A new toolkit has been created by the Diocese of Bristol, working in partnership with Messy Church, to help Messy Church teams review their journey so far and to create space to discuss, pray and build on the core values that makes Messy Church a fun, happy and thriving worshipping community.
The toolkit has been put together by Dan Jones, the diocesan Youth and Childrens Adviser, and Chris Priddy, Head of Parish and External Relations, and is now being rolled out across the country.
It comes as the number of Messy Churches continues to increase across the UK and the world (3929 at the time of writing). Lucy Moore and the Messy Church team remain committed to effectively supporting, encouraging and resourcing this worldwide network.
Messy Church is underpinned by its core values and as the Messy Church team reflects and advises on new ways of being disciples in this context. Guiding the network in a Godly direction requires constant reflection and investment.
Chris Priddy said: As a diocese, we have seen a noticeable increase in attendance at family focused expression of church in the last few years with more than 4,300 people in 2017.
My hope is this toolkit will support those who plan and lead Messy Churches to develop, grow and further invest in these valuable expressions of church.
This toolkit is really imaginative and thoughtful. The questions and suggestions are great and cover a huge amount of ground. I really like the way the values have been incorporated into each area and hope it will really help Messy Churches as they develop.
Lucy Moore
Alison Paginton, Messy Church leader at St Christophers Brislington and Messy Church regional Coordinator for Bristol, added: This toolkit is great and look forward to using it with my Messy team!
Download the resource here. If you would like any help or advise on how to use the toolkit, contact Dan Jones on 0117 906 0100 / daniel.jones@bristoldiocese.org