News, Stories and Resources from the MESSY CHURCH CANADA Team. Let us know by email if you have ideas, stories, or activities to share. The newsletter is published near the beginning of the month. Messy Church Canada is a ministry of Wycliffe College Toronto ON
As we begin the New Year, we’d like to share a quote from Nicky Gumbel (Rector of Holy Trinity Brompton, home of Alpha)…
Look back and thank God.
Look forward and trust God.
Look around and serve God.
Look up and seek God.
Happy New Year to Everyone!
Blessings, Sue ~ on behalf of the Messy Church Canada Team
Sue Kalbfleisch, MCC Team Leader Phone: 1-905-648-0302 Email
New Messy Churches
Please welcome and pray for our soon to be launched Messy Churches in January 2019:
Riverside Community Church (Baptist), Peterborough ON
St. Matthew on the Plains (Anglican), Burlington ON
Please notify us if you have started a Messy Church or if you hear about someone who has started one. Then we can let the appropriate Regional Coordinator know so we can connect with someone nearby for support and networking - and so that we will have an accurate national database too. At this moment of writing, there are over 280 Canadian Messy Churches and almost 4000 Messy Churches registered world-wide on the international site!
Messy Church Regional Coordinators
We are still looking for Regional Coordinators in Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and PEI - please let us know if you are interested or would like information. Find the contact info for all our RCs HERE.
Register Your Messy Church
Don't forget to register your Messy Church - there is no cost and we have lots of folks to help and support you. We are looking forward to connecting with you and growing together!
Events for Training, Networking & just for fun!
Messy Fiesta on Saturday April 6, 2019 at St. John's Anglican Church Truro, Nova Scotia
Messy Church Camp February 15-18, 2019 at Kuriakos Camp Lacombe County, Alberta
See Below for more information
Messy Church Camp - Friday-Monday Feb. 15-18, 2019 (Alberta Family Day weekend) at Kuriakos Camp, Lacombe County Alberta - a family camp with the theme 'Epiphany'. Facilitator is Dora Hall of Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Okatoks AB. Details at this link!Please register at the campwebsite.
Messy Fiesta - Saturday April 6, 2019 at St. John's Anglican Church, 23 Church St, Truro, NS B2N 3Z5 from 10m to 3pm. Details and registration here.
Please let us know of Messy Meet Ups, Messy Fiestas and workshops so they can be publicized - or if you'd like to host one!
Messy Church Event Descriptions
Messy Church Canada provides and facilitates workshops that are open to all Christian denominations - and so we encourage participation from a wide range of churches. All events are listed with details at www.messychurch.ca
Messy Fiesta - a full day workshop to learn about and experience Messy Church AND for Messy Church Leadership teams just starting their messy journey to connect and share ideas. Usually on a Saturday from 10am-3pm. Includes 'doing' Messy Church in the morning with welcome, 10 activities, celebration and lunch followed by lots of discussion, Q & A, and networking.
Messy Meet Up - a get together of Messy Church practitioners who meet to share ideas, network, improve their Messy Church and encourage each other. A Messy Meet Up can be held on an evening, Saturday or whenever it works for the group involved, and usually lasts for 2-3 hours.
Full Disclosure: I’ve Never Liked Messy Church But… by Allen Macartney
“What the ...?!” That’s the first thing I said to myself as I got off the bus late yesterday afternoon at Gloucester Presbyterian Church in Ottawa.
Though it was raining and quite miserable, the parking lot was almost filled with cars.
Inside, the church was bouncing with life: kids running and laughing, and parents (many of whom I didn’t know) grinning and talking to each other. Anastasia, Olive and Prince were helping people make name tags. David, an active teen in our church, was teaching little ‘shepherds’ how to herd sheep (balloons) with canes (swimming pool noodles). It’s not easy! Others were tossing bean bags to nudge wayward sheep away from a cliff. Crystal, Joan and Carol were helping other little shepherds make sheep faces on cupcakes and/or paper plates. Fun!
As we begin another Messy Year let us take a few minutes to pray for all those churches, parishioners and leaders that are wondering if they should consider exploring the possibilities of starting a Messy Church in their community. Let us pray that they will discern their ‘neighbourhoods’ and then determine how Messy Church might serve needs, build a missional community and make disciples of Jesus Christ.
As Messy Church Canada embarks on its journey in 2019 we continue to work on the development of the Messy Church Course which we plan to launch in September 2019. We also have a small delegation of Messy Church leaders and practitioners who will be attending the second International Messy Church Conference at the High Leigh Conference Centre in Hertfordshire UK, May 3-6, 2019.
Resources and Ideas for your Messy Church
Lent and Easter Ideas and Resources
Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on Wednesday, March 6 and ends on Maundy/Holy Thursday April 18. If you are planning Lenten activities for your Messy Church, here are some links and ideas to get started - more as the new year continues...
Messy Church Pinterest Boards for Lent and Easter from Cathy Garbutt (London Ontario) and from BRF in the UK as well as from Lacey at 'Catholic Icing'and Flame.
From the updated Messy Church BRF site: great ideas for your Messy Churches including Lent and Easter, Messy Science, Story Telling and more! Keep checking back for new ideas to be posted at this link!
Planning for various ‘Seasons’? Here are some great free resources that include Alternative Ideas for Hallowe’en, Advent/Christmas, Lent/Easter, and Father’s Day from Kids Friendly in New Zealand.
More Resources
There are 14 complete Messy Church Themes created by Canadian Messy Church Leaders on our website.
Cathy Garbutt, our RC in London ON, has a great Pinterest site - Messy Church Board. Cathy keeps adding boards related to various themes, so check her site often.
Please check out the updated booklist for all the Messy Church (and related) books available in Canada along with ordering information HERE
Resources and links from around the world...
From the UK
Parenting For Faith is a great website for parents looking to raise faithful kids. Care for the Family is another site with lots of resources for families, and is also the new home for those looking for 'Who Let the Dads Out' materials (nurturing relationships between fathers and their children). Check out theFaith in HomesFaceBook page - where you'll find lots of ideas for families - for both at Messy Church and for families between MC gatherings.
UK Messy Church Pinterest site has lots of ideas – bookmark it on your computer as more categories have been added! UK Messy Church Pinterest link
Lucy's monthly eNewsletter includes lots of articles and information. Lucy's January Newsletter is here - and Checkthis link for archived newsletters.Lucy's blog includes Maximizing the Mess as well as lots of additional articles and ideas.
The 'Get Messy' magazine published 3X yearly is a great resource. Go to the BRF website and pay for the download for the issue you wish to receive.
The newest Get Messy! magazine January-April 2019is available and includes free downloads to complement the themes. Available on-line to download for £4.50
The four sessions in this issue include: 'Where I belong' (Luke 2:41-52), 'Self Confidence' (Judges 6:11-16), 'Dusty Drawing' (John 8:1-11), and 'Always with Us' (Matthew 27-28)
Over the next four months of sessions in 'Get Messy', we’ll be exploring four aspects of Jesus bringing life in all its fullness to people of all ages. We’ll be encouraging everyone to think about Jesus’ sense of belonging to his heavenly Father and what that means for our sense of belonging (January); our self-confidence, as God has a job for each of us, just as he had for the unlikely Gideon (February); the unconditional forgiveness we can receive from Jesus and can give to others as we look at the story of the woman forgiven by Jesus (March); and the rock-solid hope and trust that Jesus is always with us that comes from the Easter story (April).
