It’s like a festival only better! Join us for a morning of celebration from the comfort of your own home. You can stay in your pyjamas (we won’t tell anyone!) and bring your favourite snacks.
But don’t take our word for it! Here’s a few snippets of feedback received after Messtival 2021,
“Thanks to everyone who gave of themselves and their time to share the vision and practical pointers and spread the good news. It was great to have the opportunity to hear about so many different aspects of Messy Church in ‘mother tongue’ without having to justify my starting point when so often other folk (in church circles) are using a different hymnbook altogether.”
“Thank you so much for your encouragement, support and inspiration.”
“An encouraging and inspiring morning – thank you!”
“It was great to be able to share ideas with other people and to feel filled with inspiration.”
“It was so uplifting!”
“I have come away with loads of ideas – and plenty of enthusiasm!”
We will begin with a time of Bible reflection together before we open up the breakout rooms for a choice of workshops (details below). These workshops will be an opportunity for you to hear from subject matter experts on a range of topics, as well as a chance to meet with Messy Church teams and leaders from across the UK, and possibly further afield! We’ll round off the event with a time of prayer together.
09.45 (Zoom) Doors open!
10.00 Welcome & Bible reflection
10.15 – 11.00 Workshop 1
11.05 – 11.50 Workshop 2
11.55 – 12.40 Workshop 3
12.45 Commissioning & prayer
13.00 Finish
There’s no need to prebook which workshops you wish to attend. On the day there will be three workshop slots and you can choose which one to attend by selecting the relevant breakout room. Each workshop will run twice. Why not invite other members of your team and share the workshops amongst you? You could meet together afterwards, over lunch, to share what you’ve heard. We’re offering a discount ticket price for multiple people booking from the same Messy Church.
with Erin, Cameron and Jonathan who lead our Messy Church young leaders network.
Hear from 3 teenagers on why young people are important in Messy Church and how to get them to come along, get involved and stay engaged!
Anne Offler leads a Messy Church and has many years of experience in supporting Messy Churches in various settings. Sharon Pritchard is Children’s Ministry Adviser for the diocese of Durham and has been involved in Messy Church for many years. Both Anne and Sharon have run Messy Church events from 2 to 200 people and are here to share with you what they have learned on the journey together.
In this workshop we will look at aspects of the celebration time and discover how to link it with the activities in the Messy Church session. Tried and tested hints and tips to ensure the celebration time all runs smoothly, celebrating the blessings and challenges together.
with Kathy & David Bland, Messy Church leaders and Intergenerational Pioneers.
Tips, ideas and inspiration to help you ensure ALL ages really are included. David and Kathy have been Intergenerational Pioneers in Leominster for so long that the Messy Church they lead is now a teenager!
with Lucy Rycroft, Acting Ministry Lead for Parenting for Faith and volunteer children’s leader.
When families turn up at your Messy Church with no prior experience of faith, how can we help them to develop a personal relationship with God? ‘Chat and catch’ is Parenting for Faith’s term for prayer. It’s accessible, relevant and a lot of fun! In this seminar, we’re going to be trying it out for ourselves, so we can encourage others to connect with God this way too.
with Aike Kennett-Brown, Messy Church Ministry Lead.
We’ll be digging deep into our ‘Christ-centred’ and for ‘all age’ values, introducing Messy Basics, a discussion and activity-based discipleship course, focussing on the basics of Christianity, intended for all ages.
with Dawn Savidge, founder of Parent Fuel and a Messy Church writer and volunteer.
“I prayed but my Grandma still died. Why?” “If God is real, why is there so much suffering?” “How do you know that God is real? I can’t see him!” We have probably all had tricky questions asked of us when we have been sat at the activity table during our Messy Church sessions, or even by a friend over a coffee. And in all honesty, we would probably like the answers to some of these questions ourselves. But how do we answer difficult questions with confidence? Join us as we delve into the Bible and try to unpack some of the hardest to answer questions. Don’t forget to bring some of your own.
with Lydia Harrison, Messy Church Prayer Team Coordinator and Children and Family Work Enabler.
This workshop is intended to be a space and oasis of prayer in our busy and messy lives. Come, and spend time with Jesus in interactive and creative prayers. It would be helpful, but not essential, if participants could have Post-it notes, a rock or pebble, a small heart shaped piece of card, and a couple of plasters.
with Dr. Dave Gregory, Baptist Missioner for Science and Environment and Science Advisor to Messy Adventures.
We will be exploring Messy Church Goes Wild and Messy Adventures. Encountering the creative God within the fantastic variety of nature. Connecting with the whole community of creation and sharing in God’s celebration of it all as we go “wow” together. Looking for signs of Jesus along the way and thinking about how we can share our hopes and fears for our world with him.
with Becky May, founder of The Resources Cupboard, and Messy Church Support Teams volunteer with the Trainers and Writers & Readers.
Is it time to sack the biscuit police? How can we ensure our Messy Churches are places of welcome and hospitality?
with Rose Edwards, BRF Ministries Graphic Designer.
Take a guided tour of Canva, a free to use online graphic design tool. Learn how to make eye-catching posters, flyers and social media graphics to advertise your Messy Church.
with Jay Elliott, youth leader, guide leader and, until recently, BRF Ministries Health & Safety Officer.
Risk assessments are an important tool in ensuring our Messy Churches are safe places to be. Take the stress out of your planning with advice on how to identify risk and put in place appropriate measures to keep people and property safe.
with Jules Morgan, BRF Ministries Head of People.
Post-pandemic volunteering is down across all sectors so it’s more important than ever to take care of our Messy Church teams. Come along for some top tips on sustaining and discipling your team.
| Workshop 1
10.15 – 11.00 |
Workshop 2
11.05 – 11.50 |
Workshop 3
11.55 – 12.40 |
| Let’s celebrate! | Let’s celebrate! | How to use Canva |
| How to use Canva | Creative Messy Prayer | Creative Messy Prayer |
| Intergenerational discipleship | That tricky age | That tricky age |
| How to answer hard questions | How to answer hard questions | Be our Guest? |
| Be our Guest? | Risk doesn’t have to be boring… | Risk doesn’t have to be boring… |
| Wild Adventures with Jesus | Wild Adventures with Jesus | Learning to chat and catch with God |
| Learning to chat and catch with God | Teens in Messy Church – Ask the experts! | Teens in Messy Church – Ask the experts! |
| How to look after your team | Intergenerational discipleship | How to look after your team |
Standard ticket that our Messtival budget is built on – £15.00
Pay it forward and go for the generous Supporter ticket if you’re able – £20.00
Choose the Supported ticket if you need to – £10.00
Buy a Team ticket which will allow you to book multiple members of your Messy Church team to attend (each person will be able to join via their own device – you don’t all have to be together in the same location) – £50.00
