Messy Church camp means lots of fun
By Rev Sandy Brodine
The community from Messy Church Bunbury has been meeting at Busselton for a fortnight of camping on the coast each January for a decade.
Joined by people from across southern Western Australia, this annual community has been helping grow disciples, culminating in all-age Messy baptisms for each of the last three years. My daughter Sophia and I have travelled across to Western Australia for the last two years to join in the fun.
Messy Church camp is a relaxed community where families come and join in for as long as they are able to. Families bring their own caravans or tents and cook their own meals. Kitchen facilities, washing machines, camp bathrooms and a big hall are available for communal use.
During the day, everyone organises their own activities, sometimes playing together, sometimes doing their own thing. Late in the afternoon after the UV levels drop most people head down to the beach and swim together. Every second night a movie is shown on a giant makeshift outdoor screen. The big events include a new year’s eve party and each Saturday night there is an enormous Messy Church get together. This includes not just those of us who are camping, but Messy families and other members of the Bunbury Uniting Church who come down to share in the fun.
The Messy Church camp annual gathering includes people who have been regular members of Messy Church Bunbury, as well as people from other churches and denominations, and people who have never been part of a church community but are interested in learning more about what it means to follow Jesus.
The careful balance between organised, shared activity and relaxed family time means that Messy Church camp is a viable activity that can be run over a longer time (14 days) in January, just after the busyness of the Christmas season. Because parents take care of their own children and do activities together, or with other families, there is not an enormous burden on the leaders to provide activities all day every day. This relaxed atmosphere provides lots of opportunities for deeper conversations about the things that really matter.
So has Messy Church camp been a successful annual community over the last decade? The answer is a resounding yes. Families return year after year and often stay longer. Church-going grandparents bring their children and grandkids who are not members of a faith community along and intergenerational relationships are grown and strengthened. And, most excitingly, each year for the past three years there have been Messy baptisms of children and of adults. People who are members of the Messy Church community and who are deciding to become part of God’s family. Isn’t that fantastic.