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Messy Church


Messy Church at Home
​Easter Special!
St. Hildeburgh Parish Church is DELIGHTED to announce our MESSY CHURCH AT HOME EASTER SPECIAL. This totally cool mega extravaganza is open to everyone ... THIS MEANS YOU! 

EASTER GOODY BAGS AND HOW TO GET THEM!

If you would like to take part collect one of our famed EASTER MESSY-CHURCH GOODY BAGS.  If you would like them, please email the church using this special address:  messy.church@sthildeburgh.org 
We will prepare your very own named bags safely in line with COVID guidance at least 72 hours before they are to be collected by families taking part. Preordered GOODY BAGS can be collected from St. Hildeburgh’s Church Centre at prearranged dates and times, to avoid mingling with other folk taking part.

INSIDE THE BAGS!

Once we hear from you we will email you a simple form that enable us to prepare EASTER MESSY-CHURCH GOODY BAGS that are suited to your very own children. 
These totally cool bags will contain some crafts and games to do, complete with everything you need to do them, some other activities including a quiz competition, with prizes, as well as an Easter story with stickers, and delicious Easter edibles!! 

EASTER MESSY CHURCH AT HOME GOODY BAGS - FOR ALL! 

We have missed our face to face Messy Church get togethers so much. As soon as we are able to meet safely for MESSY CHURCH at St. Hildeburgh’s, we will let you know. In the meantime, we look forward to hearing from you for your GOODY BAG - each child gets one of their own. If you don’t have a computer or email access, let your teacher know or contact the church office and we will contact you in some other way. Tell your friends too but make sure you LET US KNOW IN ADVANCE. We don’t want anyone to miss out!!
Looking forward to your email,

Peter Ham and Jane Langley (Messy Church Leaders).

CALL FOR HELP!

We are hoping to run a MESSY CHURCH AT HOME - EASTER SPECIAL this Spring. It will be in the form of MESSY CHURCH GOODY BAGS containing crafts, games, activities, quizzes, a bible story and some tasty Easter Edibles. 

Because of COVID this will all done safely and the bags prepared for families to collect and take home. 

Are you able to help by preparing resources in the safety of your own home? 

We will provide you with everything you need, all following COVID safety regulations and guidance. It might mean cutting out coloured card or paper, preparing stickers and decorations and name labels etc etc. Ideas please!!! 

You do not need to be an experienced children’s volunteer. None of this will involve direct contact with anyone else. It is still something you could do, even though you might be shielding yourself or with someone else. 

It is an opportunity to become involved in an aspect of service to our Lord and to our local families, by teaching them something of the real Easter story and Jesus, who died and rose again.

If you feel able to help or if you would like to know more, please contact either of us.

Many thanks,

Peter Ham and Jane Langley (Messy Church Leaders)
Tel: 07444 884879 or 0151 677 3195

BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH

One of our favourite Messy Church activities each Winter, is to take part in the BIG GARDEN BIRDWATCH organised by the RSPB. Google it to get an online identification chart absolutely free and get your binoculars out. Make some toast with lashings of jam and a mug of warm chocolate to drink and see how many different birds you can spot in an hour this weekend. Submit your results online to the BGB 2021 to help research into birds and why they are in decline. If you look back to Messy Church at Home last year, you will see how to make a bird feeder out of yoghurt pots, to attract more birds. Here is one in action in my garden.

Of course, let’s give God the glory for His wonderful creation. The beauty, to me, isn’t just in the appearance of these birds, but in the habitat and environment that encompasses them. Encourage youngsters you know to take an interest, for it is they who will be the stewards in the future. We are commanded - “Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of the earth.” Genesis 1, v28 (The Message Bible). 

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A Messy Church at Home Love Letter!
You will need: square pieces of paper; pens.
Make an origami heart that unfolds like a window. Here is one to copy. There are lots of fun ones on YouTube too! 
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Open the front and write inside a short message about love. Choose one of the phrases from one of Paul’s letters about love:
• Love is patient, love is kind
• Love does not envy
• Love does not boast
• Love is not proud
• Love does not dishonour others
• Love is not self-seeking
• Love is not easily angered
• Love keeps no record of wrongs
(Adapted from 1 Corinthians 13:4–8, 13)
• Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth
• Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres
• Love never fails
• And now these three remain: faith,
hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Talk about why you chose that particular phrase out of all of them. If you had a message written on the inside of you (like a word in a stick of seaside rock), what would you like that message to be?
If Jesus had a message written on the inside of him, what do you imagine it would be?

