Messy Church Leaders of the World Part II
As a follow up to the May 2022 Messy Church International Conference (MCIC)we are focusing on our global partners rather than highlighting a USA Messy Church of the Month. Today we meet the teams from Germany, Sweden and South Africa.
Read about 10 highlights of the MCIC here. Read about the Messy leaders in UK, Australia and New Zealand here.
Messy Church Germany
Meet the Team from Germany
The national team for Germany is made up of Damaris Binder, Sara Bardol, Reinhold, Janina and. (I apologize that I am unable to give you their last names) These four people have worked together since 2019 to build a Messy Church presence in Germany. Their official name is Kirche Kunterbunt. The four of them share a 70% of just one full time position. They get an amazing amount of work completed!
We were lucky to have a five-member team of Damaris, Sara, Bertram Ug, who began a Messy Church during Covid, Lioba and Laura, whom were representing the Roman Catholic German church, attend the international leaders’ days. If you can read Germany, or even if you can’t, checkout their website: Kirche Kunterbunt.
Highlights from Kirche Kunterbunt
- They have developed a 3-tier approach to their ongoing webinar training; 1) Introduction to Messy Church, 2) Starting a Messy Church and 3) Input for established Messy Churches
- The country is organized into nine regions. The 9 regional coordinators have their own local initiatives, host round tables and inspiration days to help in connecting the churches and the ‘multiplier’s of Kirche Kunterbunt.
- They publish one new complete Messy Session per month the help of the editor team led by Sara
- During Covid, Kirche Kunterbunt in a bag, digital Messy Church and a year-round outdoor Kirche Kunterbunt were all helpful in keeping Kirche Kunterbunt growing
- Team members have traveled to Austria and Switzerland to provide a Messy Church training day
- During Covid there were an average of 2-3 new Kirche Kunterbunt starting. Currently that has increased to 7-9 per month.
Pray for Kirche Kunterbunt
- Their current funding expires in 2023 and they are looking for sources to fund the continued growth of Kirche Kunterbunt
- One of their national team leaders, Reinhold, was unable to attend MCIC due to current treatment for cancer. Please pray for him, his family and the team.
- Pray for ways to reach people who are unchurched…those with no prior knowledge of a life of faith in Jesus. Prayers for ideas of creating material for them.
Messy Church Sweden
Meet the Team from Sweden
We met two Swedish representatives to MCIC when a portion of our team USA arrived at the local train station. Ollé Phillipson, who was known to all who attended MCIC in 2019 had brought another pastor with him. They had arrived just a few moments earlier by another train. We shared a taxi to the conference.
Overall, there were four Swedish team members at the weekend event but only two were able to stay for the International Key leader days, Ollé and Annika Bertram. Sweden stretches over 977 miles from north to south and Ollé lives in the very southern area and Annika and Mikael Dapefrid (who had to leave after the weekend) are from the very north. Ollé gave a beautiful illustration of the length of Sweden by making a map with his body.
Sweden Highlights
- Currently there is not a ‘national team’ for Messy Church in Sweden. They work through their regions
- There are 60 + Messy Churches in Sweden
- Ollé has used the Holy Habits Messy Church material with good results.
- Another resource Ollé mentioned is the book The Church as Salt by Australian author, Sally Douglas
- Most of the Messy Church leaders in Sweden are members of the national church of Sweden
Pray for Messy Church Sweden
- Resources (money and time) to assist local Messy Church to begin
- Resources of developing a national database/ membership for Messy Churches in Sweden
- Discernment for celebrating and ways to connect amongst the geographical contexts of the country
- Connections between the international leaders on a more regular basis
Messy Church in South Africa
Meet Jean
Jean Pienaar of Johannesburg was the sole representative from South Africa at both the weekend and extra international key leaders’ days. Other Messy Friends from South Africa that attended previous MCIC like Rev. Calvin Franz, did not travel this year.
I mentioned that I arrived to the conference in a taxi with my Swedish friends and I left in a car with Jean and her friend who kindly dropped me off at the train station on their way out of town.
Highlights from South Africa
- The impact of COVID over the past years have caused closures of Messy Churches throughout the country
- Jean’s tradition is the Anglican churches which have been slow to return to in-person services. Currently they are able to be at meet in person with 50% of capacity, with masks and socially distanced
- Messy Church at home has been attempted but it seems that families are missing face to face interaction
- Wisdom coming out of the COVID
- Germination takes time
- Need to empower and mentor the team
- Importance of face- to face interaction
- Jean shared the experience of seeing a peacock which is a symbol of resurrection in South Africa. Woza Moya…Come Holy spirit
Prayers for South Africa
- Development of more intergenerational experience inspired by Messy Church
- For God to open doors to spread the Messy Church blessing throughout South Africa
- For the people affected by flooding in the KwaZulu-Natal area of South Africa
Some Pictures from the MCIC 2022
Prayer of Thanksgiving
Come Holy Spirit, continue to pour out your power on all of the current and future Messy Church leaders from Germany, Sweden and South Africa. We give you thanks for these servants who bring their experience, wisdom, strength and love of Christ to their work of leading Messy Churches in their countries. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.