Yesterday, we ran our first Messy Fiesta at Morpeth Baptist Church – and it was brilliant!!!

We have been running Messy Church events every few months for about 18 months, mainly as part of our ministry to children and their parents, but yesterday was the first time we involved the whole church.  Absolutely all ages – not just aimed at kids but at everyone – new born to grey hairs!

In a nutshell, Messy Church is about using our natural creativity to worship our Creator God – having fun as a means of learning and praising!  It is based on a kinesthetic approach to learning with everyone doing something and being involved rather than a typical church approach which is based on didactic learning with most people passively listening and only a few actively involved in leading and doing.

Everything that happens during Messy Church is undergirded by the three governing principles of fun, fellowship and food.

Since yesterday was Pentecost Sunday, the theme for the event was the coming of the Holy Spirit and having a birthday party for the Church.

The layout was in three rooms – the Main Hall, an Interactive Prayer Room and a Quiet Prayer Room.

In the Main Hall there were a number of tables with different activities including:

• Decorating mini birthday cakes;
• Making decorative candle holders;
• Making windsocks and windmills;
• Blow painting;
• Making kites;
• Decorative doves;
• Decorating Bible verses in different languages.

In the Interactive Prayer Room there were four prayer stations – each station focused on a different metaphor used to illustrate the characteristics of the Holy Spirit ie wind, fire, water and oil.  The prayer focus was on healing, power, grace, forgiveness, majesty and glory etc.

The activities where sandwiched between Bible reading, a short drama and multimedia presentation and some praise and prayer.

After the main Messy Fiesta event we all had a ‘bring-and-share’ picnic lunch together as a birthday celebration.

It was an absolutely fabulous day – and the feedback from everyone I spoke to was really good.  I think it was a different and refreshing form of worship and I can’t wait for the next one.

Here are some photographs from the event – the first six are of the activities in the Main Hall, the last five are of the Interactive Prayer Room:

By posting these photographs I am assuming that everyone in the pictures doesn’t mind me doing so.  If anyone would rather not have their picture included then let me know and I will remove the photos involved.

What do you think of that then?  Any thoughts or comments?

If you want to find out more about Messy Church – then have a look here.

Alternatively, get hold of one or both of the Messy Church books – here and here.