“Seeing so many community members was telling of the impact COVID-19 had on people’s need to reconnect with a higher power.”

Craig Macartney
Spur Ottawa Writer

Gloucester Presbyterian Church held their first Messy Church event since the pandemic and both the community and church were blown away by the results.

“Messy Church is a creative way of reaching out to unchurched families in the neighbourhood. It uses creative art, Bible stories, games, activities, and music to share God’s word,” states Prince Owusu, the church youth and outreach leader.

Gloucester Presbyterian hosted Messy Church several times per year for four years leading up to the pandemic, but March 30 was their post-pandemic relaunch of the outreach. They hosted 53 adults and 75 children. Owusu estimates between 60 and 70 percent of them were new to the church.

Edinam Aggor, who volunteered and helped plan the 2.5-hour program, says it is a non-intimidating way to introduce families to the Gospel.

“I like that kids have great memories of how fun church can be. I also like that our everyday messy lives gets incorporated into the seemingly perfect church life. Seeing so many community members was telling of the impact COVID-19 had on people’s need to reconnect with a higher power.”

“You usually get a slice of the neighbourhood, everybody together, and you help them become neighbours, you help them interact with the Gospel story and encounter Jesus.”

Messy Church can get messy, with a lot of differing things going on, but Owusu sees that as one of the outreach’s strengths. All the activities foster community connection and conversation around the evening’s biblical theme.

“It provides diverse avenues for participants to connect with the Gospel, through visual cues, crafts and activities, games, stories, and conversations around the dinner table,” he adds. “The creative repetitions that emphasize the message is excellent. For instance, crafts, activities, games, and the food serve to re-emphasize the message shared during the story time.”

Another aspect the church’s pastor, Denise Allen-Macartney, really likes is the outreach’s focus on building community. At a time when many families don’t even eat dinner together, Messy Church gathers people from all stages of life for an intergenerational meal.

“You usually get a slice of the neighbourhood, everybody together, and you help them become neighbours, you help them interact with the Gospel story and encounter Jesus.”

“We have created lasting friendships and welcomed people from Messy Church to our main service,” Owusu adds. “As a leader I’m also passionate about the opportunity messy church creates for volunteers to unearth hidden talents and recognize in themselves the need to connect with and pray for their community.”

“My favourite part was seeing these neighbours coming.”

The church is located across the street from two schools. They leveraged that by handing out invitations to parents using the church parking lot to pick up kids. The community is very divers, ethnically and in faith backgrounds, but people were really responsive to invitations.

“My favourite part was seeing these neighbours coming, people I’ve seen in the parking lot,” Allen-Macartney says. “After we finished handing out invitations, one family knocked on the church door. The daughter was really upset because she didn’t get an invitation.”

The father came in and told Allen-Macartney they have never been to church, but their kids had been talking about this all week. They attended the event and several days later the father stopped in again to say his daughter had been talking about Messy Church non-stop, ever since.

“People have a blast at Messy Church and they leave with smiles on their faces,” Allen-Macartney adds. “It’s very inviting and interesting, it’s active, it’s food, and you meet people. We tell the story and get people acting out bits or responding with answers, and we have an interactive prayer and blessing. You get to talk to neighbours about Jesus and they love it. I get excited about that.”