“Messy church has allowed us to reach out to immigrants, kids, and older people in a way that we wouldn’t have been able to achieve.”

Janet Mabie
Special to Spur Ottawa

When first hearing the term “messy church”, one might imagine the fellowship hall after a rowdy evening of Nerf games with the youth group or the nursery with toys strewn all over the floor after a busy Sunday morning. For some churches in Ottawa, however, the term refers to a special kind of service.

“Messy church really describes the format, which is nothing like a traditional worship service,” says Geoff Matthews, a member of the planning committee for messy church at Gloucester Presbyterian Church. “It’s designed so that anyone can feel involved, from someone with a strong faith background to a person who has never entered a church before.

“There are games, singing, crafts, a story, and a meal, all of which happen in a very relaxed manner. There is much laughter and running around, and new friendships forged.”

“Most of our young parent families have no church background and would find it difficult to come on a Sunday morning.” Photo by Janet Mabie.

The idea of messy church began in the United Kingdom, in 2004, by founder, Lucy Moore. Knowing that God is interested in people and families who are “messy, not perfect,” Moore envisioned a fun, welcoming, Christ-centred celebration. In this messy congregation, people of all ages from the community could be fed physically and spiritually. Messy church came to Canada in 2007.

“It’s an evening of fun, laughter, and food, but it is all centred around the Bible story that we select,” explains Matthews.

Many volunteers are needed to keep things running smoothly. Matthews says they have a core team of five people who plan each event. They also recruit 12 to 15 others to help supervise crafts, run the games, and welcome people at the event.

“Messy church has allowed us to reach out to immigrants, kids, and older people in a way that we wouldn’t have been able to achieve on our own or with other programs,” says Prince Owusu, the youth and family outreach leader at Gloucester Presbyterian Church. “It has brought true joy to our church family as they enjoy hosting and celebrating with neighbours during messy church. There is a unique bonding among church members as they come together to host the event.”

“We pray that the seeds that are being planted will bear fruit.”

The Salvation Army’s Bethany Hope Centre is another Ottawa location for messy church. They offer a weekly messy church event as an alternative to Sunday church for the pregnant and young parents the centre supports.

“We decided to go with messy church because of the emphasis on doing church together, in a relaxed way,” says Major Erin Verhey, Spiritual Life Director with the Salvation Army. “Most of our young parent families have no church background and would find it difficult to come on a Sunday morning. While our Sunday worship is by no means formal or ritualistic, it would nonetheless seem foreign to our young parents.”

Messy church at Bethany begins by gathering together to play games and do puzzles, with everything planned around a Bible story theme.

“We are currently using the Salvation Army’s curriculum called ‘At the Ready,’” says Verhey. “The music and story is all on video. We share the love of God by word and action. We share the story of Jesus every week. There is always a prayer. We pray that the seeds that are being planted will bear fruit.”

Bethany’s website shares the following quote from one participant: “Messy church made coming into church more accessible, more relaxed, and showed me ways to enjoy Bible study at home with my family. Messy church has been a blessing.”

Woodroffe United Church recently began exploring messy church, holding their second messy-church-like event. The evening included music and a puppet show with an Advent theme, followed by crafts, cookie decorating, more singing, and finally a pasta dinner.

“Our goal through our messy-church-like event is to bring together families—who may not be able to attend the regular service—and the community at large, to learn about faith and grow as disciples of Jesus,” says Gregg Smith, the lead for Woodroffe United’s messy church organizing group.

“Messy church is a wonderful way to give people an introduction into the wonderful news of Jesus Christ,” concludes Matthews. “No one feels uncomfortable at messy church.”