Messy Church USA Intentions for 2025 What are your intentions for 2025? I was impressed by a Facebook post on the first day of this new year from a pastor friend who made an infographic of 12 intentions for 2025 that their family had arrived upon at their final 2024 family conversation. Here are a […]
The Role of Listening in a Messy Church
by Luke Edwards, Associate Director of Church Development for the Western North Carolina Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church In my first year of starting a fresh expression of church, I remember one Sunday when my wife gave me a healthy dish of humble pie. I was leading this new, experimental worship service with […]
Hands on Church Where All are Welcome
“Come on everyone and gather in this place and learn about God’s love…”
The first time I heard these words and song I felt I was being called and led into a sacred space that was gentle, inviting, curious and fun. As I watched, I witnessed a gathering happening organically – sheep being led by the shepherd. It was beautiful and I wanted to take part and be part of what was unfolding in front of me. This is Messy Church. This is how Celebration time (worship) at Messy Church begins. We worship communally in prayer, song, scripture and ritual.
Engage with Messy Church-part II
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.” 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 […]