Lucy’s sabbatical musings: Gentleness

Another thought about what makes up the character of Messy Church as a movement.
Gentleness – what we do is gentle and how we do it is gentle. We gently demonstrate the living loving power of God through his ordinary local church. We are inherently gentle in our approach – not heavy-handed, not bullying or manipulative; not uncompromising and stern. Instead we suggest, we encourage, we praise, we affirm, if we criticise, it is with deep love and respect and a sense of our own inadequacy and solidarity with those we are working with – our very strength is in our gentleness. It is part of what appeals to churches and to families about Messy Church itself. And this gentleness characterises our writings, our dealings with everyone we encounter and the way we operate as a team: gentleness is courtesy, it is giving space, it is valuing peace and unity more than being right. We can do this as a team because of our love for each other. We don’t need to shout at the Church for not ‘getting’ or supporting Messy Church – we simply gently keep on doing what we do and allow others to reach their own conclusions. We can do this because, thanks to our wise friends who are theologians and ecclesiologists, we have a robust dynamic theology and practice.