Last month, a Messy Church was
held at Lanchester church for the first time. The vicar and a team of
volunteers planned the first session (with the help of our lovely new Diocesan
children’s ministry adviser), and on the Sunday afternoon itself, about 35
children came along accompanied by adult family members; we were delighted with
the numbers that we had, and the whole afternoon in general. There was a lovely
atmosphere, and it was wonderful to see so many people coming together in this
way, many of whom had not been to the church before, but for whom this style of
church, including the time of day, suited them and appealed to the needs of
their family. It was an exciting and inspiring afternoon.
On Tuesday evening this week,
some of our team went to a Messy Church training event led by the founder of
Messy Church, Lucy Moore, who began this initiative in her home church in Portsmouth
some nine years ago. Since then, Messy Church has grown a great deal across the
UK and beyond, and there are now a large number of churches taking part in this
fresh expression of being church.
The training event on Tuesday
was an opportunity for teams across the Diocese to come together and share
experiences with each other and Lucy, and to reflect upon what was
discussed. It was an inspiring evening,
and Lucy could not have been more enthusiastic about the ways in which Messy
Church can reach the community in which it is based. Lucy spoke of the values
of Messy Church, and how these are integral to its mission; that, first and
foremost, they are to be Christ-centred sessions which enable people to grow to
know and love Jesus through various ways, one of these being through the shared
creativity that Messy Church has to offer. And this emphasis on creativity and
the importance of this, not only to the Messy Church session but also to our
lives and relationship to God, gave me pause for thought. I know from personal experience
that I feel enriched and enlivened when I am being creative. Whether it is
writing a piece of music, writing a
blog post or even baking, I feel that I am not simply writing notes down on a
page, words on a screen or mixing ingredients together, but doing things that celebrate
the bringing together of something new and unique; something of me is born, and
this is rejuvenating and fulfilling. Through this exploration of ourselves, our
unique creations can celebrate what God has given to us through His own creation,
and our own creative potential that He sees in us: people who can grow and flourish
as individuals and with others through their creativity, and be more fully themselves.
As adults, however, it is very
easy to lose sight of our scope for creativity; the busy-ness of life can take
over and can leave us little time for activities which seem a luxury when we
have so much else to fit in. Not only this, but we can be plagued by
a sense that what we are doing has to be of a certain standard; that if our
piece of music, artwork, writing or baking isn’t what we perceive to be perfect,
it is somehow not good enough. I feel
this sometimes when writing blog posts; I hesitate before pressing ‘publish’,
worrying that I might not have expressed myself clearly enough, or that I have
somehow lost the point of what I was trying to say. Most of my writing in the
past has been of an academic nature, where the quality of the structure,
clarity and presentation of ideas is a measure of its success and whether or
not it is good enough. One of the reasons why writing a blog appealed to me was
the lack of that kind of pressure and the opportunity to simply enjoy writing
for its own sake, but sometimes the
relative freedom of creativity for its own sake can seem daunting and hamper the
very thing that we are hoping to experience. It is by releasing ourselves from
the pressure of aiming for a certain standard that creativity can begin and
flourish. Part of doing this is to thrive in the process of creativity itself rather
than constantly focussing on the outcome, and children can teach us a great
deal about this: observing children being creative reminds us of this through
their joy of experiencing the moment, and being with them and joining in with
them encourages us and beckons us to do the same.
I have certainly experienced this
whilst baking or painting or doing other creative activities with my own children;
their delight in the process of creating something together and not worrying about
the mess or how it turns out is a joy to behold, and brings me into their view
of what being creative means by enjoying it for its own sake. And it is in this
being together in the creativity of the moment and celebrating our unique
selves that Messy Church really comes into its own. Lucy spoke of Messy Church
being for everyone who comes along, adults and children alike, and that it is
very specifically a family occasion, and I can see in so many ways why this is
another one of its values.
Messy Church asks for and encourages
the adults to come along and join in the creativity, and to teach and learn
about Jesus through the activities which they are doing with their
children. The children and adults, in fact all of us there, are teachers and
learners all at once, and we are as one church, all of us children of God. The opportunity
for us all to be childlike and to celebrate in this and give thanks to God for
this is there through the creativity and the time that we share together. Through
this way of being church, we can see the wonderful sight of the kingdom of God
growing before our very eyes.
