Fulwood Methodist Church in Preston, in the Lancashire Mission Area, had a fun-filled Forest Church session on 22nd March, focusing on the Palm Sunday story. 
As well as donkey rides and grooming, children and their families used the prayer tent to write or draw their prayers of praise and adoration onto paper palm leaves. There was a ‘walk and talk trail’ with questions pinned to trees around the woods, to encourage meaningful conversation linked to the story. And of course no Forest Church would be complete without food – this time in the shape of hot cross buns.
Participants were encouraged to think about how Jesus’s triumphal entry was similar to a red carpet event today, but instead of a limo (or maybe the Roman equivalent – a chariot or war horse), Jesus chose a humble donkey to arrive on – fulfilling scripture and disrupting the crowd’s expectations. 
The session closed with prayer and a chorus of ‘We Have a King Who Rides a Donkey’, and with everyone looking forward to the next Forest Church worship event in June.