What the parish do

On the second Wednesday of every month, a group of volunteers from each of the three churches in the parish run Messy Church at St Matthew’s, Nechells from 3.30 to 5.30 pm.

There are loads of activities to do, including colour and crafts, and a simple meal is also provided. There is always a theme to the Messy Church and the activities and crafts are linked to that theme.

The children that come are from the local area, particularly the local schools of St Matthew’s and St Clements. The cost is £1 per family, the only proviso being that the parents come with the children and stay. There is no age limit either.

For more information, email Beverly by clicking here

Background

The first Messy Church began in 2004 when a group at St Wilfrid’s in Cowplain near Portsmouth were frustrated because, as a church, we were hardly reaching any children with God’s story.

They had lovely buildings and facilities but weren’t using them enough. They had wonderful creative people in the church, and the area surrounding the church needed as much community-building as possible, being a rather featureless suburb.

There was a lot of sympathy towards church in general but the church wasn’t offering anything that really gripped the imagination of local families.

The church decided very early on to try to do something for all ages together, partly out of a belief that we grow best as a church when we walk the journey with as many different people as possible, and partly from a desire to help families grow together in their walk of faith, not see Christianity as something you grow out of when you’re eleven.

For more information click the following link: Messy Church website