips, grapes and crisps. A helper will come round to the tables with a choice of squash to drink, or adults can get a tea or coffee from the kitchen hatch. A selection of cakes are then brought round to the tables a bit later. Adults are welcome to join the children at the tables, and eat.
Once you have eaten, you can leave whenever you would like. Most people leave by around 5.30pm, although you are welcome to stay and chat for as long as you wish. We hope you will enjoy being at Messy Church with us.