Messy Momentum road trip – August and September 2026

Sophie Harber
Youth project lead

Published 28th September 2026 by Jane Butler

In the last six weeks I have managed to visit six of our brilliant pilots – covering four of the approaches we are trialling – each uniquely contextualised and sparkling with Messy creativity!

I glimpsed the solar eclipse from a carpark in Nottingham, sighted the wide sea near Whitstable, enjoyed a pink sunset over the Humber and breathed in the rolling hills of (my home county!), Devon. But most importantly, I saw the dedication of Messy Church leaders, heard the voices of young people and witnessed the beauty of God at work in our pilots country-wide.

Pick ‘n’ Mix

The pick ‘n’ mix approach is a variety of ways to make a ‘youth-shaped space’ in your regular Messy Church session, and the two pilots I visited trailing this over the late summer have opted to syphon off the young people during activity time, to dig a bit deeper into the story and discipleship.

On a very hot day in August – the day of the solar eclipse – I went to Langley Mill. After a hectic set-up with lost keys and frenzied cutting out, we all came together with a snack and a chat, before we heard the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000. Here, the children aged between 9-15 went to the ‘Creative Lounge’ (in the lady chapel) during the activity time, where we played a game, read the Bible and chatted it through and then had a quiz to check we’d been listening to the story. There was a LOT of laughter and high energy – but the quiz proved we had been listening even whilst very giggly – and everyone came together again to share what they’d made, sing and pray before eating. I made a fast friend at tea-time with a five year old who invited me for an ice-lolly at his house – Messy hospitality at its finest!

My visit to the pick ‘n’ mix pilot in West Hill, Devon was similarly full of high energy and good reflection, with the 9-17 year olds sitting together at a table to eat and then helping with the celebration time – they’d built a boat in the summer holidays that was used to tell the story of Jesus walking on water – before breaking off into the chapel to read the Bible, reflect and discuss the story, and then a wonderful water-based craft to finish. Everyone spoke up and took part, with thoughtful contributions and enthusiasm, and the time went so fast I couldn’t believe it when parents said it was time to go home! One young lad I spoke to, when I asked him what is the best thing about Messy Church, replied: “Messy Momentum! I asked to join before I was old enough!”

Gather

Whilst in the west of the country, I ventured up into the gorgeous Shropshire Hills to possibly the most rural Messy Church ever! This picturesque chapel, just feet from a small ford, hosted the Leominster Gather, bringing together 10-17 year olds from a few Messy Churches in the Hereford diocese. Often, there are only a few young people in a Messy Church so the idea behind this approach is to bring those young people from each Messy Church together, so they can see the bigger picture – and their place in it – as we build Christ-centred community with them through the wider network.

We started by playing a game (I won!) whilst eating snacks and catching up with each other, before watching part of a video series by the Missional Youth Church Network (MYCN) on the five marks of mission. We paused the video and chatted, and the young people were nice and talkative, thinking through the questions and how that looks in their day-to-day lives. These young people and their Messy Church leaders have taken it in turns to travel to the different locations of their small, rural sessions, and it was tangible that they enjoy coming together as frequently as they can to catch-up, play games and enjoy sharing fellowship with each other.

I’d like to try…

Another joy and energy-filled visit was to The Dock @ Sculcoates, Hull where a group of young girls who have been coming along to their Messy Church for years, now come together once a month for cooking and community. The girls all turned up early – very keen! – and we started with a game of Youthscape Jenga, where the bricks all have different styles of questions stuck to them to answer. We then worked together on a community project, cross-stitching a giant frame, whilst chatting, before eating together and finishing with a guided meditation.

This approach is to try something you have an inkling would be really useful in your setting, for your young people, that we as a Messy Church team can coach and support with – and it seems to very much be working in Hull! The good humour and grace in this space was really special, and how much it means to these girls was really clear to see.

Friday Night Messy

An afternoon in early September took me to a Friday Night Messy in Swalecliffe, near Whistable, where I got to take a little stroll along the seaside before heading to the community centre. Here, the team run a super-chill session with games and activities as everyone is arriving and then a ‘make your own tea’ task from a tableful of ingredients! With a bit of creativity and some help from AI, the young people created a range of meals from pancakes, wraps, poached eggs on waffles to mug-cakes! An incredible way to combine the Messy Church values of creativity and hospitality! Once the last pancake was flipped, we came together to play a game of ‘would you rather’ and heard some interesting reasoning and more about each other lives. The time and space given here to build safety and relationship with the young people was palpable and really special.

Friday Night Messy is akin to an intergenerational small group, with a very Messy feel. We want to eat and explore faith together, in a relaxed way with creativity and celebration still central. Running this at a slightly later time of day to your average Messy Church just skews the natural age-range towards that young people bracket.

My final visit of this leg was to St Barnabas in Crawley where we had a session focusing on the creation story – starting with creating your own sandwich tea! After a good time of checking-in and chatting around the table, we went into the church and heard the story of creation and its redemption through Jesus, before heading into the churchyard to build a volcano! Creating our own “Mount Barnabas” was a wild and anticipatory adventure – we did have to make a second attempt after the first eruption didn’t occur as planned!– but it all helped us reflect on the wonder of God’s creation and our ability to create, as well as good planning and timing! The group of us in the garden, all waiting together in excited anticipation for the explosion, was a God-inspired moment of the beauty of all-age, creative, hospitable and celebratory Christ-centred community.

So, I have now managed to visit at least one of each of our approaches [with some intentionally intergenerationals in May/June and no Co-journeyers this cohort] across a range of wild and wonderful Messy Churches all over the UK. Each one is purposefully building Christ-centred community that includes young people; it’s not always easy and quite often chaotic but it is always full of life – and totally worthwhile: young people are, without doubt, engaging! In the words of one young person who gave feedback: ‘five stars!’

Sophie Harber
Youth project lead

Want to get involved?

It’s not too late to be a part of this wide and wonderful work – we are still looking for a few more Messy Churches with a group of 9-12 year olds to run a pilot for us in 2027!

Sign-up to be part of the project here