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Bubble Church in rural County Armagh
For Mullabrack and Kilcluney parishes, in Armagh Diocese, the vision for a ‘Bubble Church’ project sprung from an idea that had its genesis during the pandemic and the challenges posed by Covid restrictions for church gatherings. It began fortnightly in October 2020 as a space for families to worship together.
The vision of ‘Bubble Church’ is to see families with young children grow in their faith and love for God by:
1. Establishing a regular ‘Bubble Church’ service on a Sunday afternoon in the Parish Hall.
2. A series of outreach events organised four times per year to connect with children and young families.
This ministry received seed funding during the Covid–19 pandemic with £6,000 awarded over two years.
Bubble Church is a short all–age worship service (30–45 minutes) loosely based around the Church of Ireland’s Service of the Word structure. It also incorporates some practices from Messy Church services such as family engagement in a craft–based prayer activity or family challenge based on the Bible story.
As restrictions lifted and as ministry returned to a more settled (and normal) pattern, leaders in the parish wondered how Bubble Church would fit into this new normal. However, under the Lord they discovered that our Bubble Church service continued to attract both new and established families.
Bubble Church therefore continues to run in Mullabrack Hall on the first Sunday afternoon of the month, when there is normally no Sunday school due to a service of Holy Communion being held across the three services in the parish.
A sample service, on being ‘the salt of the earth’, for example, includes:
– a family game where children and grown–ups have to taste various food stuffs and say if they are sweet or salty;
– a prayer activity with salt trays – draw people/places you want to pray for in the salt or make their initial with your hand; and
– a take–home craft activity – a salt cellar for decorating with the Bible verse.
Everyone was served tea, coffee, juice, buns and chips to add their salt to as a way of reminding families that Jesus says we are to be different and add flavour to the world around us.
In July 2021, the parishes ran ‘Going Bananas’ – their first Holiday Bible Club since 2019 and a blessing to be able to gather once again to teach children the wonderful good news of Jesus Christ and to reach out into the local community. The week ended with a celebration service in the glebe field behind the Rectory.
A light party followed in October, on the Saturday night before Halloween night, and gave a great opportunity to celebrate Jesus as light of the world with craft, bouncy castles, hot dogs, s’mores, a light trail and disco room. A living nativity that Christmas, with real characters dressed up as wise men, Mary, Joseph, a stable, and live animals, reached out to young families and remind them of its true meaning of Christmas.
During 2022, activities continued with a Holy Week kids’ club and Easter Saturday fun day, an end–of–term Bubble Church pizza party. In July, an Encanto–themed Holiday Bible Club followed a similar pattern to 2021 in terms of Bible teaching, craft, games and songs. Another light party followed that October, with a second living nativity taking place in December.
“It cannot be overstated how much of a blessing the funding provided by the Priorities
Fund has been to our parishes,” the rector, the Revd Dr Peter Munce, says. “During a period of significant challenge for our parishes due to the Covid–19 pandemic, it allowed us some extra financial resources to gather young families with existing connections to the parishes and to reach out to those in the local community. It would not be an exaggeration to state that, from a mission and gospel outreach perspective, the funding has been transformative.”