Messy patience

L19 Messy Church was BIG this month! Big in numbers, with over 150 turning up, and big on surprise! We have no idea why so many turned up and the surprise came in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the creativity hour.
We had a visitor from another church who is thinking about starting a Messy Church at Christmas. Firstly, I showed her around the activities. I introduced her to a young dad who was happily engaged with salt painting at a nearby activity table. I asked him if he would be kind enough to explain to our visitor why he attends Messy Church. I sat back and heard him say:
‘I started coming to L19 Who Let The Dads Out? with my two young girls to give my wife a break on a Saturday morning. I was invited to L19 Messy Church and we loved the variety of activities that we could do together. But we always went home to eat with my wife. I think she thought we were giving her a break again. She looked for us on the Facebook photos. We spotted information about the Rainbows at L19 Messy Church and both girls are now moving up from Rainbows to Brownies. With Rainbows we were invited to a Church Parade and the girls asked mum to join them. From that we all attend church each Sunday as a family. Now, my wife joins us at L19 Messy Church too. She has lots of her work colleagues collecting for the homeless after L19 Messy Church joined in with the Stable Project. We are fully involved in the church here and attend everything as best we can. It has brought us opportunities to be family together, which we enjoy.’
I thanked God for patience. He knew the best way for this family and it took a long time. This particular father has such a positive role in the spiritual life of the whole family! Keep going everyone! Be in this Mess for the long haul. Keep showing love, hospitality and patience to your Messy congregations. Consider all of the connections for families. May you all be blessed with surprise!
Of course, you may already have stories to share with us! Please contact us as we would be delighted to hear them: jane.leadbetter@brf.org.uk; lucy.moore@brf.org.uk; martyn.payne@brf.org.uk 
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