St Catherine’s Church Messy Church
On Thursday May 22nd at 5pm, St Catherine’s Church welcomed children from our pre-school, their families, young members of our own church family and families from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church to our first every Messy Church.
Messy Church is a form of church for children and adults that involve creativity, celebration and hospitality. The first Messy Church began in 2004 when a group at St Wilfrid’s, near Portsmouth UK were frustrated because, as a church, they were hardly reaching any children with God's story. This has developed worldwide in the past 10 years and St Catherine’s is the first church on the North Shore to hold the first “Messy Church”.
Over 50 children and their parents joined in our session of crafts on a Noah’s Ark theme took part in some singing led excellently by Alice Korfman and listened to the Bible Story of Noah’s Ark led by our own Rector, Christine Rowe.
After decorating “Arks” complete with stick on animals (2 of each variety!), singing and story time, everyone present was served a supper of hot dogs, chips, popcorn, fruit and cookies.
This was a huge success and all the planning, preparation and help on the night by a wonderful team of volunteers was truly worth it. To see the Mary Pellat room full of young faces with their parents listening intently to the story of Noah and his ark was a joy.
By 6.30, the gym was clear of all activity and children went home with their crafts and full tummies.
We look forward to holding our next Messy Church on Thursday 12th June where we hope to welcome back the families who attended this month, along with new families.
A big thank you to all individuals you helped make this evening a success and look forward to our next Messy Church!
Gaynor Stone
