Welcome! We’re delighted you’ve decided to start a Messy Church and this is your one stop shop for everything you need to get going.
Training
We recommend attending one of our Starting your Messy Church Masterclasses. These are free online Zoom sessions lasting 90 minutes. We cover:
- The Messy Church Values
- What Messy Church is (and isn’t!)
- The shape of a Messy Church
- Messy Church Goes Wild
These sessions are interactive, and we allow plenty of time for you to ask any questions you might have.
Our Starting your Messy Church Masterclass runs twice a month either during the day or in the evening. To check dates and book your place, head over to Messy Masterclasses page.
Resources
During the Masterclass, we introduce the various resources available to support you and there are some key titles we recommend:
- Starting your Messy Church
- Messy Church Does Science
- Messy Adventures
- Get Messy! Volume 2: Christian Basics Made Messy
These 4 books are available as a great value bundle from the BRF Ministries online shop.
You can browse all our resources here and see a full list of session material by theme and Bible reference here. There are also a number of free downloads available to mark special events and occasions here.
Advertising
Once you get started, Add your Messy Church to the Directory. It’s free and simple to do. You will need to create an account with us first here – https://www.messychurch.brf.org.uk/user-register/ – and then you register the Messy Church here – https://www.messychurch.brf.org.uk/dashboard/add-your-church/
You can download the Messy Church logo and read our brand guidelines here. You can also download festival specific logos, e.g. Messy Church Christmas, and even request your own personalised version featuring your church name!
We partner with CPO who sell a range of customisable publicity material including banners – https://www.cpo.org.uk/church-supplies/courses-and-campaigns/messy-church.html. You can use them directly or use the designs there as inspiration and contact a local company to produce something similar.
We recommend the use of Canva to help make attractive, professional looking publicity. You might like to check out our ‘How to advertise your Messy Church’ video and top tips download here – https://www.messychurch.brf.org.uk/latest/resources/how-to/
Keeping people safe
Everyone involved in Messy Church is responsible for the safeguarding of young people. We recommend speaking to your designated safeguarding officer for advice before you get started. Visit our Safeguarding page for general guidance.
We have lots of forms available to help you:
- Risk assessment template
- Team role descriptions
- Family registration forms (including photo consent and contact preferences)
Keeping in touch
Sign up to receive the monthly Messy Church newsletter and tick the box to receive reminders of any new Messy Blogs and News too!
Follow us on social media.
Messy Meet-ups are usually held termly on Zoom and are an opportunity to meet with other Messy Church leaders to share information and ideas related to a particular topic. Head over to our Events page to see what’s coming up.
Ongoing Support
We have dedicated Support Teams who can help you with some aspect of your Messy Church – whether starting, running, developing, or simply praying for your Messy Church. Contact them through our website here.
Contact the BRF Ministries Messy Church Team directly at messychurch@brf.org.uk
