Messy Church NZ Newsletter, July 2022
Kia Ora, from a wintery Canterbury morning.
As I sit here in my sister’s house safe from the chilly outdoors, I’m reminded of the importance of family and the need for all people to have a place where we feel safe and welcome. The place of your Messy Church may indeed provide that space for our communities, of safety to explore God’s story and their place in that story. As leaders, both beginning and experienced, there may well be times when we may feel ‘left out in the cold’ on occasions, but the place of Messy Church in God’s story is about being there for people in messy times and places in their lives. The National Team’s leadership role is to keep the doors open for you to know there is always room at the table inside, where we can support and care for you. At our meeting recently we set some plans and visions for the months ahead to continue equipping, encouraging and growing as leaders, in the International Messy Church Family.
SAVE THESE DATES!
August 16th – 1.00pm to 2.00pm - Regional Coordinator Zoom gathering
September 7th – 7.00pm - Masterclass ‘Messy Church Goes Wild’ (Congratulations to Jocelyn Czerwonka and Julie Guest for their contributions to this publication, so wonderful to have Kiwi input on the international stage.)
KEEP ON THE RADAR!
September 2023. National Training Weekends. More details once guest presenters are confirmed. The 2022 International Messy Church Conference was held in the UK in May with many attending both on-site and online. New Zealand’s National Team had the privilege of creating a prerecorded workshop which was facilitated by a leader on-site. This workshop and others from around the world will soon be available on the BRF UK website and our messychurch.nz website, as a resource to check out.
REGIONAL COORDINATORS
Are you interested and have the capacity to be a Regional Coordinator, supporting and equipping other Messy Church leaders in your area? We have vacancies in the following areas: Northland; Bay of Plenty; Hawkes Bay; Top of the South; West Coast. For further information on the role description, contact Richard at richard@messychurch.nz
MESSY CHURCH COOKBOOK
In preparation for our 2023 training weekends, we are seeking tried and true recipes that have been successfully used in a Messy Church context, to create a resource for our invaluable kitchen teams. These recipes will need to identify the number of serving portions i.e. 10/20/30, so it can be multiplied or reduced to suit others. We would also like to include a section on dietary requirements i.e. dairy/gluten-free, vegetarian/vegan to cater for everyone. If you have any ideas or input towards this book, please contact carrole@messychurch.nz or jocelyn@messychurch.nz
Shalom
Carrole