More information on Messy Church check out www.messychurch.org.uk or messyireland.blogspot.com
Over the course of the past 24 hours I've heard lots, been part of discussions which have been fantastic with a group of people who are extremely good at what they do, extremely creative and extremely passionate about God, the church and connecting culture today with the world around them - in parishes, diocese and across the denominational spectrum ... What are the passionate about ... the good news of God in its fullest sense and how it is expressed through gathering at Messy Church communities across the world
Whilst reading up on various experiences of Messy Church in blogs and articles across the Church of Ireland there seems to be many people who have had the full spectrum of experiences of Messy Church
Whilst I do acknowledge - There are those who have had negative experiences of Messy Church - those who came expecting one thing and got another - perhaps it was in parishes where the label was messy church but where the structures of messy church weren't followed, where the values hadn't be inculcated into the parish. To be fair this can happen with all forms of church - when things are not well prepared - so there is no excuse there.
There are those who have had extremely positive experiences where actually families who don't come to any church see within their local messy church something attractive, something different and something which could be life changing. I'm really excited that there is a growing awaress that messy church does work in lots of areas ... I've found c25 churches already running across Republic of Ireland in all 4 provinces.
I am beginning to sense a real conversation needing to happen between Church structures and Messy Church practitioners, a dialogue which is biblically based, theologically grounded, liturgically creative and missionally focused.I have come away from the Regional Co-ordinators meeting with my head buzzing with many question here are just a few questions which raised their heads for me as the Irish Regional Co-ordinator ...
1. Could the Messy Church model be something that could be rolled out in any community?
2. What permission needs to be given to parishes by central church - diocese to "try out" the Messy Model in their context?
3. Could Messy Church be given the same status in Ireland as it is in England and come under some/any future "Fresh Expressions/pioneer" legislation at synod for Church of Ireland?
4. What reluctance do clergy have to give their support to Messy Church?
And some further deeper questions ...
1. How does messy church relate to Sunday Morning worship?
2. How does Messy Church relate to being a missional community in the sense of encouraging a whole life spirituality in those who call it church
3. How do we integrate Messy Church into the daily, weekly, monthly and annual rhythms of work and life today?
4. What can messy church learn from traditional forms of church but also what could traditional forms of church learn from Messy Church?
5. In what forum could a discussion happen within the formal Church of Ireland structures in order to see what could be possible in helping parishes realise the full potential of the Messy Church model?
By raising these questions here - i'd very much like to discuss and thrash out a framework where our conversation needs to go. There is something which needs to be done about Messy Church in our particular Irish context and if you have any ideas I'd very much like to hear from anyone with any ideas.
Messy church is much more than Children's work, its much more than Family ministry ... there is something here for the whole church to grapple with. If you fancy a coffee and a chat please do let me know.
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