Welcome to Messy Lent! Check out Roberta’s Messy Lenten Reflection about learning to embrace the wilderness. How are you recognizing Lent in your February and March Messy Churches? Share your ideas on our Messy Church USA FB page.
We are growing! Since January1, 2017 when we began our data base system, 23 new Messy Churches have been added to our data base! In addition, Roberta has made two trips to Colorado to train a cohort of 11 churches that received a grant for Messy Church training and a year’s work of monthly coaching sessions through the Mountain Sky region of the United Methodist Church.
As you may remember, we made a change in mid-January to offer three tiers to our yearly Network Membership: 1) Registration Level at $ 0.00, 2) Supporter Level at $ 50 per year and 3) Sustainer at $ 200 per year. This change has created has led to some more work that needs to be done on our website so we are asking for you to wait ( I know it is hard to wait!) to register until I send out a REGISTER NOW email!
We have also grown as regional coordinators. We now have 8 regional Coordinators for the USA. I have asked them to submit a short bio that I can use for a short blog post so that you can get to know them. As they get going, they hope to begin to offer some Messy Meet Ups.
There are two April Training events scheduled that are open for all. The first is April 7th at Roseburg First United Methodist Church in Roseburg, Oregon. The second is on April 14th at Layfayette UMC in the Bay Area of California. Information will be up soon on the website but if you are interested, send me a note at [email protected] for more information.
News from Messy Church Canada Ideas and Resources for your Messy Church
Barbara Patterson, Regional Coordinator for Toronto sends a great link to gross motor skill activities and games from the What Moms Love website that are easily adaptable to a theme you might choose for your Messy Church gathering. Pictured below left is an obstacle course, and below right the Tape Shape Game where participants act out a mode of travel to a taped shape (i.e. creation story, how different animals move – walk like a crab to the triangle or slither like a snake to the diamond and so on). You will find 87 active indoor games at the link.
Lent and Easter Resources
Some great Lent and Easter ideas and resources from Kids Friendly (Presbyterian) in New Zealand – I especially liked the Lenten Calendar for families!• Lent Calendar for Families • More ‘Kids Friendly’ Lent and Easter Resources
Messy Church Pinterest Boards for Lent and Easter from Cathy Garbutt and from BRF in the UK as well as from Lacey at 'Catholic Icing'
Lent Resources sent from Chris Barnett in Australia: Lent from Flame Creative, Lent from Going4Growth
See also Jane Butcher's 'Faith in Homes' website in UK.
Messy Lenten Blessings!