Arts and crafts focused (similar to ‘Messy church’)
Create at St Mary’s Kempsey
What: ‘Create’ is an arts ministry facilitated by experienced artist, teacher and LLM Kay Mason.
Kay said:
“The idea for ‘Create’ Arts Ministry came out of a desire to help all people, not just artists, to connect to God through the Creative Arts.”
‘Create’ New Worshipping Community meets at St Mary's Church in Kempsey, on the edge of Worcester on Friday mornings 10am-12pm during term time.
The Create session starts with a few minutes of contemplative silence, while worship music plays and then a prayer. Kay shares beautiful images of nature and a worship song all linked to the theme for the week, followed by a short guided ‘relaxation mindfulness’ exercise.
The group then moves onto creating. Kay shows the group a few simple pieces of artwork to help inspire them and they can follow these suggestions if they want to, but they are absolutely free to do whatever they feel God is prompting them to do. A vast range of art materials is provided so that they can express themselves fully.
Prayer doodles, prayer circles, collage, bible journalling and painting are the most popular activities within the group.
Currently a core of around 9-16 people attend each time.
Kingdom Arts at St George’s Barbourne
Kingdom Arts is a new worshipping community that has been running since 2015 and meets on the second Tuesday of the month at St Georges’ Church, Worcester. It is a flexible space as there are no pews.
Founders of Kingdom Arts, Alex New and Sue Ashby, felt adults would enjoy a similar form of church to ‘Messy Church’, offering fellowship, food, worship and creativity, in a relaxed and informal environment. The pair lead the group together, with support from a team of helpers.
Each month the doors open from 9.30am for coffee, followed by a short time of worship. The month’s theme is then introduced, as well as the relating activities that are available at each table. The group are given one and a half hours to create using a range of media with easy and more challenging versions of the activities available while they sit together and chat. Everyone then re-gathers as one group, placing what they have made on the floor in the middle, and if they wish are invited to feedback what they felt prompted to make and any other thoughts on the theme. They then finish with a prayer and a sung blessing. Finally, the group enjoy a light lunch together and cakes.
Regular attenders speak very highly of Kingdom Arts and the difference it makes to them.
Currently around 40 people attend each month.
All Together at Hallow Church
‘All Together’, features craft-based activities for the whole family and takes place on the first Saturday of the month at Hallow Church which is in West Worcester Beacon benefice.
There are a series of tables featuring different craft activities based on a theme and each family moves around the tables together. Those that want to can gather on the steps to hear the bible story from the vicar too.
Currently All Together attracts around 40 families each month.
Early Birds at St Andrew’s, Malvern
Early Birds is a NWC aimed at families with young children and each family sits together on a picnic blanket on the floor in the church hall. The 30-minute service happens 2-3 times a month starting at 9am on Sunday mornings.
It follows the same simple format each time. They start by singing an active children’s worship song. The children then help to act out a bible story. Then the children do a colouring activity while the team do a quick two-minute talk, a ‘thought for the day’, for the parents. Then they have a more detailed themed craft and then a creative prayer activity. Finally they close by saying the grace together.
Currently a core of 16 families attend Early Birds each time.
Café style
Lots of churches in the diocese host a café style New Worshipping Community. Churches that have a church hall with chairs and tables available already have the facilities to host this kind of NWC.
Morning example – the 3Ts at St John’s Church, Brockmoor
The 3Ts is a New Worshipping Community that meets on the first Sunday of the month at St John’s Church in Brockmoor near Brierley Hill in the Greater Dudley deanery. St John’s Church looks like a traditional church from the outside, but inside it has a large open plan space, set up with tables and chairs.
The 3Ts (Tea, Toast and Talk), offers attendees light breakfast options including toast, jam, butter, croissants and hot drinks, and has a soft starting time of 10.30, though breakfast is available from 10.15.
3Ts is led by Keith and Tracey with input from other helpers. They sit around the table and after breakfast, they sing worship songs together, they pray and there’s time for a discussion, during which Tracy and Keith ask questions, and see where the conversation takes them. Sometimes they use bible passages as well to fuel the conversation, but they only have a very rough format and timings. Keith puts together a PowerPoint presentation with the lyrics for the worship songs displayed on a screen. Inspirational images and Bible passages are also included and displayed during orchestral parts of the songs.
At a year old 3Ts has around 14 core members attending regularly.
Afternoon example - Church @ 4, at YMCA Willow Trees Community Centre, Redditch - run by St Leonard’s Church
Church @ 4, run by St Leonard’s Church in Beoley, takes place monthly, usually on the third Sunday of the month from 4-5pm (ish), at the YMCA Willow Trees Community Centre in Church Hill, Redditch, as the church building is a way out from the local population.
Church @ 4 starts with a free light meal just before 4pm, such as a baked potato. Various hand-outs are placed on each table. Each week a key message is shared and there are several worship songs, some of which have actions to follow. Instead of a sermon, there are different ways for people to respond to the bible story be that through discussion, writing, craft or other table-based activities. Play doh and Lego is also available. Further worship songs are sung to close the meeting.
Currently around 20 people attend each service