I recently graduated from UC Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in molecular cell biology with an emphasis in biochemistry, biophysics, and structural biology, and now I currently work at the First United Methodist Church of Santa Monica as their Family Ministries Coordinator. To say I love the science world is an understatement. While I was growing up, I struggled with navigating my faith journey, and how our world can have so many ways of telling the story of how the world works and operates. My parents both had strong beliefs about their faith but, luckily, never pushed their beliefs on me. They allowed me to explore and ask questions. And my faith community at the First UMC of Santa Monica, allowed me to explore that natural curiosity and celebrate my perspective. As I grew up and now work to support children, youth, and families on their own faith journey, I quickly realized how hard it can be to figure out what faith and religion can mean to an individual.
Faith is often messy, especially for children who are just beginning to explore their beliefs and ask big questions about God, life, and the world around them. Kids are naturally curious and full of questions, and they don’t always have the answers—and that’s okay. They might wonder why bad things happen, why there are so many different religions, or why they feel unsure about what they believe. These questions are a normal part of growing up, but they can make the personal journey of faith feel confusing and even overwhelming.
To add to the complexity, families also come with different connections to faith and spirituality. Each family has its own story, traditions, and experiences that shape how they understand and practice faith. Some families may attend church regularly, while others might explore spirituality in a different way or not at all. In some households, parents may have different beliefs and practice different religions, creating a beautiful but sometimes challenging mix of perspectives for children to navigate.
In addition, the world itself is a complex place, filled with different cultures, beliefs, and reasons why things happen. There are many paths to understanding life and many different ways people find meaning, which can make faith feel messy and multifaceted. In this complexity, children discover that faith isn’t always neat or straightforward—it’s a journey filled with questions, growth, and the freedom to explore.
Faith isn’t always neat or straightforward
My colleague, Tricia Guerrero, Pastoral Associate at First UMC of Santa Monica, and I dreamed up a camp where we embrace messy faith. We were inspired by Messy Church USA, an organization that works to create opportunities for multigenerational worship by embracing the mess. While our camp was not directly created to model Messy Church, it holds its same essence, that faith exploration is messy. With this idea in mind, we named our camp Messy Camp: God’s Messy Creation. A place where we explore the world around us and how we can make the world a better place.
Messy Camp was created to be a place where kids can explore, create, and wonder freely. A place where it’s okay to ask questions, be curious, and not have all the answers. We wanted kids to feel comfortable as they explore their connection to faith, embrace God’s wonderfully messy creation, celebrate its beauty, and discover their unique role in making the world a better place. Messy Camp consisted of 6 stations which the children rotated through each day: science, music, crafts, story, missions, and games. At each station, the children explored the daily themes.
We decided to frame our daily themes around the Creation story where each day focused on a different part of God’s Creation. On the first day, we celebrated Light and Darkness, on the second day we celebrated Water, the third day Land, the fourth day Animals, and the fifth day People. Each day’s themes were reflected in the curriculum for each station.
While Bible stories are significant, they weren’t the central focus of Messy Camp. Instead, we aimed to use these stories to highlight a remarkable aspect of God’s creation. For instance, on the fifth day our theme was people, and we shared the iconic parable of the Good Samaritan. In the story station, we emphasized the importance of caring for our neighbors, offering a helping hand, and practicing kindness and unconditional love. At the mission station, the children made “Thinking of You” cards for our homebound church members, showing them that we care and love them. In the crafts station, they created a poster celebrating their unique qualities and the talents they can share with the world. Meanwhile, in science, we explored the respiratory system, with each child making their own model. We learned how our bodies, God’s masterpieces, are incredible, and how we rely on trees, water, and sunlight to produce the oxygen we breathe, further showcasing the wonder of God’s creation and how it all works together. We found that the kids truly appreciated this different approach. All children are different, with different interests, and have different ways they feel connected to faith. We saw our older elementary kids really take a liking to the story station because not only did they listen to the story but also acted it out on stage with costumes and became key players in the story. We saw our TK (Transitional Kindergarten) and Kindergarten kids really enjoy the music station, learning our daily theme songs and singing together in fellowship and fun. And we saw our younger elementary kids really take a liking to the science station, where they got to scientifically explore faith.
