MESSY CHURCH

Messy Church

The bestselling book at the 2013 conference

Messy Church aims to create the opportunity for people to have fun together and enjoy the experience of being part of the extended church family through a range of craft activities, storytelling, worship and simple homemade meals.

Includes 10 Messy Church session outlines.

Starting your Messy Church

When you need to introduce your children’s workers, family co-coordinators and church leaders to the concept of all-involving, activity based, new-to-church worship, this is the quick-to-read resource that explains it all. ‘Starting Your Messy Church’ is structured into bite-sized sections covering the essentials of starting your own Messy Church ministry. The book includes checklists, milestones and questions to ask of another Messy Church you might visit. Also, an honest and down to earth look at the ‘Things we wish we’d known’ from experienced Messy Church practitioners.

Messy Church 2

This follow-on book gives new sessions but also explores the importance of discipleship, faith development and training for leadership. The material includes insights into the theology of the sacred in the ordinary and ideas for practical ways to promote a sense of fellowship and community.

Messy Church 3

15 more sessions following the Christian year as a guideline: Christmas, Pentecost and Harvest (with Rogation Tide and All Saints Day included too). Also included in the resource are ideas designed to help families continue to reflect on the session at home.

Messy togetherness

being intergenerational in Messy Church 

Why do more and more people advocate the idea that generations should explore faith together, and what does the Bible have to say about this? How does this fit with our inherited model of age-related groups for learning and discipleship? And is it really practical and possible to have an experience of church where the youngest to the oldest share the same meeting space, service theme and time to worship? Messy Church is claiming that this can and does happen! In this book Martyn discusses Messy Church as an intergenerational expression of church and the benefits of this to the church community. He explores current thinking about faith development and gives a biblical rationale for the all-age approach, offering practical advice and sharing stories and ideas. Plus three new Messy Church outlines.

Sue says: As with other recent titles from the Messy Church stable, I’d recommend this book regardless of whether you are involved in a Messy Church. I can’t put it better than Nick Harding (Children’s Ministry Advisor for the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham), who says in the book’s Foreword: ‘This book is a great resource for the whole church. It is an invaluable tool for those who are committed to Messy Church or are considering it. It is essential reading for those who lead worship in any church. It is also ideal for everyone, across our denominations, who has as inner sense that, when the children and young people leave, there is a gap, and we need to bring change.’

Messy hospitality

changing communities through fun, food, friendship and faith 

In the latest book from the Messy Church team, Lucy demonstrates how hospitality can be practiced in Messy Church and other church contexts to promote mission and faith formation, addressing the theology of hospitality and how it can be expressed at the welcome table, the activity table, the Lord’s Table, the meal table and in the home. It also includes insights from the secular hospitality industry, how to train teams, audit-style questions and 5 complete session outlines for Messy Churches.

Sue says: Even if you are not involved in a Messy Church, I’d recommend this book. Amongst other helpful insights, it will challenge you consider these questions, as posed in the book: ‘Hospitality is hopeful; it is confident, thoughtful, optimistic, generous and openhearted.’ (A quote from Setting the Table by Danny Meyer.) God is hopeful; he is confident, thoughtful, optimistic, generous and openhearted. Can you also say the following? My team is hopeful; we are confident, thoughtful, optimistic, generous and openhearted. My church is… My home is… I am…

Messy Church theology

With a rich variety of Messy Church leaders, pastors, and theologians (including John Drane, George Lings, & Beth Barnett) this book gathers together 12 essays to encapsulate the theology of Messy Church. Amongst these theological musings are 5 fascinating case studies, researched and written by grass-roots practitioners, including topics such as special needs.

Making disciples in Messy Church

This book to answers the sceptical questions many have asked of the Messy movement: ‘are people becoming Christians at Messy Church.’ Ministers, leaders and volunteers will discover the untapped potential within their groups for genuine discipleship through the resource they have already created – community.

Messy Prayer

Equipping your Messy team to pray and encourage others to do so, both within and outside the Messy Church context. Including:

• Communicating prayer as a concept
• Praying as a team in advance and on the day
• Prayer ideas for the activity time, celebration time, and at home as a family
• Ways of praying the Lord’s Prayer
• Ways to reimagine other traditional prayers
• Creating a prayer space
• A Messy Quiet Day outline

Messy celebration

Created for Messy Church leaders who are planning the celebration aspect of their Messy Church session, this title clarifies the purpose and key elements of the celebration time, and equips the team both spiritually and practically to lead this part of the Messy Church session. Different celebration approaches are considered and further resources signposted.

Messy Christmas

Three sessions to build outreach all the way through the Christmas period. Whether you run community outreach all year-round, or want to grab the best opportunity of the year, this is a treasure trove jam-packed with themed crafts for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, including creative Christmas prayers, seasonal games and competitions, Christmas food crafts, seasonal craft activities and global action suggestions.

Messy Christmas

Three complete sessions for Lent, Holy Week and Easter, together with a wealth of activities to extend the range of excitingly messy activities for your Messy Church – creative prayers, games, food crafts, and ideas for organising an Easter trail. Craft templates and a session planning grid are included.

