A new service for families has been launched at St James’ the Great Church in Blakedown, just outside of Kidderminster, using iSingPOP songs and the PopBox resource. The launch event for iSing Blakedown last Sunday attracted 18 children and around 40 adults to the small church.
Kirsty Pierson from iSingPOP has previously worked with Blakedown CE Primary to teach songs to the children and run workshops. Priest in Charge, Shaun Armstrong also regularly goes into the school to lead collective worship. They wanted to set up something on a Sunday in church which would further strengthen the relationship with the school as well as involve children in worship.
Shaun said: “When we ran an iSingPOP event in school, they loved it and wanted to do it more regularly so we thought we would use the songs in a dedicated Sunday service aimed specifically at families. The iSingPOP resources are great for helping children better understand bible stories through engaging worship. They really enable children to express their faith in their own way and grow their relationship with Jesus.”
Kirsty worked with a group of volunteers from the church to develop the structure of the service using PopBox. “I’ve been so encouraged by the enthusiasm of the volunteer group,” she said. “They’ve really gone above and beyond with their ideas for the service and although I’ll be leading the launch event, I’ll be gradually stepping back and leaving them to it. I know it will be a glorious success with the group of people involved.”
The church decided to call the new service iSing Blakedown so that families understood the link between the songs learnt in school and those used in church. The service was promoted through school communication channels, local newsletters, handing out fliers and social media.
“The name reflects the community and helps them feel part of the service,” said Shaun. “There’s been a real buzz around the village about it starting. We’ve not tried anything like this before and hope that it will engage both children and their parents and help let the village know that we are there for them.”
As families arrived, there were hot drinks available and the children had the chance to complete some craft activities. This was followed by a short time of worship with songs, prayers and an animated bible story shown on the screen. The launch service was about celebration and included a giant pass the parcel! There were more refreshments available after the service before everyone left with their very own goody bag featuring chocolate and an iSing Blakedown fridge magnet!
Alex brought his two girls aged 6 and 2 and described the service as “really brilliant!” Other parents said that it was “really lovely” and that they would definitely be coming back.
Shaun said: “It was fantastic to see both the children and adults getting involved in the action songs and activities. I recognised the majority of children from Blakedown Primary, but we’ve seen very few of them in church before now!”
iSing Blakedown will continue throughout 2026 on every second Sunday of the month at 3.30pm.
