Messy Adventures

Published 2nd August 2022 by rachel tranter

Messy Adventures is a project which has been funded by a generous grant from Scientists in Congregations. It is a resource consisting of twelve units of materials to give the most unconfident leader the tools and confidence to take their Messy Church outdoors. Each unit includes fun activities with a strong scientific focus, questions to discuss, ‘Big Thinking’ provided by scientific experts and suggestions for creative ways of responding in Christian worship with awe, wonder and celebration.

This is a collaborative project between Messy Church at BRF, writers, scientists, the diocese of Gloucester and pilot churches across the length and breadth of the UK and is coordinated by the BRF Messy Church team with Dr Dave Gregory.

How to use and other useful information

1. Wild and wilderness

This Adventure explores different ways to enter into the wilderness to encounter God and explore the ways in which a time of wilderness helps us cultivate the wildness within.

Wild and wilderness Adventure PDF

2. Wet and wild

This Adventure is all about discovering more about God and about good stewardship of water through discovering and reflecting on water.

Wet and wild Adventure PDF

3. Wild and rocky

This Adventure gets up close and personal with soil, mud, sand, rocks and stones to explore themes like being in a hard place, the hugeness of numbers of grains of sand or the age of rocks and the miraculous richness of soil despite its dull everyday appearance.

Wild and rocky Adventure PDF

4. Wild and weedy

This Adventure is all about discovering more about God through how plants grow and how through them God provides vegetation and food that sustains our planet.

Wild and weedy Adventure PDF

5. Wild woods

In this Adventure, you will discover more about trees and their role in sustaining our planet and how they are used to illustrate biblical truths about God’s kingdom.

Wild woods Adventure PDF

6. Wild weather

This Adventure is all about discovering more about God and about good stewardship of our planet through discovering and reflecting on the sky, weather, sun, moon, planets and stars.

Wild weather Adventure PDF

7. Wild on the wing

This Adventure is all about discovering more about the life of birds, how God provides for birds and how we can show love and care for them and their environment.

Wild on the wing Adventure PDF

8. Wild and wiggly

This Adventure looks at insects and other minibeasts, helping us to think about how little things, little people and little details matter to Jesus, through the story of Jesus meeting Zacchaeus in Luke 19.

Wild and wiggly Adventure PDF

9. Wild safari

In this Adventure, you will discover more about God and about good stewardship of our earth through looking after our animals (domestic, farmed and wild) and our sea life.

Wild safari Adventure PDF

10. Wild me

This Adventure is all about exploring the place of human beings in God’s world and how the world is a place for all sorts of humans to thrive in peace and justice. Also, to think about the ways in which we need to be both wild and self-controlled to be fully human, as Jesus was.

Wild me Adventure PDF

11. Wild on the move

This Adventure is all about appreciating and understanding more about the different energies at play in God’s wonderful world.

Wild on the Move PDF

12. Wild life

In this Adventure, you will explore life cycles in the natural world, in order to understand how Jesus’ life, death and resurrection brings the hope of renewal to people and the whole earth.

Wild life Adventure PDF