Messy Church ministry lead Aike Kennett-Brown and youth project lead Sophie Harber report on a happy and fruitful conference.
29 June 2025
One body
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
1 Corinthians 12:27 (NIV)
It was with great excitement that the BRF ministries Messy Church team gathered at High Leigh Conference Centre to host the fourth Messy Church conference last weekend, 20–22 June.
Our theme for the weekend was ‘All Together’. Based on the Bible passage from 1 Corinthians 12:12–27, we wanted to dig deep into the Messy Church core values of being for all ages and hospitality, asking the question: how can Messy Church be a welcoming space that draws people of all ages, all abilities and from different backgrounds towards Jesus?
It was a joy to welcome 160 people from across the UK and from around the world, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and the USA. To help us think about how we welcome people from diverse backgrounds and abilities to our local Messy Churches, we learnt how to say the phrase ‘all together’ in the languages that had countries represented, as well as Makaton, a language programme that combines signs with speech to support communication for individuals with learning or communication difficulties.
Throughout the conference our international friends took turns to bless our mealtimes and read the Bible passages in a variety of languages, helping us recognise that, while we are different, we are all part of the body of Christ.
It was a joy to welcome 160 people from across the UK and from around the world.
Sharing stories of togetherness
We also wanted a visual representation of being All Together, and over the course of the weekend we invited everyone to create a giant tapestry, inspired by a song and activity by our resident musicians, Sam and Sara Hargreaves from Engage Worship. Delegates were encouraged to bring strips of material or yarn from home and to reflect on some questions as they were weaving the yarn into the structure: Where have you come from? What has your journey with God or Messy Church looked like so far? Who has walked with you? As the weekend progressed, the giant loom became a focus for people to share their stories around our theme of togetherness.
Part of Friday evening was spent sharing about our new project Messy Momentum, which is all about how we make Messy Churches more engaging for young people. Sophie and the team shared the six new approaches that we plan to pilot over the next two years, ever hopeful that we may have Messy Church leaders in the room ready to make the most of this opportunity. As darkness descended on our first balmy evening, our reflections were drawn upwards to the clear sky as Dr Dave (Gregory) produced his telescope for some awe-inspiring stargazing. Before we knew it there was evening, and there was morning – the first day of All Together!
‘It was a biiiig blessing to me to meet the wonderful people and to be inspired by the Messy Church stories and experience. I am going home blessed with all the gifts of the other members of the body. Thanks for welcoming and celebrating me and my country/people by inviting me to pray. I appreciate the opportunities and friendships.’
– Pastor Francis
Sophie and the team shared the six new approaches that we plan to pilot over the next two years.
Beloved belonging
Day 2 was not only the longest day of the year, but also the hottest! As temperatures began to soar, we prayed that the air conditioning would be sufficient in our main meeting space – a marquee! All Together we listened to God through dwelling in the word, reflecting on 1 Corinthians 12:20 (in different languages), ahead of our first keynote talk from Lorraine Prince, head of networks for The Church of England Education Office. Lorraine explored with us the importance of creating safe psychological spaces so that everyone can feel welcome. Her explanation of ‘beloved belonging’ – the underlying sense that we are connected – and how this means that in everything we do we need to relate first, produce second, really struck a chord.
Jane Butler (training and development lead) invited us to choose from nine different workshops. These included working with different age groups; working with people with different abilities, such as people with autism; how to change the culture to be more intentionally intergenerational; and how to be All Together through art, music and storytelling.
‘It felt like a Messy Church family, being all together. If feels so wonderful to sit with international Messy Church sisters and brothers. I’ve loved dwelling in the word. I will bring this to my Messy Church team.’
— Liz
A great selection of workshops included how to be All Together through art, music and storytelling.
Free-flowing discussions
Making the most of being All Together and knowing the importance of spontaneous conversations that in-person events provide, we experimented with ‘Open Space’ – an opportunity to participate or listen in on a range of discussions that were free flowing around the room. The topic of ‘how we create safe spaces’ drew a crowd alongside ‘Messy Togetherness’ to chat about working well across a range of diversities, ages and stages of faith.
The conversations continued over lunch, providing us with sustenance for our afternoon keynote from Dr Sam Richards, head of children and youth work for the United Reformed Church. Sam is a key champion for intergenerational ministry, and it was encouraging to hear her speak on how intergenerational ministry is about who we are and how we relate, and that needs all ages to be together to thrive – something which has been at the heart of Messy Church from the start.
Sam then joined the Q&A panel of experts: Kirstyn Oliver (Alma Autism), Gemma Gillard (Truth be Told), Jonathan Bland (one of our young leaders), Chris Barnett (who wrote the additional chapter in our revised edition of Martyn Payne’s Messy Togetherness) and Aike. Hosted by Sarah Smart (our Messy Church network development lead), the panel shared their wisdom on topics such as top tips for embedding intergenerational values, how we can best welcome SEND children and their families to Messy Church, and what really engages young people.
Knowing the importance of spontaneous conversations, we experimented with ‘Open Space’ – an opportunity to participate in a range of discussions.
Going wild at midsummer
We moved on from the hot topics to worship All Together through a Messy Church Goes Wild session – outside in the heat! Fortunately, we were able to gather under an enormous eucalyptus tree for our outdoor celebration, with contributions from our young leaders, Engage Worship and Swedish Messy Church friends around a decorated cross, as we considered how Jesus is the life-light (John 1:5) on the longest day of the year.
Our midsummer festivities continued into the evening, as Jonathan Bland led a ceilidh, accompanied by an international scratch band. It was a joy-filled and somewhat sweaty evening as we danced and learnt how to do-si-do and strip the willow! There was evening, and there was morning – the second day of All Together!
‘I’m going back to my church to tell them we’ve got to restart Messy Church. The conference has re-energised my Messy Churchiness.’
— Kathryn
Our outdoor celebration focused around a decorated cross, as we considered how Jesus is the life-light on the longest day of the year.
On the third day…
Refreshed from a night’s sleep and refuelled with breakfast, on Sunday morning we returned to dwell on 1 Corinthians 12:21–31 and consider the part each of us can play in God’s kingdom, ahead of another great selection of workshops and our Messy Church session ‘Home for All’, adapted from Messy Togetherness and featuring in Get Messy! Volume 3. We celebrated our time All Together by sharing Communion in a Messy Church way, led by the Revd Sandy Brodine from the Uniting Church in Australia, and were sent out with a blessing to our places of ministry.
‘Thank you for a wonderful conference. Such a joy to be so welcomed and to take away some really useful insights and practical information to make our sessions at St John the Evangelist, Upper Norwood even better. It was lovely meeting so many people from all over the world who share in the passion of spreading the good news of Jesus and making a difference in their communities.’
— Jermaine
We returned to consider the part each of us can play in God’s kingdom.
A massive thank you
Like Messy Church, a conference like this is not a solo effort, but requires energy and enthusiasm from the whole community. A massive thank you to all who came, our conference planning team, workshop leaders and keynote speakers. Special mention to Sally O’Hare (Messy Church Co-ordinator) who project managed the event, supported by Nina Seaman (Administrator), so that we could be All Together.
