Coming up...

It's great that Messy Church remains busy and fun during the summer months. In August (Sunday 23, 4pm) we have even more of a food focus than usual and we'll be thinking about special meals and one meal in particular that Jesus had with some of his closest friends. We're inviting all Messy Church families to bring a favourite dish with them to share with others...

In September (Sunday 27, 4pm) our Messy Church

has a musical theme and we're going to be having a bit of a jamming session with any parents and children who can play instruments. If you are musical and do play please consider coming along with (if possible) your musical instrument. We'll understand if you can't bring your piano!

If you are not very musical we'll help you to find your inner musician and get you involved with some of the percussion instruments.

Don't forget there is always the opportunity to come along on Sunday mornings. Our new 2SOW service on the second Sunday of the month at 10.30am is suitable for all ages and just noisy enough for little ones (and parents) to relax, move about and have a good time. Drinks and doughnuts from 10am.. come early for a sugar rush!

Summer messiness

OK, so we have been a little quiet of late, at least blog-wise. However Messy Church continues to be as fun as ever with the monthly mix of mayhem and messiness. June was one of our busiest sessions this year with some great outdoor activities and a BBQ. This month (Sunday26 July) we are looking at 'belonging' and, if you are missing the beach, I have it on good authority that there will be sand involved in one activity!

Messy Church families might also like to join us for 2SOW on the second Sunday of every month at 10.30am. It is not Messy Church but it is a short service, ideal for families, with songs, drama, story and much more, In fact if you arrive early we serve refreshments (doughnuts, drinks, etc) from 10am! Why not give it a try on 9 August at 10.30am

Healthy body, Healthy soul

This month’s Messy Church is on Sunday 22 March, 4pm to 6pm.

Come and enjoy an afternoon of Messy Church fun where we will be exploring what being part of the Messy Church ‘body’ looks like for us.  They’ll be craft activities, songs and stories, all followed by a delicious family meal.

 

Whether you are a regular or thinking of coming to Messy Church for the first time we hope to see you soon!

Messy Church in 2015

Happy New Year! We're starting the year with a Messy Church Christingle on Sunday 25 January, 4-6pm. As well as making a Christingle there will be lots of fun craft activities, songs and stories followed by a delicious family meal.

 

Whether you're a regular at Messy Church or thinking of coming for the first time we hope to see you there.  

 

In the meantime here's what 2015 has in store: 

 

 

 

Christmas Special

Come and celebrate Christmas with our festive family event on Sunday 14 December, 4-6pm.  There will be fun for all the family with lots of Christmas crafts and games, stories and songs, all followed by festive food!

We'd love you to come along and join the celebration, and encourage you to invite family and friends.

Whether you're a regular at Messy Church or thinking of coming for the first time we hope to see you soon!

Light in the Darkness!

The nights are drawing in and here at Messy Church its time to party with our fun celebration of light in the darkness on Sunday 26th October, 4pm to 6pm.

 

We'll start with some fun craft activities, followed by stories and songs, all finishing with a delicious family meal. 

 

Children are welcome to come in fancy dress— super-heroes or super-heroines or something light-related (Please no scary costumes because we’re celebrating light and good things not darkness!).

 

Whether you're a regular at Messy Church or thinking of coming for the first time we hope you can join us!

Baby Hub

Story-telling extravaganza with Bob Hartman

St Nicolas Messy Church in partnership with the Sycamore Tree is delighted to be hosting author and story-teller Bob Hartman for a special event on Sunday 28 September.  As an extension of our normal Messy Church Bob Hartman will be joining us for a story-telling extravaganza which will be especially suitable for school age children but is open to all.

Our Messy Church session will start at an earlier time of 3pm starting with an hour of messy craft activities for children and parents to enjoy together. At 4pm we will put our hands and voices to good use with some action songs and then we'll hand over to Bob Hartman for some wonderful, exciting and entertaining stories. At 5pm there will be a Messy Church barbecue with plenty of yummy food for us to enjoy together.

whether you are a regular at Messy Church or thinking of coming for the first time, we'd love you to join the party and encourage you to invite family and friends. 

Fruitful May

Spring has sprung and May is all about fruitfulness. Come along to Messy Church on Sunday 25 May (4pm) for a fun-filled session focused on fruit... but not any old fruit!
There will be the usual mixture of activities for all-ages, poppy-planting in the churchyard to mark the centenary of the World War One, a game to play altogether, music and story-time all followed by a delicious meal... I can almost hear the sausages sizzling!
Do join us!

Mothers and others

Only a few days until Messy Church, and this month we will be celebrating those within our own families and wider community who bring us up or nurture us. We’ll be exploring the life of Jesus' mother and seeing how God works through ordinary people.

Come and join us for a mixture of craft activities, stories and songs, and finishing with a delicious family meal!

Whether you are a regular at Messy Church or thinking of joining us for the first time, we hope to see you on Sunday 23rd March, 4-6pm.

Love Rules

February's Messy Church is coming up on Sunday 23 February, 4-6pm.

February is a month when expressions of love may be made, but whatever the month love is the bedrock of Christian faith.  As part of our Christian basics theme we will be exploring God's commandment 'love God and love your neighbour' and finding out what this means for us. 

Come and join us for plenty of messy and creative fun to help us explore this month's theme, together with stories and songs...all finishing with a delicious family meal.

Whether you're a regular at Messy Church or thinking of coming for the first time we hope to see you on Sunday 23 February.

Gospel Choir

Do you sing loudly in the car and then go quiet in public? Well this is your chance to find that inner DIVA....Come and have a go in our Messy Church Gospel Choir.