New Beginnings!
YOU WILL NEED: coloured sugar paper or card; felt-tip pens; scissors; glue; different coloured tissue paper; pipe cleaners; googly eyes; sequins to decorate (optional).
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We have the book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. In it, the caterpillar develops into a butterfly, displaying his beautiful multi-coloured wings. Draw around your hands on to coloured paper and cut them out. Stick them together into the shape of a butterfly. Decorate your butterfly with scrunched-up tissue paper and sequins. Add googly eyes and two pipe cleaners for antennae.
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TALK ABOUT how, at the start of each new year, we make promises to ourselves that we will change; we call these resolutions. It could be that we change what we eat for more healthier food or decide to reduce how much we eat. We might decide to do more exercise or spend less time looking at screens and get out in the fresh air. Whatever it is, it can be hard to keep these changes up. God loves us just the way we are, but he does not want to leave us that way. He wants us to be just like him, and one way we can grow in our lives is to read his word, the Bible. Matthew 4:4 says, ‘A person does not live only by eating bread. But a person lives by everything the Lord says’.
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Why not start reading the Bible today, and let the words of God transform your life?

MESSY CHRISTMAS NATIVITY

Christmas is such a special time and although things are different this year, we can still gather and celebrate the birth of a very special baby... a baby who changed the world! This Messy Church at home session focuses on the true meaning of Christmas and explores the theme of God’s gift to us in Jesus.

Thanks be to God for his gift that is too wonderful to describe!
2 Corinthians 9:15 (ERV)


Activity:

Try this collage activity. The nativity scene will be great to have as a decoration over your mantelpiece or on your wall.  Read through the nativity story in your bible to remind yourself of what to include in your work of art. 
Here are some materials ideas. If you can’t get exactly these materials, just see what you can find around the house instead!
Nativity collage
You will need: paper or card; egg boxes; coloured pens or crayons; glue; different materials from your home or garden.

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Create the wonderful Nativity picture or model using different materials! Gather materials from around the home, and enjoy a nature hunt outside to find natural items such as sticks, stones, soil and leaves. Draw, colour and stick to make your messy Nativity collage.
Talk about all the different people, animals, textures and smells in the Nativity story. Can you imagine what it must have been like in the stable? Talk together about how perfectly messy the Nativity story is and how from it, we received the best gift ever in Jesus.

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Messy Church at Home: 6
Hits at Advent Messy Church sessions were decorated Advent Candles. They really seem to absorb a wide range of folk -  Dads and Mums, Grandads and Grandmas, aunties and uncles, as well as children,  all really get into it and produced superb candles. 

Just buy a few white candles - 1 inch diameter (ordinary dinner candles would do fine), and pens that will write on wax - permanent OHP pens, or the kind of markers sold to write on CDs are fine. Candle paint works of course but it's more expensive and it takes a while to dry.

To help things along make a guide on a sheet of paper with a line marked with 24 divisions to lay the candle against - clearly this depends on the size of your candles. Just use the guide to help you mark your candle and number the divisions. The candles can be decorated with Christmassy pictures.

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Really simple but a great countdown to Christmas as we prepare ourselves by thinking about the story of Jesus'  birth, and the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophesies. Advent is a time when we refocus on the amazing truth that God sent his only son into the world to redeem us. In the words of Graham Kendrick's hymn "The Servant King:..."

From heaven you came, helpless babe,
Entered our world, your glory veiled; 
Not to be served but to serve,
And give your life that we might live.
This is our God, the Servant King,
He calls us now to follow him,
To bring our lives as a daily offering
Of worship to the Servant King.


Messy Church at Home: 5
Matthew’s gospel account tells of Jesus and Peter walking on the water, but Peter’s faith is discouraged by the storm.  Here is the account from Matthew 14:
Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

“Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

“Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Jesus and Peter walk on the water activity:
You Will Need:
  • Dry erase (whiteboard) marker
  • A glass filled with water
  • A small jug
  • Food colouring (optional)
Draw a stickperson on the bottom of your glass with the marker pen. Wait a few moments for it to dry and then gently pour on some water. Your person will lift off the glass and literally float on the top of the water. You can try blowing gently to make him move and dance!

Think about how, in our story today, two people walk on the surface of water. What else could you draw or add in to help bring this story to life.

Let’s pray that God gives us faith and we won’t be discouraged. 
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Messy Church at Home: 4
It’s Remembrance Day soon,  when we remember all those who have died for our freedom in different wars. We remember by wearing a Red Poppy. Here is how you can make a Pinwheel poppy. 

You will need: squares of red paper (or paper you have coloured red); scissors; paper fasteners; a black sharpie pen; a holepunch.