We decided to frame our daily themes around the Creation story where each day focused on a different part of God’s Creation. On the first day, we celebrated Light and Darkness, on the second day we celebrated Water, the third day Land, the fourth day Animals, and the fifth day People. Each day’s themes were reflected in the curriculum for each station.
While Bible stories are significant, they weren’t the central focus of Messy Camp. Instead, we aimed to use these stories to highlight a remarkable aspect of God’s creation. For instance, on the fifth day our theme was people, and we shared the iconic parable of the Good Samaritan. In the story station, we emphasized the importance of caring for our neighbors, offering a helping hand, and practicing kindness and unconditional love. At the mission station, the children made “Thinking of You” cards for our homebound church members, showing them that we care and love them. In the crafts station, they created a poster celebrating their unique qualities and the talents they can share with the world. Meanwhile, in science, we explored the respiratory system, with each child making their own model. We learned how our bodies, God’s masterpieces, are incredible, and how we rely on trees, water, and sunlight to produce the oxygen we breathe, further showcasing the wonder of God’s creation and how it all works together.
We found that the kids truly appreciated this different approach. All children are different, with different interests, and have different ways they feel connected to faith. We saw our older elementary kids really take a liking to the story station because not only did they listen to the story but also acted it out on stage with costumes and became key players in the story. We saw our TK (Transitional Kindergarten) and Kindergarten kids really enjoy the music station, learning our daily theme songs and singing together in fellowship and fun. And we saw our younger elementary kids really take a liking to the science station, where they got to scientifically explore faith.
One of the children’s favorite science lessons was our Noah’s Ark STEM activity. On the fourth day, the theme was centered on animals. The kids had a blast learning about Noah’s Ark and Noah’s creative solution for building a boat that could hold two of every kind of animal. They explored the concepts of buoyancy and density and then were challenged to design and build an aluminum foil boat that could hold the most pennies. As they worked together on their designs and tested their boats, they discovered that the boats needed a large surface area, tall walls, and an even distribution of pennies to successfully float. This hands-on experiment brought the story to life in an engaging way, directly connecting the principles of density and buoyancy to Noah’s Ark, which had to be engineered to float and carry a heavy load for a long period of time.
Connecting science and Bible stories can be challenging because they often speak in different languages and serve different purposes. Science relies on observation, experimentation, and evidence to explain how the world works, while Bible stories use narratives, symbolism, and faith to convey deeper truths, values, and lessons about life, purpose, and our relationship with God. For some, this can create tension or confusion, as the two seem to answer different kinds of questions—science often addresses the “how,” while faith often addresses the “why.”
We’ve listened to our families and adapted to their needs
Yet, it is important to connect them because both science and faith seek to explore and understand the world around us. For many, faith provides a framework for finding meaning, purpose, and ethical guidance, while science helps us appreciate the complexity and wonder of creation. By connecting science and Bible stories, we help children see that curiosity, exploration, and asking questions are not only okay but essential to both faith and learning. This integration encourages a fuller understanding of the world, nurturing a sense of awe, wonder, and respect for both the physical universe and the spiritual truths that guide us. And it’s fun!
When Jason Derose, the religious correspondent from NPR, reached out to Tricia and me to discuss our fresh approach to Vacation Bible School, I never anticipated it would turn into such an incredible adventure. Both Tricia and I were pleasantly surprised by the overwhelming interest Messy Camp has gained. I believe its popularity stems from our willingness to break away from traditional religious education methods that churches have used for the past decade. Instead, we’ve listened to our families and adapted to their needs. Faith education is evolving, and it’s essential to embrace this change as an opportunity to create something new, which in turn engages and excites children and families to participate.
With all the positive feedback we’ve received from campers and parents, I’m thrilled to begin developing our Messy Camp curriculum for next year. In the meantime, I’m eager to support our evolving children and youth ministry and nurture a community centered on acceptance, love, and curiosity for all our families. We will continue to embrace families at every stage of their faith journey and celebrate the diversity among us.
