Thank you

Big thanks to Sainsburys and CoOp Nuneaton for their kind donations towards Messy Church - oranges (for christingles) and general groceries!

Our banner

During our first three Messy Church events (September - November) we made a banner together. Here is the final result. It is hanging in St Nicolas Church, Nuneaton accompanied by an explanation of what each part represents - come and have a look!

 

Messy New Year!

Happy New Year.


What do cress, scrolls, tents and oranges have in common? They'll all be features of our craft activities at Messy Church in just over a week's time. With Christmas already a distant memory, the St Nicolas Team are gearing up for a messy 2012 and are almost ready for a a full programme of creativity on Sunday 22 January (4-6pm).


The event is all about 'growing' and 'journeying', plus there will be the chance to some den building! If that all sounds a bit obscure our focal story will be about Jesus as a boy and what happened to him when he went on a journey with his family.


We'll also be thinking more about Jesus growing up with the help of some Christingles or Christ-lights. If you don't know what they are, all the more reason to come along and have a go at making one and then light it for our story time.


To continue with our journeying theme we'll also be having a picnic tea - bring a travel rug if you have one!


See you soon.

Party on!

Our festive Messy Church may be over but the celebrations continue  at St Nicolas Church.
Coming up in the next few days...

Sunday 18 December

10.30am - Family Service and Children's Nativity Play

6pm - A Festival of Lessons and Carols

Christmas Eve (Saturday 24 December)

4pm - Christmas Tree and Crib Service

11.30pm - Midnight Holy Communion

Christmas Day

10.30am - Family Service to celebrate Jesus' birthday!

Those listed in bold are particularly suited to families with young children and will be lively, interactive and short!

 

Messy Christmas Special

Come along on Sunday 11 December for our Messy Christmas Special! Christmas crafts, nativity story, a fun new song to learn and festive treats for tea!

Try to be there for 4pm because we will be having a slightly shortened craft time and if you can stay for a little longer than usual after tea there will be some party games for children (and mulled wine or fruit punch for grown-ups!)
Dont forget your nativity costume - tea-towels at the ready!

Messy 3

These are just a few examples of the wonderful creativity that took place at Messy Church 3 on Sunday 27 November. Our theme was 'Love your world' and pavement art was one of the activities. However November is a chilly month and so our artistic endeavours took place inside and our 'pavement' was the church floor; how useful that the church has a stone floor with slabs just the right size for chalk drawings.

We also found a use for odd socks. Who knew, that with just a little time, effort, glue and tissue paper, they could transform into colourful dragonflies? Sadly they flew away before ay pictures could be taken but I am certain that David Attenborough would have been fascinated by this new species. 

We made some creepy crawlies with pipe-cleaners and some colourful 'fruits' with marzipan and icing. Some snowmen were spotted amongst the creations - a slight variation on the theme but very seasonal.

Leaf-vein printing was the messiest activity for the day - lots of paint and some beautiful results. We also finished our banner that we have been making since the start of Messy Church in September. It is now on display in the church building so do come and admire it at the next Messy Church (11 Dec) or at one of the special Christmas highlights over the next few weeks.

One of the take-home ideas was to choose a clear night and go outside and look up at the stars. Take a torch with you and see if you can read Psalm 8 together with your family. Have you tried it yet? What about talking with your family about one thing you could do this month to help save the world? Why not add you ideas here in the form of a comment.

See you for the Christmas Special and don't forget your costume!

Everybody needs good neighbours!

October's Messy Church seems like a very long time ago now but we had a lot of fun - a great way to start helf term week. The theme was 'Love your neighbour' and we heard a story about two enemies who learnt how to be friends. In our craft activities we made some bandit masks and took park in bandit target practice with some water pistols. We made friendship chains and first-aid boxes and added to our large Messy Church banner.
In our story and song time some of us acted out the story and we all had the opportunity to play some percussion instruments.
Dinner was fluffy jacket potatoes with sausages, cheese and beans...mmm!
Here are some of the take-home ideas linked with the theme:

1) Help someone who is not a friend.

2) Smile at someone you don’t like.

3) Discover more about the story of the Good Samaritan. If you have a Bible read the story for yourself in Luke’s gospel, chapter 10, verses 25 to 37.

4) Collect all the loose change in the house and give it to the Samaritans http://www.samaritans.org/ or Samaritan’s Purse http://www.samaritanspurse.org/

5) Find out if you have any relations in other parts of the world and discover more about where they live.

Why not have a go at being a good neighbour this week?!