# Messy Church

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thumb|alt=Messy Church logo|Messy Church logo
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'''Messy Church''' is "a way of being church for families".  Its slogan is "Church, but not as you know it".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.messychurch.org.uk/what-messy-church|title=What is Messy Church?|accessdate=7 February 2021}}</ref>

==History==
Messy Church began as a [fresh expression of church](/source/fresh_expression_of_church) in 2004 in the parish of [Cowplain](/source/Cowplain), near Portsmouth, England,<ref>"Messy Church Maturity" in {{cite web |url=https://www.churcharmy.org/Groups/319979/Church_Army/web/What_we_do/Research_Unit/Playfully_Serious/Playfully_Serious.aspx |title=Playfully Serious: How Messy Churches create new space for faith |publisher=Church Army Research Unit |date=January 2019}}</ref> and as of February 2019 there were more than 2,800 Messy Churches registered in England.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.brin.ac.uk/counting-religion-in-britain-february-2019/ |title=Counting Religion in Britain |last=Field |first=Clive D. |date=February 2019 |work=British Religion in Numbers}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2019/30-august/news/uk/grant-offers-a-tidy-sum-for-messy-church-study|title=Grant offers a tidy sum for Messy Church study|work=[Church Times](/source/Church_Times)|first=Madeleine|last=Davis|date=30 August 2019|accessdate=7 February 2021}}</ref>

By 2015, Messy Church had spread from the UK to other European countries and to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the USA, and South America.<ref>{{cite thesis |type=PhD |first=Amanda Dawn |last=Aspland |publisher=University of Leeds |date=2016 |title=Unless you become like a child: Psychological type and Christian becoming at Messy Church |page=9 |url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/13761/ |postscript=none}}, footnote 7.</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.messychurch.org.uk/international|title=Messy Church Around the World|publisher=Messy Church|accessdate=7 February 2021}}</ref>  It is supported and resourced by the Bible Reading Fellowship.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.messychurch.org.uk/meet-bible-reading-fellowship|title=Meet The Bible Reading Fellowship (BRF)|publisher=Messy Church|accessdate=7 February 2021}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|www.messychurch.org.uk}}

Category:Christian ecumenical organizations

{{Christian-org-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Messy Church](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messy_Church) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messy_Church?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.