Former CE primary school teacher Louise Hicklin recently started as Children and Families’ Worker at St John the Baptist Church Halesowen in the Halas Parish. Thanks to this appointment and the installation of new toilets, St John’s Church have been able to launch their first Messy Church.
Louise has always lived and taught within the Diocese of Worcester. She came to faith during childhood, attending a Methodist church with her family.
Louise said:
“My faith was gently nurtured by some inspirational teachers at Graingers Lane Methodist Church Cradley Heath, and I also became a Sunday School teacher there before attending University. I did feel a little lost when that church closed but eventually settled at another local methodist church, where I and my young family, were welcomed into ‘Messy Church’ and other family faith-based activities which just felt like the perfect way for all of us to embrace our faith and continue our journey with God.”
She continued:
“Given my experience of Messy Church, I was really excited to help the team launch it here at St John’s Halesowen, working closely with New Worshipping Communities Coordinator Claire Biggs, for whom Messy Church is also very special as this is how she came to faith. Our first session on Saturday 20 September was all about celebrating our new toilets!”
New Worshipping Communities Coordinator Claire Biggs said:
“During the session, thanks to the Messy Church resources site, we thought about those countries where sanitation and toilets are a lot less sophisticated than ours and about toilet twinning. We built Lego toilets, did lots of toilet roll stamping making flowers and planted cress seeds in toilet roll planters. We also did some biscuit decorating, celebrated with afternoon tea, sang, ‘He’s got the Whole World in his hands’ with our lovely new Children’s worker Louise playing the guitar, and generally had a fab time.”
“At this our first Messy Church we were visited by five families and nine children which is a brilliant start for us.”
Louise has other great plans for her role going forwards. She said:
“I was a primary school teacher for 27 years, and me and my husband Keith have three sons and two granddaughters, so I’m looking forward to using my experience both personally and professionally to connect with children and their families, build relationships and provide meaningful opportunities for them to discover and explore their faith. At some point I hope to introduce ‘Open the Book’ worship to our local primary schools as from experience, I know how valuable this can be to children who are new to faith or just beginning their faith journey.”
She added:
“We’re also planning ISingPOP! sessions with our church school next door! I love singing and belong to a local operatic society. Within the next six months, I aim to introduce a stay and play musical session for babies, toddlers and their carers and I'm also looking forward to launching a monthly children's singing group, so there’s lots of exciting sessions coming up and loads to look forward to!”
Check out St John’s Halesowen’s Facebook page for more information: https://www.facebook.com/StJohnsHalesowen
