Last week I had my first experience of messy church. Messy church is a fresh expression of church aimed at families with young children. Not having any young children myself it was something I had avoided till now, however part of being on the vocation journey is that you are expected to experience other types of church. So I arrived feeling somewhat apprehensive, various craft activities were being set out on tables and a BBQ was taking shape outside. People arrived as and when and did which ever craft activities they wanted. After about an hour everyone went into church for a short talk finished by asking what people wanted to pray for and Stella Bailey doing a very good job on prayers for topics including ladybirds and teddy bears. We then all headed out to the BBQ.
So, what did I think to messy church? Well I had fun, I think it's a great environment for building relationships and having conversations, probably more so then a Sunday morning. However having spent a week thinking about it a bit more I also have some criticisms and questions. Most of my criticisms will not apply to everyone, this is just my thoughts and feelings.
I had fun, it was a pleasant way to spend a few hours but I don't feel as if I worshipped or even felt much of God there. I am not saying God wasn't there, just for me this didn't seem like activity that helped deepen my faith or relationship with God.
The activites were all very craft based, which is to a certain extent fine for me because I enjoy crafty stuff, but what about people and kids that don't like craft? I said to a certain extent that craft based was fine for me, as an adult I am aware of my limitations and I am generally ok with the idea that there are things I an not good at. Art happens to be one of those things. There was an activity to make stained glass windows, this involved cutting paper shapes and drawing over lines in pen. I avoided this as most of the kids efforts would look better than mine. As an adult I am fine with this, a younger me might have felt embarrassed and stupid at being so obviously bad at craft stuff. Adding in some non craft based activities might be good.
My final question about messy church is how do we develop the faith and understanding of the people that go to a deeper level? Is there such a thing as a messy Eucharist? Can we provide something more for adults / older kids that might like to explore in more depth alongside messy church?
Messy church does provide some thing useful especially for families with young children, but it isn't going to be for everyone and I have noticed a tendency for people who say they won't go or be involved to be criticised for that. My husband has been criticised for saying he wouldn't go near it, yet he doesn't like young children or craft stuff so what would he get from messy church?
Overall it felt to me like an extended version of Sunday school rather than a new way of doing church.
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