We will be holding two workshops at St Nicolas church on Saturday 1st and 8th February at 10.00 till 11.30am... It's for children from 7 years up to 100 years old...No experience necessary and you don't need to read music, just LOVE to sing. Its all free just come along and have some fun.

As always feel free to invite friends along.

Look forward to seeing and hearing you on Saturday.

Messy fun in January

Only a few day’s to go until our first Messy Church of 2014, and with a bright new year we’ll be starting a new topic where we will be focusing on key Christian basics.

At the start of a new year for many people it may be a time for making resolutions, when people are thinking about making a fresh start in all kinds of areas of life.  This month we will be exploring forgiveness and making a fresh start, and there will be the usual mixture of messy fun, stories and songs.  This month we will be having a shared meal and we encourage you to bring a dish that you enjoy making or eating as a family that you would like to share with everyone.

Whether you’re a regular at Messy Church or thinking of coming for the first time we hope to see you on Sunday 26 January, 4-6pm.

 

Coming up…

There is another chance to come to a Gospel Choir Workshop on Saturday 1^st and 8^th February, 10-11.30am.  We had such a fantastic time at Christmas we are going to do it again for Easter... but first we will learn a bit more about being a gospel choir.

The Gospel Choir is an opportunity for children and adults to get together for a morning and have fun learning a few gospel songs. It is an ideal way to join a singing group/choir without needing to commit lots of time or sign up on a permanent basis. You don't need any musical experience or talent (although that is of course most welcome) - just bring your enthusiasm.

 

 

New Year, new Start!

If you are looking for inspiration for your New Year's resolution, look no further....

1) Treat the family to some quality time together at Messy Church.

2) Join the Start! course (beginning in January) to discover more about Christian faith for yourself.
It begins on Saturday 11 January at 9.30am and you can find more details on the church website http://www.stnicolaschurch.org.uk/events.html or pick up a leaflet at St Nicolas.

HAPPY NEW YEAR...

...from all of us at Messy Church St Nicolas.

Our first Messy Church of 2014 will be on Sunday 26th January and alongside the usual activities we're inviting everyone to bring a favourite family dish with them to share with everyone else for the meal.

We look forward to seeing you soon.

Christmassy things

We had a lovely Messy Church Christmas Special on Sunday 15th December with lots of great activities and a performance by our very own Messy Church Gospel Choir. For another chance to see them perform why not come along this Sunday morning (22nd December)  at 10.30am when there will be a nativity play, some festive carols and a few special gospel choir items.

Then on Christmas Eve we have our ever-popular Family Carols and Crib Service at 4pm. It is a short, lively and sometimes chaotic service in which we re-tell the Christmas story as we gather by the crib. We sing some of our favourite carols and try not to get too excitable as we wait for Christmas Day!

Of course there is a special service on Christmas Day too at 10.30am - ideal for families and no better way of celebrating Jesus' birthday.

Whatever you are doing this festive season we pray that it is a healthy and happy time for you and those you love. We hope to see you again in 2014 - our first Messy Church of the New Year will be on Sunday 26 January at 4pm - come along and bring your friends.

Diaries at the ready

In a burst of efficiency the Messy Church team have set the dates and themes for next year. Why not grab your diary / calendar and make a note of them now because you don't want to miss any of the fun!

Countdown to Christmas

November's Messy Church has been and gone. It was lovely to see so many of you and once again to enjoy some great craft activities, a fun time of celebration and a delicious meal.

Now November drawing to a close and Sunday 1 December is the start of Advent - a period of preparation for Christmas. Often that means frantic activity, late-night shopping and parting with large sums of money. However Advent was originally meant to be a time when we could prepare to welcome and receive Jesus and the message of his birth - God with us. That sometimes gets lost in the busyness... a definite case of throwing the baby out with the bath-water... or wrapping paper!

One way of doing a different kind of preparation might be to make a positive choice to shop less, consume less and stress less... and give more in terms of time, energy and attention to those we love. Another way would be to spend a little more time on what lies at the heart of Christmas. 

Come along to our Messy Church Christmas Special on Sunday 15 December, 4-6pm - there will be some Christmas craft, songs, our own gospel choir,  a re-telling of the Christmas story for us all to join in, some games and as always some lovely food.

There will also be a Family Carol Service on Christmas Eve at 4pm. This is always a popular event (so you need to be early to get a seat) and a lovely way of beginning the Christmas season with a focus on the things that really matter.

We hope to see you soon.

Clocks change...

.... this weekend but Messy Church will still be taking place at 4pm on Sunday 27 October. Come and discover about another unlikely hero, Gideon, and come dressed as a superhero of your own! There will be craft, face-painting, food, song and sparklers... and hopefully you!

Groovy gospel

The summer seems like a distant memory but people are still talking about our Messy Church musical and the fun of being together, learning some songs and putting on a performance for family and friends. That gave us an idea... and so in a few weeks we are going to launch a Messy Church gospel choir project!

On Saturday 16 November, 10-11.30am there will be taster workshop for children and adults - an opportunity to get together for a morning and have fun learning a few gospel songs. Those who were part of the musical know that it is great fun doing warm up games and exercises and of course there are always supplies of cakes, biscuits and drinks to keep up energy levels.

Those who enjoy the workshop morning can then choose to be part of a gospel choir for a few weeks to learn some special songs that we will perform nearer Christmas.

It is an ideal way to join a singing group/choir without needing to commit lots of time or sign up on a permanent basis. You don't need any musical experience or talent (although that is of course most welcome) - just bring your interest and enthusiasm. If you do happen to play an instrument we'd like to find a way of including your music-making skills so do get in touch.

There will be more information coming up at Messy Church in October or see the contact details on the poster or just come along on Saturday 16 November!