Fun and Creativity at Christ Church

Christ Church,
Selly Park

Fun and creativity

Take a lot of talented people (which we have in Christ Church), and a belief that we should recognise and use our God-given gifts, and the end result is likely to be a lot of creative and enjoyable activity.

Present those people with a huge fundraising target, and minds will be concentrated even more.

Our old hall had a stage, which made it well suited to the kind of drama and entertainment described on this page. Being away from our site brought a halt to performances of this kind, but we are confident that in time the new building will offer its own creative possibilities.

Fundraising: brick by brick

For a long time now, our special events have been closely linked with fundraising for the building project. The sums raised in this way are (in relative terms) small, but still immensely valuable, because they have allowed so many people to play a part in bringing the new building into being. Keeping everyone moving forward together has been a vital aspect of the building project throughout its life.

Drama

A scene from Jack and the Giant Sugarsnap: Can Jack and Patience win the game show and get through the Club Gate?

In the last few years the church has put on two pantomimes which played to packed houses. The first, The Pied Piper of Hamburger, featured a dastardly plot to overrun the area with a plague of rats and some outlandish efforts to defeat it. More baddies were encountered in Jack and the Giant Sugarsnap in which the heroes had to overcome a series of challenges to recover some stolen treasure from a castle magically hidden in Selly Park. Both pantomimes were written and performed by church members.

On a slightly higher cultural plane, a dramatisation of St. John's Gospel powerfully brought to life the events of Jesus' life.

Entertainment

Song and dance: yes, that is our vicar on the right

Drama is typically well scripted, thoroughly rehearsed and performed to the highest (as far as we can manage) standards.

Then there are our entertainment evenings...

If you're lucky, you might be treated to a spectacular song and dance routine, some quality music played by our highly able performers, or "Mud, mud, glorious mud" sung by a whole family of hippos.

If you're unlucky, you could be confronted with Darth Vader attempting to sing "Bring Me Sunshine" and discovering that he doesn't know the words.

The secret is to appreciate the unpredictability of it all. That's how the performers get through it, anyway.

Just when it appears that the barrel has been scraped clean, a Karaoke Night pops up to prove that it hasn't. The only excuse that can be offered for these events is that if the performance is bad, we can legitimately blame the audience. These events do keep people off the streets, and they raise money. We also suspect that some people secretly enjoy them.

Crafty creators

Banners

For many years we decorated the painted breeze-block walls of our old hall with colourful banners. Some have been made to celebrate special occasions. This example was made to commemorate the Church Centre's 25th anniversary.

Card-making

Home-made greetings cards on sale in Christ Church