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Messy Momentum

This innovative project aims to enable Messy Churches across the UK to better engage with young people and more fully encompass our ‘all-age’ value.

 **sign-ups are now open! Complete the sign-up form by Friday 29th August**

The story so far…

With funding from the Church of England, we are looking into how we make Messy Churches more engaging for young people, seeking a variety of ways to make our wonderful Messy Church format more youth-attractive and age appropriate for all who come along.

As with all good projects, we began with the data! In 2024, we surveyed the Messy Church network and found that in our hospitable, creative, celebratory and wonderfully Christ-centred Messy Churches, our ‘all-age’ value was often missing a certain demographic – namely, the teenagers. The survey showed that 50% of Messy Churches in the UK do not have anyone aged 12–16 years old attending. For more information on the project ‘origin’ story, please read Aike’s superb in-depth blog here.

With this ‘missional challenge’ highlighted, we decided it was time to find creative ways to address the age gap. We went to the Church of England with an innovative project proposal – and they agreed this was worth investing in, granting us funding to run the pilots and find ways creative ways to keep young people in Messy Church.

After completing a listening exercise in February 2025 to hear the voices of young people, parents, carers and Messy Church leaders on this subject, (for a more in-depth article on the research, click here) we took the findings and gathered together a range of experts in intergenerational and youth-specific ministry for a two-day creative workshop (read more about the consultation here). From our innovative time together, we distilled six approaches that would work in a range of contexts across the Messy Church network.

We will begin running these pilots in January 2026 – but right now, we need Messy Churches all over the UK to sign-up to be involved and run one of these pilots with young people in Messy Church.

Think this is for you? Watch our ‘Project Launch!’ briefing. In this recording, you will hear more about Messy Momentum, what each pilot approach looks like and how this could work in your Messy Church.

Project Launch briefing

If you are interested in learning more about our project, watch this 20 minutes Youtube video, a recording on one of our launch meetings.

At the launch meetings, dotted through-out May, June and July, the project team talked through the story so far: why we are looking to target older children/young people, how we are seeking to pilot six new approaches to keep them engaged in Messy Church and how your Messy Church can get involved and help us learn what works!

If you have any questions about the recording or would love to learn more, please contact our project lead, Sophie Harber, who would love to arrange a time to chat. Email sophie.harber@brf.org.uk

The pilots

We have created six pilots to trial over the next two years [2026-2027], covering a range of approaches and adaptable to specific Messy Church contexts – there should be something that works for everyone!

Intentionally Intergen (aye-aye) – involve all ages in all aspects of Messy Church to capture the very heart of our MC values. With either a brand-new MC or a re-launched one, this pilot will start with a practical training sessions/resource to delve into the MC values and, through a learning community with other MCs in the pilot, will integrate all ages into the prayer, planning, preparation, presentation and participation of their MC.

Friday Night Messy – this pilot of MC happens in the evening, in a community space, starting with a meal together, exploring a theme in a table-talk or discussion and then through various activities and spiritual styles before coming together again with reflections and tidy-up time! Everyone contributes to food, ideas and celebration!

Pick ‘n’ Mix – providing a space within an existing MC that focuses on young people – engaging with them and working for the MC. In this pilot there are a range of approaches that can be picked-up as they are or adapted to work within context – a table for teens, a youth lounge, a Messy Young People stream – the important thing is providing a specific opportunity to connect with and disciple young people within the current setting.

Co-journeying (co-jos) – a ‘buddy’-style system, asking people in the church to be a co-journeyer (co-jo) to a young person (invitational to all 9 year olds in MC) and explore faith and friendship – discipleship – together. One MC leader will be the facilitator of the co-jos (young and less-young) in that MC, and central training and resources from the MC team will empower this relational working.

Messy Gather – the MC network is wide and diverse – and we want our young people to see and own their place in that, connecting the young people from MCs locally and regionally to grow their faith. By connecting MCs locally and facilitating ‘gatherings’ between young people – listening to what they want and what works for them – we want to foster a network of young people and MCs that truly embodies our values and shows what church community is for young people.

‘I’d like to try this…’ – what’s that one new idea you’ve had to engage young people that we haven’t thought of? Now is the time! Empowering local ideas by providing a framework of coaching and facilitating to make these happen alongside a learning community.

For more detailed information about the project and all six pilot approaches, please read through our Messy Momentum Information Pack.

Download the info pack

Please note: for all churches who sign-up to take part in a pilot, there are selection criteria to fulfil and some pre-requisite checks required to ensure we have a solid foundation from which the pilots can succeed and have the best outcomes and learnings to benefit the whole Messy Church network.

So, what next?

If you have come to one of our launch meetings or watched the recorded one, have spoken to your church leadership team and are agreed you want to sign up to be a part of a pilot – amazing! Please fill in the form below to sign-up your interest and give us some details about your Messy Church.

We will then be in touch to arrange a time to talk about your pilot preference, drill-down into the detail of what this commitment means for your Messy Church, and the exciting next steps!

Sign-up here to be a pilot!

Read more about Messy Momentum

Here are news articles and blogs about the project.

Spring has finally come to the UK, with blossom gracing our trees and colour peeking out of the ground in the shape of snowdrops and daffodils – and aptly, the Messy Momentum project is budding to life too. Read more

Messy Momentum – the project springs to life

It has been an exciting few weeks in the Messy Church team as we have welcomed three new team members to join us and to help deliver Messy Momentum. Nina Seaman has joined the team as Messy Church Administrator, Sophie Harber has joined us as the Youth Project Lead, and Sarah Smart has joined the team as Network Development Lead. Read more

New Messy Church Team!

Read more

New Messy Church project!

As we prepare for the launch of Messy Momentum, our new project that seeks to find innovative ways to engage young people that have grown through Messy Church to continue their faith journey, we thought it would be a good idea to describe the journey the BRF Ministries Messy Church team have been on to get to this point. Read more

Getting ready for launch

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