Here is the Weekly Link sheet for this week.
Something’s Popping at St Barnabas!
Music, mission, and the beginnings of something new
This June, St Barnabas School will be working with the iSingPOP team to put together a concert full of music, movement, and message. For three days — from Monday 16 to Wednesday 18 June — the whole school will learn a series of values-based songs that explore big themes like forgiveness, kindness, friendship, peace, and courage. These aren’t hymns in the traditional sense, but they carry a spiritual heartbeat — full of joy, hope, and meaning, written to stick in heads and stir hearts.
Then, on Thursday 26 June, all that learning comes to life in a concert at St Barnabas Church. Families, friends, and community members will be invited in to experience the energy and heart of what the children have been working on. If you’ve never been to an iSingPOP concert before, it’s hard to describe. It’s loud. It’s proud. It’s full of sparkly actions and earworm choruses. But it’s also serious work — planting something deep in the lives of children and in the life of a community.
This is not just a show — it’s a starting point.
In churches across the Diocese — and particularly in our local area — iSingPOP has become the catalyst for new relationships and new expressions of church. You may have read about the worshipping community that’s growing out of Perry Wood Primary School in Ronkswood. That project is being shaped by Holy Trinity and St Matthew Church, in partnership with our own Debra, the shared children’s worker across our churches. Together, they’ve been laying the groundwork for something rooted in the school community — something honest, hopeful, and hospitable. Their model isn’t about big band worship or elaborate programmes. It’s about people of all ages coming together around food, story, music, and faith.
It’s prompted us to ask the obvious question: could we do something similar here?
We’re starting small. We’re not locking ourselves into anything. But we are taking some deliberate next steps.
We’ve planned two Sunday afternoon sessions at St Barnabas Church — on 6 July and 3 August. These will be relaxed, fun, and rooted in the same joyful spirit as iSingPOP, with space for families to be together, try something new, and explore faith in a way that feels natural — no expectations, no pressure, just a chance to see what fits.
We’re also exploring the idea of some holiday club mornings in the final week of the summer holidays, followed by a special Sunday service on 31 August. If the energy is right, if people come, if God shows up (as God tends to do when children start singing about love)… then we may build on it in the autumn.
Our hope is that these gatherings will eventually lead to the birth of a new monthly intergenerational congregation, based at Christ Church in the Tolly Hub. We’re not rushing . Right now, we’re in the listening stage. The experimenting stage. The “what if?” stage.
This project is being shaped by a strong team. Kirsty, our iSingPOP leader, brings a brilliant blend of musical energy, values-based vision, and experience of growing worshipping communities across the country. Alongside her, Debra, who works with both Perry Wood and St Barnabas, is drawing on local relationships and a sharp understanding of what makes family ministry work here in Worcester.
If you’re part of our church family — or just part of the wider community — here’s how you can be involved:
- Pray. For Kirsty, Debra, the staff and children at St Barnabas School, and for all the families who might be touched by this.
- Come. The concert on 26 June is open to all. It would be wonderful to have members of the congregation there to welcome families and enjoy the event.
- Encourage. If you know someone with children who might enjoy a Sunday afternoon gathering, mention it to them. Ask questions. Show interest.
- Wonder. What might God be up to in all this? And what part might you have to play?
This isn’t a new programme. It’s not a relaunch or a relabel. It’s something gentler and more spacious than that.
It’s a way of creating room — for families, for music, for play, for faith — and seeing what might grow.
Let’s see what pops.
— Sarah