Messy Church to pilot new approaches for older children 

A project that aims to engage families with children who have grown through Messy Churches is set to launch

Messy Momentum focuses on enabling and supporting Messy Churches across the country to grow their engagement with young people, through piloting six new approaches both within existing Messy Churches and through new worshipping communities. 

The approaches 'will be aimed specifically at young people aged 9+ years old, who have grown up through Messy Church,' said Aike Kennett-Brown BRF ministries Messy Church Ministry Lead, 'encouraging them, together with their parents and carers, to grow in their Christian faith, deepen their relationship with God and their peers, and use their gifts within the church.'

In a blog post, Aike explained the background to the new project: a 2024 survey highlighted that Messy Church is 'hugely successful' at attracting young families, many from unchurched backgrounds. 

However, 50 per cent of Messy Churches in the UK do not have anyone aged 12–16 years old. 

'Passionate about addressing this challenge,' Aike wrote, 'after more praying, discernment, reading research, discussions within the team and with a variety of intergenerational experts and youth specialists, we applied for partnership funding with the Church of England to address this missional challenge. 

'We received the ‘green go-ahead’ light in November 2024 for this exciting new project, Messy Momentum.'

This year has involved recruiting team members, plus more research and listening, including a two day consultation with an expert group of people from a range of organisations and backgrounds. 

The team has discerned which ideas to take forward, and would now like to recruit 25-30 Messy Churches with a cohort of older children (aged nine years or older) to try out one of these approaches over a 2-year pilot.

It inviting interested churches and practitioners to one of its online launch meetings.

At these events participants will hear an explainer of the six approaches that BRF is looking to pilot. 

Participants will find out what this could look like for their own Messy Church, and what training and resources are available to support their own team.

Messy Momentum launch meeting dates:

• Tues 3 June 12-1pm
• Wed 4 June 7.30-8.30pm
• Wed 11 June 12-1pm
• Thurs 12 June 7.30-8.30pm
• Tues 1 July 7.30-8.30pm
• Fri 11 July 12-1pm 

Book here to receive a Zoom link

BRF is looking to recruit enough Messy Churches for the pilot project by the end of August, so the autumn term can be spent training up teams and preparing for a January 2026 start.