Gina Murray, Anglican Women’s Guild of St Matthew’s, Dunoon, Dunoon and District Gazette

We continue with our ‘Messy Church’ programme which happens on the first Saturday of the month. Messy Church is church for families who may not find other forms of church appealing and who do not yet belong to a church. It is held once a month, and it includes hands-on creative experiences, a celebration, and a meal. It does not prioritise either the needs of children or adults but intentionally welcomes and provides for all ages.

In June, Messy Church coincided with Pentecost, and we puff-painted pictures of the coming of the Holy Spirit (quite a messy affair) as well as creating origami fortune tellers which offered outcomes such as Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness and Peace. This activity took me back to my childhood.

July Messy Church had the theme of ‘fishing for people’ and gathering together. We made fish and we painted stones.

We had special guests on this occasion – the Schofield triplets, who were visiting their grandmother for her 80th birthday celebration. These three boys are altar boys in the Coptic Church in Sydney, and it was very good for them to experience some other type of worship.

After each Messy Church we have a sausage sizzle, which promotes fellowship amongst the community.

The weekend of 17-18 September will see thousands of people across Australia inviting someone special ‘Back to Church’.

People lose touch with church for all sorts of reasons, but we hope that millions would come back with an invitation. Of course, our service will be on the evening of Saturday 17 September at 5pm.

We look forward to welcoming many people back to church on that day and in the process encourage church members to become more invitational and help our church to become more welcoming.

Remember, we have a communion service every Saturday evening at 5pm and we would welcome anyone who cares to come along.

This article appeared in the Dunoon and District Gazette, August-September 2022.