Messy Team grows!

BRF is delighted to announce two new appointments to the Messy Church Team.
The rapid growth of Messy Church, with over 1,100 Messy Churches listed on the website Directory, means that there is still a huge amount of work to do enabling and resourcing churches to start and sustain their own Messy Church effectively. This work is being carried out nationally and internationally by the existing team of Lucy Moore and Jane Leadbetter.This summer the staff team will double in size! In May Carole Alder becomes our first Messy Church Team Administrator and in July Martyn Payne will also become part of the Messy Church Team. His role will be to work closely with Lucy and Jane to observe what is happening in Messy Churches, to reflect on how families are growing in faith, to listen to what God is saying to the Church through Messy Church and to report what he finds out in imaginative ways so that the work of Messy Church is informed and enriched.
Lucy Moore, Messy Church Team Leader, writes, ‘it is an overwhelming relief that Carole is coming on board. She brings huge experience from her work with the Baptist Union Mission Department and her administrative skills will mean that the team can work much more efficiently and strategically to support Messy Church leaders. Carole will be an invaluable addition to the team and we are delighted she feels called to join us and use her gifts in Messy Church. We’re also thrilled that Martyn will be bringing his wide experience and understanding of nurturing family faith into the team. His gifts of reflection and discernment and his ability to see God at work and tell God’s story will be invaluable to the Messy Church scene.’
Martyn is currently part of BRF’s Barnabas Children’s Ministry Team and will bring the wealth of his experience, understanding of the world of children and of recent developments in thinking about spirituality to his new role. He writes, ‘I am really excited about being part of BRF’s Messy Church Team, and am looking forward to travelling and listening to the stories of what God is doing through this movement of his Spirit. We sense that God may be saying some really significant things about mission and church for this generation through people’s experience of Messy Church and it’s great that we’re able now to give time and priority to this aspect of the ministry.’