A Blog post by Rev. Jim White, Pastor at Palmdale United Methodist
“The goal [of Messy Church]is to help people fully engage with God, themselves, and one another.”
What is the best seat at church?
It’s a running joke… at least within United Methodist Churches… that the ‘best seats’ on any given Sunday morning is the back row. Actually, it’s not really a joke. It’s a reality! The back rows always fill up first. I don’t mean to throw any shade on my back row sitters out there (you know who you are!)… I’m sure you’re very faithful and committed to your walk with Jesus. But the optics of it are often this: “I don’t want to get too close (or too involved). I’ll keep my distance, thank you very much.”
I was reading a passage this morning (Ezekiel 33:32) which says, “To them you are like a singer of love songs, one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; they hear what you say, but they will not do it.” God is telling Ezekiel that even though he has been faithful, his ‘audience’ (the people of Israel) have treated him like “a singer of love songs.” Meaning, they loved his entertainment value, but that was about it. No follow through. No real engagement.
No back row seating at Messy Church!
I think that’s one of the aspects of Messy Church that is so compelling. When people (no matter the age) come to a Messy Church experience, they can’t help but engage! There’s no ‘back row sitting’ in Messy Church! Nosiree. A Messy Church experience captures one’s whole being (body, spirit, and emotions).
Here at Palmdale UMC, some of our Messy Church family involve folks that are connected to our Sunday worshipers, but they themselves don’t come. I remember one dad, when he first started coming to Messy Church, remarked how fun this was. I loved seeing his face as he interacted with his daughter doing crafts and playing games together. He kept smiling all night! What a joy. We still don’t see him on Sunday mornings… but that’s okay. That’s not the goal of Messy Church. The goal is to help people fully engage with God, themselves, and one another. And we’ve definitely accomplished that in his life!
Messy Church offers the opportunity to fully engage with God, the Gospel and one another!
Messy church is the ultimate ‘hands-on’ experience. I dare say it’s also the ultimate ‘spirit-on’ experience. When we engage with the celebration time, crafts, games & other activities, we can’t help but connect with our whole person. And don’t worry about having to do everything perfect. Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. So is faith. When we offer a Messy Church opportunity to our community of faith, we are offering up an opportunity to fully engage with God, the Gospel, and one another. Halleluiah!
Rev. Jim White is the Senior Pastor of Palmdale United Methodist Church in Palmdale, CA. He has led teams to start Messy Churches he has served in Hawaii and California. Jim is on our Messy Church USA Board of Directors and loves going to Disneyland! You can reach him at [email protected].
Jim, the guy in red, is busy explaining a puzzle at Messy Church at Palmdale United Methodist Church.
Check out Jim’s first blog post on how to engage with Messy Church here.