Back from the Sheffield Centre

We got a very warm welcome and felt most honoured to be taken seriously. It’s very reassuring that the C of E is employing this team to be thinkers and reflectors – very useful for people like us in our situation.
Perhaps the most poignant moment for me was when I expressed something along the lines of, ‘We’re not sure whether it would just be a bit of a pity if Messy Church closed down, or whether it’s more important than that.’ And George replied after some thought, ‘I think it would be as if your child was knocked over and killed by a car on the way home from school.’
The meeting was fairly loose in structure, more of a conversation rather than a procedure. Paul and I talked through it all on the way home in the car, but I need to get him to remind me what things we mentally put on our To Do list.
Team meeting tonight, so if there’s time I can bounce around some of the matters arising:

The question of ‘belonging to’ Messy Church rather than ‘coming to’ Messy Church
Investing in dispersed Messy Church rather than putting even more into the monthly meeting
Making the team more aware
How to reinforce the Messy Church identity

That’s probably enough for a meeting which starts at 8.45!