District Grant Enables Messy Church

A District New Beginnings Grant is already having an impact in the Trinity Circuit as South Anston Methodist Church hosts is very first Messy Church session.

On Saturday 20th July13 children, 14 adults, plus 5 team members enjoyed a super afternoon of crafts, games, pizza and a short time of worship (including the Skittles experiment with water creating a rainbow!).

Deacon Emily Hoe-Crook explains: "The atmosphere was buzzing, laughter and excited shrieks could be heard in the bustling hall, and lots of themed crafts were created by all ages.

"We decided that prayer would be a good theme to begin with (we'll perhaps use a Bible story as our focus next time), and we explored lots of different ways to communicate with God and reflect on our relationship with God, such as using Skittles (the edible kind!), prayer cubes, creating a prayer jar to use at home, a quieter prayer space with a tree to hang prayers on, electric tealights to turn on and opportunity to drop a pebble of prayer into a water bowl.

"For the first time families whom we've got to know over the last year (and those who came for the first time) asked questions about what happens at church, what provision there is for children in worship, and each child was given a Rainbow Good News Bible as they departed – these were kindly donated by Sir Edmund Hillary Academy in Worksop.

"We're so looking forward to the Messy event – interspersed with the usual Film Nights – families are asking for more! We're able to run these in part because of the grant awarded by the District for New Beginnings, this is certainly a new beginning and one we're so excited about!"

Find out more about New Beginnings Grants here