Messy cooks

Contains a wealth of practical dishes organised into ten popular sections including: chicken, mince, sausages, pasta, vegetarian, soups, cakes, finger foods, store cupboard foods and special diets. In this title, each recipe is selected according to ease of preparation, availability of ingredients and popularity with Messy Church families.

Messy crafts

Containing a wealth of easy-to-do instant craft ideas and non-craft based activities, this title is suitable for those with special needs. It offers ideas that include suggestions to inspire further exploration of the craft technique.

Extreme crafts for Messy Churches

Sub-titled 50 Activity Ideas for the Adventurous, this book is divided into five sections – big stuff, construction crafts, science crafts, arty crafts and edible crafts – with an appendix on planning a male-friendly Messy Church.

Mark Chester, founder of Who Let the Dads Out?, says: I am by nature a craft sceptic. Glue, glitter and sequins are not easy for a bloke with big hands to cope with, but, within a few pages of the start of this book, Pete and Barry had won me over with their promise of the ‘extreme activities’ to come. I was not disappointed. I wanted to try building a fruit catapult, walking on eggs and mixing up some Oobleck (read the book to find out what that is!). I can still recall the excitement I felt as a child when discovering invisible ink, and now I’m desperate to give it a go again. The guidance in the back of the book about planning a male-friendly Messy Church is great stuff, but, as with the rest of the book, it’s not only relevant to Messy Churches. Whatever group for families you run – Messy Church, Who Let the Dads Out? or any other – I wholeheartedly recommend this book to you.

Sue says: This book is great if you want ideas for activities for children and families that go beyond your usual craft table and games. Not only will they have an appeal to dads and boys who come along to your groups (and many girls and mums as well!), but they should help you get more men into your team of helpers.

Sports fun for Messy Churches

The bestselling book at the 2012 conference

Sports Fun resources Messy Church leaders to explore spiritual values such as the excellence and respect found in great sporting events like the 2012 Olympics. It includes crafts on a sports theme, games suitable for the all-age community, involvement ideas such as a sports trail and messy weekends!

Messy Lyfe

A child-led activity booklet that helps people to learn how to live life with Jesus. It is a ‘next steps’ guide for families on the fringe of church. The booklet is pitched for children (aged 6-9 years old) who are anticipated to be the driver of the family group as they progress through the daily sessions. The booklet contains three daily sessions over a six-week period (18 sessions) based around the six lyfe areas – prayer, living a good life, working with the Holy Spirit, loving other people, knowing the Bible and living close to God. Simple to read, with space for writing, doodling, and so on.

Messy Church

The official web site for Messy Church.

What is Messy Church?

(Messy Church team, 2016 conference)

Find out the basics of what Messy Church is and how to start well with a joint, lively presentation from the Messy Church team. Plenty of opportunity to ask those tricky questions!

Delegate rating 9/10

Messy hospitality

(Lucy Moore, 2016 conference)

What’s so wonderful about welcome? Why has it been so important to Christians through the centuries? How do we do it well for families today? Explore this core value of Messy Church with loads of practical ideas.

Delegate rating 9/10

Messy prayers

(Jane Leadbetter, 2016 conference)

Come and pray in Messy Church ways with hands-on ideas from Jane’s new book. Perfect for Messy Churches but also for anywhere where families want to pray. Lots of engaging ideas to try out.

Delegate rating 9/10

Exploring the values of Messy Church

(Messy Church team, 2015 conference)

Exploring the five values of Messy Church: Christ centred; Celebration; All age; Hospitality and Creativity.

Delegate rating 10/10

Extreme mess!

Apparently Messy Church has nothing to offer men and boys… we beg to differ. Ideas and inspiration for making your Messy Church more extreme!

(Pete Maidment, 2015 conference)

Boys and blokes at Messy Church

(Messy Church team, 2015 conference)

An open forum session discussing how to engage boys and blokes in Messy Churches. Sharing ideas, discussing practical ideas and encouraging each other with stories of male messiness.

Delegate rating 8/10

What is Messy Church?

(Messy Church team, 2015 conference)

There are over 2600 registered Messy Churches in the UK and overseas! Find out how this all-age family ministry is impacting communities and people’s lives. Discover the resources and programme available.

Delegate rating 8/10

Messy celebrations

(Messy Church team, 2014 conference)

Making the most of that important Celebration time in Messy Church – be inspired, get ideas, hear other’s stories for story, song, prayer and other encounters with God.

Delegate rating 8/10

Messy Church in tough places

(Messy Church team, 2014 conference)

Martyn Payne looks into Messy Church in areas of social deprivation, both urban and rural. How can we make the most of Messy opportunities in this context?

Delegate rating 8/10

Messy Discipleship

(Messy Church team, 2014 conference)

What does it mean to make disciples in Messy Church? ‘What do we do next?’ Understanding how disciples are growing in this context and being more effective about supporting that growth.

Delegate rating 8/10

Young leaders at Messy Church

(Messy Church team, 2014 conference)

For all those interested in helping young people who lead at or belong to Messy Churches: discover the best ways forward in Messy Church for the under 18s.

Delegate rating 8/10