For a few years I had read about Messy Church. In 2010, as part of my study leave looking at Fresh Expressions of Christian community in the UK, I visited several churches that had a thriving Messy Church to see for myself how Messy Church ‘worked’ in different contexts, including its birthplace, St Wilfrid’s, in Cowplain, near Portsmouth. A double-bonus was being at Cowplain for Messy… Continue reading

Here are my ‘Top 20′ selection of books to get you started thinking about topics like child theology, ministry to children and families and inclusive worship. How do we as a church prepare children and young people to be involved in the ongoing life of the church?   Are we countering the negative messages of our culture?  Do children have opportunities to develop an inner working model of … Continue reading

Check out the UnitingPeople website and download 101 Ways to Spend Quality Time With Your Kids. Whether we’re mother & daughter … father & son … Pa & granddaughter … or aunty & nephew … the best gift we can give is our time. This download is jam packed with simple ideas children will… Continue reading

The Gospels in Playdough contains 73 stories about Jesus. Each story is set out in a way that guides the parent or teacher through the process of engaging their children. The appendix contains more examples and a recipe for playdough. Rev’d Neil Millar, a lecturer at St. Mark’s National Theological Centre, has described that book as “a creative and enjoyable way of introducing children… Continue reading