FROM THE MANSE

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Doesn’t time fly by? Perhaps it is a sign of getting older, but the last twelve months seem to have departed with amazing haste. It is now a year since we started Messy Church, and I can hardly believe it!  and on the 13th May this year we will be celebrating our first birthday. It has been great fun, more than slightly chaotic but above all a huge blessing to be part of the Messy Church team.

And it is very much a team effort, we have a fantastic group of volunteers from St Lawrence’s  and our church, meeting regularly to plan creative activities, food and worship. There is a team leader for each of these areas, and thanks to them, Messy Church runs as smoothly as an undertaking could hope to meeting once a month - and attracting 20-28 children between the ages of 1- 16, and feeding 40+ people every time.

Above all Messy Church is indeed becoming a community in its own right, providing worship in a different way, that is accessible for the whole family.

Appropriately Messy Church birthday falls in the month we celebrate Pentecost – the Church’s birthday, so there will be double the reasons to celebrate. We plan to be doing some cookery during the craft period to demonstrate the ‘extra special ingredient’ that the Holy Spirit brings, and there will be quite a bit of wind power in evidence too. Not forgetting the flames in the form of candles on the cake!

So if you know of families within the age range of 5-11 (our target ages but we are flexible with regard to older and younger brothers and sisters) then why not invite them to come along to the celebration? We make no charge, asking only for a donation to help toward the cost of the meal.

Messy Church has transformed the way in which some of us think of church – it is vibrant, exciting and I believe Kingdom Work, bringing an added dimension to worship for those already attached to a church, and reaching others who have drifted away from the church or indeed have not been involved with church before. And transformation is what the Good News of both Easter and Pentecost is all about. The disciples were transformed into ‘spiritual warriors’ that first Pentecost, as we too can be transformed by the gifts of God’s Holy Spirit within our lives, the gifts of faith, hope and love.

Transformations involve change, and can be a little unsettling to say the least. If you had asked me 18 months ago how likely this all was, then I would have replied that it sounds a good idea, but wouldn’t have seen how we could have got the people, time and resources to run it.

However if we are open to the Holy Spirit all sorts of things are possible, including the church being taken over once a month by an enthusiastic group of families, intent on worshiping God in their own special way, and us having the team members in place to make this worship extra special.

Please do pray for us on May 13th.

Every Blessing

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Sing a new song to the Lord; praise him in the assembly of his faithful people!

Psalm 149, v 1