A continued Mess...

It's been nearly a month since my last post on possible changes to the Messy Church setup so I thought it was time to update.

Since then we had a Messy Sunday. In this we 'trialled' the slightly different setup in a Sunday morning service. It was a chance to affirm to the Sunday morning gathering that what happens on Tuesday is church, though the majority of the Sunday morning people come to MC as well. Also, it was an opportunity to invite people who only come on a Tuesday to come on Sunday and meet some new faces. We had 2 families come along.

The new setup worked well all in one room. Some practical issues were identified but nothing that can't be easily overcome. What struck me most that morning was the 'wondering' time. I use Godly Play methods regularly so I led that section. But let me show you how we journeyed through the service.

Chill
Greeting
Songs
Reading
Exploring the Word

• Wedding decorations
• Wedding Sundaes
• Prayer Map
• Discussion Group
• Drama (telling the story)

Listening to the story (drama presented) - I wonder...
Songs
Messy Grace

The wondering questions I used were I wonder...

• what part of the story you like best?
• what is the most important part of the story?
• if you have anything ordinary that is also special?
• if you have ever seen God in the ordinary?
• when you feel ordinary?
• if you have ever come close to something like this?

Let me say I know how good the GP methods can be at opening a story and generating thought and discussion. I've seen a group of children bouncing questions and thoughts off of each other without me even able to get a word in. But on that morning I was really astounded at how we all learned together. People just joined right in and we were really learning as a community, all ages included. For my part I've got to work on being able to ask open ended yet slightly leading questions off of other peoples responses.

This Tuesday is the first 'normal' MC under the new structure. It will be nice to see what happens. But I really like the way that the Word remained central and clearly visible in everything that happened. I'm confident that we can learn and serve together as a community. A community that is inclusive of all regardless of age, ability, or anything else.