MESSY
CHURCH AT OUR CHURCH
Because
there are increasing numbers of people who find attending Sunday
morning service difficult............ children's sports fixtures,
having to work etc. we have tried to provide a mid-week service
designed for parents and children, though anyone is most welcome to
come along.
There
is an additional need, that of getting a child into the local Church
school. If parents need to 'get in on church attendance' our local
school has just set that qualification as 'at least twice a month,
for 2 years', impossible if you have to work on a Sunday morning.
We
have tried various formats and times but it is difficult to find a
time which suits parents at the same time as enabling folk who are
working to be part of the team. At one point there was just my
husband (the vicar) and myself and that fell apart when I had to
spend increasing amounts of time out of town looking after my ancient
parents, so the family service lapsed.
In
response to requests from parents we had a meeting a couple of weeks ago in the local pub
and sorted out a basic team, a format for the service and a time....
straight after school on Tuesdays, every week except for the Tuesday
after Christmas and August, using a Messy Church format and starting
in 2 weeks. The first of the new services was last Tuesday.
2pm
Tuesday
D
and I go across to church to set up tables and chairs. Although we
had asked at PCC for helpers none has come forward, so it's just the
two of us and since I refuse to move the desperately heavy,
unstackable chairs it's down the the vicar, as usual. I go up to the
office to photocopy colouring/puzzle sheets. I'll have to err on the
side of caution since we have no idea how many will/ will not come.
2.20pm
I
put out craft materials, puzzle sheets etc, hymn sheets on chairs,
music ready for our keyboard player, service outline and talk outline
on the altar ready for the service part of the session.
2.30pm
A lovely lady, M, arrives (she was at the meeting) to organise the
kitchen, drinks and biscuits for early arrivals. The local schools
from whom we expect to get most of our children all finish at
different times so we have decided to serve drinks and a biscuit as
they arrive to help cope with this.
D
goes across the road to ASDA to buy drinks, including sugar free for
the diabetic lad we know will be there.
2.45pm
R
our keyboard player arrives and gets set up in her corner.
I
get all the crayons and pens in church and throw out the duds,
sharpen the pencil crayons and get them onto the tables ready for
use.
We
label the drink bottles and biscuit tin 'Messy Church' so we don't
use up the supplies for Sundays.
2.50pm
I
go through the box of pictures to colour, which is used during Sunday
services, throw out those which have been drawn on, save some which
will be great for future Messy services and put the rest back into
the box for Sunday.
3pm
I
plug in the slow cooker, with water and a bowl of chocolate pieces to
melt ready to make chocolate crispies. Our theme is 'taste and see
that the Lord is good' so we're making something good to taste.
3.10pm
Our
first arrivals. Drinks and biscuits.
Things
start to hot up. One little Asian lad decides he will leap up onto
the baby soft play mat which has been safely stored on top of the
chairs at the back of the church (it's part of the play group's
equipment) and I make sure he comes down! No other child tries to
do this.
Children enjoy drinks, biscuits and go off to choose an
activity.
3.30pm
The
chocolate has melted so the first children rush up to make their
crispies.
3.40pm
We
are in full swing, J is collecting names so we can keep a check on
who's there (essential if they need to prove church attendance), D is
chatting, parents are chatting, though we would really prefer them to
be 'dong' crafty things with their children. I see we have 3
childminders with their charges, great! Children are getting the
idea that they can do one activity and then go to another. We make
extra crispies for those who don't want to make one.
3.45pm
K
and P have prepared a more substantial snack..... sausages and cheesy
tortillas, and children are diverted from crafts to the snack table,
and back again.
It
looks like it's all going rather well.
4.10pm
The
crispies being finished I tidy away the equipment and put the trays
of goodies on the altar, away from little fingers.
Looking
around I can see some children have done as much as they want.
4.20pm
I
get out the bells and start to ring up at the altar. People stop so
I ring and beckon and they all get the message and come up to the
altar. We have enough chairs set in a semi-circle in the sanctuary
for the Mums and so the children sit on the carpet. They are very
squashed (we had a really big turn out and are delighted to have this
problem) so for next week we'll need to move the altar back.
4.30pm
Our
service is underway and we enjoy a talk about biscuits (trust the
Name! Taste and see) and play our (noisy) percussion, have an action
song and then we quiet down for prayers...and they do all quiet down,
in spite of their bouncing around with excitement when the Vicar
promises them more biscuits from his special packet as they go home!
We
finish with 2 quiet songs, 'May God's Blessing Surround You Each Day'
and what I know as 'the Tweenies going home song'.
4.50pm
Almost
everyone has gone, J is giving away the last of the crispies, D is
chatting to a Mum and I am finally getting to know the lass who lives
at the bottom of the Vicarage garden in the old rectory.
5pm
I
stagger home leaving 'someone else' to finish the tidying up,
incredibly tired and heartily glad that I have left baked potatoes in
the oven.
Resource
pages at the top of the blog
