In the first of a new video series introducing the work of the Church of Ireland’s central committees, Roy Totten talks about how the Priorities Fund helps to advance God’s Kingdom through the Church today.
Recalling its beginnings, he highlights that the First of All report to General Synod in 1977 stated that the priorities of the Church of Ireland “are spiritual not material – in other words people and not buildings.”
The Priorities Fund, which gave out its first grants in 1980, continues to emphasise the priorities set by this report. The fund currently supports projects across four areas:
- Training – lay and ordained
- Christian education
- Outreach initiatives
- Innovative ministry in a rural context
In 2025, the fund has provided support to 55 projects with a total allocation of €607,659 (around £529,000 at current exchange rates). In its 44 years to date, the Priorities Fund has allocated €21,672,878 in total (equivalent to around £18.8 million).
Please note:
This year’s closing date for applications for the Priorities Fund is Friday, 31st October 2025. Applications can be made online by visiting the following page on our website.
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Supporters of the project have also included the Heritage Council, Kilkenny County Council, Kilkenny Tourism, the Representative Church Body, and Ecclesiastical Insurance. The exhibition runs until August 2025 and will be accompanied by a series of talks, lectures, concerts, and educational programmes. For more information and updates, please visit www.stcanicescathedral.ie
The five–minute film includes interviews with Helen Livingstone and David Maganda from All Nations Ministries in Belfast, and the Revd Abigail Sines and Dr Naomi Masheti from the Carraig Centre and Cork Migrant Centre. It seeks to inspire local churches to support refugees at any time throughout the year and can be viewed here:
In a resolution approved at the General Synod’s 2023 meeting in Wexford, the General Synod acknowledged the impact of anti–refugee and migrant hatred in our communities, and sought suggestions from dioceses ‘regarding ways in which the Church can counter the language of anti–refugee and migrant hatred at the local level and communicate a strong message of Christian welcome to all.’
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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.”
]]>The ‘Northern Area Loneliness Framework’ outlines a framework for tackling loneliness and social isolation across the generations.
In a foreword to the document, Health Minister Robin Swann writes: “There is growing recognition that loneliness is becoming a serious issue across all of our population and it can contribute to poor health outcomes and pressures on our health and social services. It is an issue we simply cannot afford to ignore as we know loneliness is as damaging to our health as smoking 16 cigarettes a day.”
He adds that the restrictions caused by the Covid–19 pandemic have exacerbated isolation and loneliness.
The report reveals that there are currently four Locality Loneliness Networks within each council area in the Northern Trust. Chief Executive Jennifer Welsh writes: “I look forward to the day when a Northern Ireland Loneliness Strategy is launched.”
Agherton Parish appointed the first parish nurses in Northern Ireland in October 2019. Since taking up their roles, Eileen Irwin and Noelle McNinch have been working to improve the mental and physical well–being of parishioners and the community.
In the Northern Area Loneliness Framework, Eileen and Noelle are featured as part of the Causeway Loneliness Network making up packs for distribution to isolated people during the pandemic.
The rector of Agherton, the Rev Malcolm Ferry, said the inclusion of the parish nurse scheme in the document shows the importance of church engagement in local health initiatives.
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