Can’t make it to church on Sunday mornings? Messy Church might be for you. Messy Church is a non-traditional church for everyone where you will be getting your hands dirty.
Last February, Michigan City got its own Messy Church and Trish Johnsen loves getting the chance to work here and share Jesus’s teachings. Not only does she work at Messy Church but Johnsen is also the children's youth and family ministry director at First United Methodist Church in Michigan City and the youth ministry director at Portage First United Methodist Church.
Messy Church is a church for the whole family, but besides that, it's very non-traditional worship.
“The first thing we need people to understand is Messy Church isn't just for kids. We have some members that are in their 90s that love to sit down and work with the six and seven-year-olds on the activities,” said Johnsen.
Not everybody can be in church on a Sunday morning, and Johnsen and her team talked to a lot of people who are ready for a different experience.
“What we want people to know is they are loved, no matter who they are, no matter where they're coming from,” said Johnsen. “This is a community of love and acceptance, and what we're really building is community.”
Johnsen has been serving in children’s ministry since she was 15 years old and even spent 12 years as a school interventionist. When Johnsen and her family came to Michigan City, she was asked to help write a job description for the children's ministries director, and that led to her taking that job.
“The joke is that I wrote my own job description,” said Johnsen. “I love working with kids and getting the opportunity to make sure that the kids know God loves them. It's my greatest joy.”
Working with children has been a lifelong passion. Johnsen has always loved working with kids since she was a teenager and spent years working in public education and at daycares.
Being able to watch her kids grow their faith and understanding on their comfort level is what Johnsen lives for.
Raised in a more conservative background, Johnsen has deconstructed her faith over the last several years and found that her real passion is having the children and youth in her life understand the simplicity of faith. She believes that faith is a constant journey that you are always on and consistently learning and understanding new things.
“I want kids to know how very simple it can be that God loves them. God wants us to love each other,” said Johnsen. “I am a huge proponent of full and complete inclusivity, and that is a driving force in our ministry at First United.”
Her role and responsibility is to grow the Messy Church movement throughout the state. At Messy Church, they are working on expanding and wanting to be known as being outside of their four walls. This summer, instead of being in their building, they are meeting every Wednesday at a city park, hoping it will give them the opportunity to meet the neighbors, branch out, and get to know their community a little bit better.
“We believe that the church needs to go to the community rather than expecting people to come to us,” said Johnsen.
For more information on Messy Church and what it does, check out https://messychurchusa.org.