Cut your square of paper into the rough shape shown below - just fold a square in half diagonally, cut slits down the folds and shaped the edges. Use a hole punch to make holes on the four corner dots, and make a hole in the centre by pushing a paper fastener through. Curl each pointed end to the centre and put the paper fastener through all the holes. Colour the paper fastener black to look like the poppy seeds. Make a second square and add it to the original poppy if you want a fuller poppy shape. 

We also remember, with grateful hearts,  that Jesus, the son of God, gave up his life so that we might be rescued from our sin. John 3, v 16 says it all. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 
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Messy Church at Home: 3
There are still loads of brightly colour leaves and flowers around for you to collect and squish as shown in our first "Messy Church at Home Post". There are many things you can make with them to show Gods beautiful creation; pictures, fridge magnets and calendars. A favourite of Messy Church has been bookmarks. The bits and pieces you need are pictured below:
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1. Simply cut out some coloured thin card into long strips (natural colours are good) and place your pressed leaves or flowers onto the card. 
2. Use a tiny dab of PVA glue to hold them in place once you’ve designed your bookmark. 
3. Write or print out a bible verse from the photo attached here and place it at one end of your bookmark. Glue in place.
If someone you know has a laminator ....
4. Insert the whole thing carefully into a laminating pouch and pass it through a laminator. Make sure the leaves or flowers are very flat and pressed thinly.
If you don’t have a laminator....
5. Use some good old sticky backed plastic (just like Blue Peter) to cover the bookmark.
6. Trim the edges and enjoy using your bookmark (one is pictured below:)
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Have a look at our brilliant bible verses, pictured below. They might give you ideas for other activities as well as reminding you of how good our creator God is.
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Messy Church at Home: 2
As promised, this week, a quick guide to making your Messy Church bird feeder, as part of our focus on Gods beautiful creation in Autumn.
​
Picture 1 (below) shows all you need; some bird seed, a pack of lard at room temperature, some yoghurt pots and some string:
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  1. First make a hole in the base of the yoghurt pot (soak the label off), using something pointy. Be careful and get Mum or Dad to help you. Thread the string through the hole and tie it in a loop.
  2. Here’s the messy bit! Mix a couple of handfuls of seed with quarter of a block of lard using your hands!!! Yuck! Then squeeze as much of the mix into the pot as you can.
  3. Put the pot into the fridge for a couple of hours to harden the fat.
  4. Hang up your feeder on a tree branch near a window (see picture 2 below).
  5. Watch and enjoy and send us your photos to put on our web site.
  6. MOST IMPORTANT: Say a prayer of thanks to God for his amazing and awesome world, and do all you can to protect it.
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A great bible passage to help us give thanks comes from Paul’s letter to the Colossians, chapter 3, vs 15-17:
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be THANKFUL. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with GRATITUDE in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, GIVING THANKS to God the Father through him."
Why not let us know how you get on - Email your stories and/or photos to:
parishofhoylake@gmail.com
NEXT WEEK:  What to make with those pressed leaves and flowers

What a FANTASTIC afternoon of MESSY CHURCH fun at St Hildeburgh’s in Hoylake
It was wonderful to welcome over seventy people to our January “Messy Church” afternoon. We learnt all about care for God’s creation and how we, too, can look after it. There were craft activities and games aplenty, before we went into the church for a short time of worship and singing. The day was rounded off with steaming plates of sausages and baked been for everyone who came along. Special mention goes to our vicar, Rev Paul, as several of our Messy Church-goes decided to clean his face!​

Our TWENTIETH Messy Church Afternoon: July 2019​
We had a wonderful “Messy Church” afternoon at St Hildeburgh’s on Saturday, 13th July – enjoyed by young and old alike! It was wonderful to welcome a number of people coming along to St Hildeburgh’s for the very first time. The day was something of a milestone for our church, as this was our TWENTIETH “Messy Church” afternoon. Given this, we were all in ‘party mood’, with games, competitions, worship, a picnic – and LOTS of fun: Both indoors and outside.​
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Our Easter ‘Messy Church’: Fun, Food, Sun and Worship!
We had a fantastic Messy Church afternoon at St Hildeburgh’s on Easter Saturday - we felt truly blessed by the Lord. It was wonderful to welcome over eighty people with a good number of folk coming to St Hildeburgh’s for the very first time.

As usual, we began with games – some indoor, but with the sunny day we were blessed with, lots of fun was had outside also; with everything from games of skittles to sack races. Then there was a range of craft activities which we all took part in, all with the theme of Jesus and the Easter story. 

Next we all trooped into the church for a lively time of worship, led by Peter from our Ministry Team and our vicar, Rev Paul. Peter gave a fun talk, we learned a new Easter song, and Rev Paul led us in prayers. 

