Messy Church in Ghana

If you were at the Messy Church Conference in June, you may well have had the pleasure of meeting Pastor Francis from Ghana.

Aike first met Pastor Francis back in February at The Hand in Hand Conference in Birmingham. We kept in contact and invited him to join us at The Messy Church Conference, and we were delighted when he accepted.

Afterwards he told us ‘it was a big blessing to me to meet the wonderful people and to be inspired by the Messy Church stories and experience. I am going home blessed with all the Gifts of the other Members of the Body. Thanks for Welcoming and Celebrating me and my Country/People by inviting me to pray. I appreciate the opportunities and friendships.’

And he’s wasted no time putting into practice what he learnt at Conference since his return to Ghana where they held their first ‘Messy Moment’ at the beginning of August.

Pastor Francis led a gathering of 47 people from 11 families across 5 communities. The focus for this first month was ‘Godly Families’. Every family had a discussion on a different family in the Bible, for example Abraham and Sarah’s family, or Elkanah and Hannah. Every family had a different discussion and talked about how the stories relate to their families.

The families answered a simple question which led to identify a particular letter. They were then invited to decorate the letter, bring to the front and then work all together to try to form two words from the letters.

“It was messy from the beginning, but we finally got the words: GODLY FAMILIES. This was such a different way of doing things here, but it was such a solemn moment for us all. Even myself. The awesome presence of God, especially as we sang together was almost tangible. We stayed more than an hour after the program and people who initially did not want to be there did not want to go back home.”

And as with all good Messy Church gatherings, they finished by eating together: Ghanaian Jollof Rice, chicken and a local drink. For many of the children, sitting and eating with their parents is unusual and they really enjoyed that.

Afterwards, one of the dad’s told Pastor Francis that Messy Church was not like any programme he had attended before. He loved the way it involved the whole family and he’s looking forward to the next one and inviting friends to come too.

Thinking of starting a Messy Church?

If you’re looking for a way to disciple whole families, sign up for one of our Starting your Messy Church Masterclasses. We run this free, 90-minute session online twice a month.

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