  guiding the remote control cars
paper plane making is more difficult than you think
microphone construction
sizzle on the BBQ
time to test our paper planes
or simply time to relax on the garden swing bench
 This plane will fly
puppets welcome all the visitors in the church Andrew tells us the gospel story
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| | | Messy Church - 28 June 2015 |
Story and pictures - Jim Paterson
For
the final Messy Church of the season, before we break for the summer
holiday, definitely had that 'holiday' feeling with the choice of
crafts, the BBQ and our time in the church. The theme was growing
our faith in Christ and following His command to 'Go and make followers
of ALL people in the world'.
 It
can be difficult to talk to people about Jesus. It might mean sharing
what you know about Jesus with others, or it might mean spreading
the word about Messy Church so that others can come along and join in
the journey with us – we can all be disciples at some level.
An
open invitation was extended to everyone who had heard, and perhaps
read about Messy Church, but had wondered what actually goes on during
the two hours on a Sunday afternoon once a month. A few new faces were
spotted and they were made very welcome and soon joined in with the
activities.
The range of crafts included:
Name badges
- Each person put their name on a sticky label using coloured
pencils. It makes it so much easier to talk to people you meet for
the first time if you can see their name, and it makes it easier to
remember for the next time you meet.
Joining the dots.
- This one used cones laid out in a 4 by 4 pattern outside in the
garden, under a blue sky and sunshine. A length of rope then had
to be weaved between the cones to make a cross shape. This could be
tricky if the cones got kicked around! Joining the cones is like
putting the pieces of Jesus' story together and seeing what it is all
about, perhaps for the first time.
Just for Fun - A
paper aeroplane is always good fun to make, and then hopefully it will
fly. The older helpers sat with the young eager children to help them
learn the art of folding paper into an aeroplane shape. The trick was
making a shape that would fly more than a few inches. The paper dart
shape is still the best model to make and several of the children made
their creations fly across the hall. Decorating and colouring their
aircraft seemed to make them fly even better.
Rocky Road
- Not just for the boys, here we had remote controlled model vehicles
which had to be driven over rocky terrain, and around obstacles,
representing life's journey, not always smooth and even. Before
setting off the children made 'passengers' out of play dough,
representing us, to be carried from one end of the course to the other,
without falling off. We talked about what made it difficult,
controlling the vehicle, or the obstacles? Who helps us deal with the
difficult bits of life?
 Christianity catapults
- Andy Turnbull used his 'building skills' to make small catapults
which I thought looked like small 'siege engines' from medieval times.
Made from lollipop sticks, rubber bands and milk bottle tops, these
catapults were good to fire cotton wool balls. We talked about what it
means for us that “Jesus is alive!” and how we can
spread the message.
 Jesus our shelter - Cutting out decorating people shapes to represent family and friends, to stick to the edge of the umbrella. Just as an umbrella provides shelter from the rain and snow, so Jesus protects us when we are upset or in difficulties.
Good News microphones
- Making microphones from cardboard tubes, with a ball of paper on one
end, covered in tin foil with a pipe cleaner as a lead at the other,
made a passable impression of a microphone, to tell everyone about
Jesus.
The BBQ in the garden allowed us to enjoy a
selection from the grill, with plenty of salad, coleslaw, rice and
potato salad on the side. Joining the dots game, described above,
kept energetic kids busy.
Enjoying the barbecue in the garden
Following
the BBQ we headed for the church, where Andrew Dunsire led the singing
with guitar and song, with the children leading the actions. Rae
Hunter and Andrew Don reinforced our crafts learning through the story.
 Andrew
once again had the children in awe with one of his 'gospel illusions'.
Using two glass tumblers, one with white beads to represent good,
the other with black beads representing evil, he showed how easy it is
to see the difference when separate. Pouring the white into the black
tumbler mixed the colours up, so how do you tell good from evil
now? Placing both tumblers behind his back, while he told the
children to believe in what Jesus asks us to do, he then brought them
to the front and the white were back in one tumbler, the black  in
the other. The children's faces were a treat. The power of
teaching through dynamic visuals is a great way to impart knowledge to
young minds.
Messy Church is taking a summer break.
Back in September
For more information on Messy Church contact Katrina McDonald 07872 996906, or Lynne Turnbull 07812 648924.
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