We rounded the afternoon off with a hot meal for all comers in our Church Centre of chicken nuggets, potato wedges … and of course, baked beans! 

Thanks to all who came along to enjoy our time together and the many members of our church family who worked tirelessly as helpers. 
​
Why not come along to our NEXT ‘Messy Church’ afternoon? You would be very welcome! It’s on Saturday 13th July. Put the date in your diary!

WOW! Our Harvest ‘Messy Church’ in October​​
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​Our Harvest ‘Messy Church’ (13th October 2018), was a wonderful occasion – we felt really blessed. Fitting for the Harvest theme, we had a “bumper crop” of folk coming along – well over 120 people - with many coming along to St Hildeburgh’s for the very first time.

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​​The afternoon began with games and other fun activities in the church centre – including face painting for the youngsters. Next came craft, making and painting, all with a harvest theme, and celebrating God’s creation and the fruits of His creation. As usual, the children made their own ‘Messy Puds’, and the St Hildeburgh’s ‘Voyagers’ group (which meets on Sunday mornings) had a special table this time, which was very popular. ​​

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​Then we went into the church, where Rev Paul and Peter from our Ministry Team led us in a time of worship – with prayers, a thought-provoking drama-based talk on the ‘Parable of the Sower’, and lively songs led by Catherine O’Neil Edwards, our local school’s former head teacher.
​​

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​The afternoon was rounded off by a hot meal for all – young and older alike – of good old hot dogs, chips and beans – and those delicious ‘Messy Puds’!


​Didn’t we all have a FANTASTIC day
at July's

​"MESSY CHURCH"
in Hoylake 
​(14th July 2018)

It was great to welcome a good crowd of folk of ALL ages, as we met up in our church grounds for July's "Messy Church" at St Hildeburgh’s : Children, grannies, grandads, carers, parents, aunties, uncles … and even "BRONTE" the pony!

It was wonderful to welcome a number of people joining us for the first time at St Hildeburgh’s: Welcome to Jesus’s family in Hoylake!!

We had decided to hold this Messy Church afternoon in our church grounds - to make the most of the sunny weather we had been having. The theme for the day was “Saving God’s Wonderful World” and outdoor activities included: “Bug spotting”, water games, nest building, competitions, bird spotting … and more!

Following the activities in the church grounds, everyone went into the church itself for a short time of worship. We sang a couple of really lively songs, listened to a short thought-provoking talk, and ended with a prayer. After this, we all trooped back into the church grounds, where everyone joined in a picnic provided FREE to all, a time of fellowship, a good chat, and to make some new friends. (See the photos below)
​
Below:
“Saving God’s Wonderful World”
​Photos of JULY’s
“Messy Church”

at St Hildeburgh’s​

Below:
Celebrating the Church’s “Birthday”:
​Photos of May’s

“Messy Church”
at St Hildeburgh’s
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On Saturday 5th May (2018), it was wonderful to have another, well-attended “Messy Church” afternoon at St Hildeburgh’s. It was a gloriously sunny day and the afternoon started at 4.00pm with games for the youngsters in our Church Centre. This was followed by thought-provoking, craft activities, linked to the theme we had chosen for the day of “Pentecost”. On the day of Pentecost, two thousand years ago, God sent his Holy Spirit upon Jesus’s followers, and they went out to spread the “Good News” of Jesus Christ – in many ways, it’s the Church’s “Birthday”. So our Messy Church afternoon was very much a day of real celebration.

After our craft activities, we went into the church for a short time of worship, with lively songs which we all really enjoyed. We then trooped back into the Church Centre where everyone sat down for a hot meal together. Many and sincere thanks go to all the members of our church family who worked so hard to make the day such a success.



Below: Some Photos from February's "Messy Church" at St Hildeburgh's:

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Our Mission Statement

We believe that God calls us to be a loving community, inspired by the Holy Spirit, founded in worship and prayer, proclaiming Jesus Christ in word and deed"

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SAFEGUARDING:

St Hildeburgh’s Parish Church takes its duty and obligation to protect all extremely seriously. We have adopted the national Church of England's robust procedures and guidelines. You can download St Hildeburgh's Safeguarding Policy (as a PDF file) by following the link below:​
st_hildeburgh_hoylake_safeguarding_policy.pdf
File Size: 201 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

​You can find out more about the national safeguarding policies and procedures of the Church of England at www.churchofengland.org/safeguarding. 
The Diocese of Chester (the region of the Church of England that St Hildeburgh's Church is part of) provides other useful
contact information at www.chester.anglican.org/social-responsibility/safeguarding
​
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