Through the Roof – Love In Action

Session Summary

In this special Valentine’s-themed Messy Church session, we explored one of the most powerful expressions of love in the Bible — the story of the friends who brought their paralysed friend to Jesus by lowering him through the roof (Mark 2:1–12).

Bringing the Story to Life

The children brought this story to life by dressing up and re-enacting it, complete with a dramatic ‘roof-lowering’ scene! It was fun and laughter filled but also a moving reminder of how love goes the extra mile. Just as those friends made sure their friend met Jesus, we learned how God’s love moves mountains to reach us and how we can show that love to others.

We sang and danced to:

• 🎵 Busy Little House
• 🎵 Jesus Is Our Best Friend
• 🎵 Jesus Strong and Kind – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Y8s-Sz_ac

Creative Prayer

During our Creative Prayer, we spoke about something really important… cereal!
Each child shared what their favourite cereal was and what made it so good e.g. crunchy, sweet, fruity, chocolatey, or fun. But then the question was asked: what if we go to the cupboard, only to find the box of cereal is empty? How would that make us feel? That’s what love is like when we don’t put it into action, it loses its flavour.
We prayed together, asking God to help us show love through kindness, help, and goodness every day.

Our crafts were full of heart — literally!

The children created heart-shaped cards using this fun threading kit: Heart Threading Card Kits – Baker Ross. They were encouraged to write a message and send it to a loved one. One way we can show love to others.

For our food craft, we made sweet pancake hearts and decorated them with colourful fruit a tasty way to reflect the joy and colour of love!

Takeaway

We left full of pancakes and even fuller in our hearts. Love isn’t just a feeling — it’s something we do.

Next Messy Church Session

We’d love for you to join the next session. Please visit our events page to see when and where: https://lovemessychurch.co.uk/events/list/

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Session Blueprint (For Leaders & Volunteers)

• Theme: Love in Action
• Bible Passage: Mark 2:1–12 (Jesus heals the paralysed man)

Songs:

• Busy Little House https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrL-mE2K9Lc
• Jesus Is Our Best Friend
• Jesus Strong and Kind https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Y8s-Sz_ac

Crafts:

• Heart Threading Card Kits (link)
• Pancake heart shapes decorated with colourful fruit

Storytelling Format:

• Children re-enacted the story with costumes
• Acted out lowering the man through the roof

Faith Focus:

• Jesus’ love for us is shown through action
• We can reflect His love by being kind and helping others
• Prayer time linked to everyday experiences (cereal metaphor)

Refreshments

• Juice, Water or Hot Chocolate at the start of the session
• Heart-shaped pancake decorating with fruit