The ‘Bubble Church’ at Ascension in Balham, launched under lockdown in October 2020, takes its name from the socially distanced ‘bubbles’ in which parents and children gathered for the new church. The Sunday morning congregation now attracts around 80 parents and children every week for worship, prayer and Bible stories and a craft activity for the whole family.It has been so popular that the number of baptisms of babies and children at Ascension has tripled from an average of five, to 10 last year and 15 due to take place this year. The success of the church has also helped other areas of church life – the Sunday school at the church’s 10.30 service has grown with children who used to attend Bubble Church and a new mid-week group has been formed by ‘Bubble Church’ parents – the majority of whom were not previously churchgoers - to study the Bible and pray.Vicar Marcus Gibbs said: “There are lots of young families in Balham, most of whom have no connection with church, and Bubble Church was our experiment to see if we could connect with them."It uses a simple formula and allows everyone regardless of their knowledge of the Christian faith to join and learn together. We thank God for the success of Bubble Church and hope that we may see this successfully adopted in other churches."The Bubble church formula will now be expanded to five other churches in Southwark Diocese with help from a £250,000 Innovation Funding grant from the Church of England.
CHILDREN’s charities have called on the remaining candidates for the Conservative Party leadership and No. 10 to prioritise early-intervention social care for children. A report published on Tuesday reveals that funding has halved in the past decade.In the same period, 2010-11 to 2020-21, the number of children in local-authority care rose by almost one quarter.The charities — the Children’s Society, Action for Children, Barnardo’s, the National Children’s Bureau, and the NSPCC — commissioned the report, Stopping the Spiral: Children and young people’s services spending 2010-11 to 2020-21, from Pro Bono Economics. “The care system is failing children and young people,” it concludes.And the situtation is worsening, it says: if current trends continue, 100,000 children will be in care by 2032, and this will almost double the financial burden on already overstretched local councils.The Children’s Society’s chief executive, Mark Russell, said: “Behind these shocking figures, which saw spending on services for young people fall by three-quarters (74 per cernt) from £1.3 billion to £300 million, are children who have missed out on vital early support, many of whom end up in care.”The Independent Review of Children’s Social Care, which issued its final report in May, called for a “radical reset” of the system, and the prioritising of earlier interventions.The Pro Bono Economics report, endorsing this view, cites research that has found that 80 per cent of local-authority spending is on late-intervention services, such as support for care leavers and fostering fees.Early-intervention services, however, seek to prevent problems or address them before they become fixed. Because such services are rarely a statutory requirement, they are likely to be cut first when budgets are tightened. Cuts to Sure Start centres are given as an example of this.While investment in early intervention shrank, local-authority spending on late-intervention services rose by 37 per cent between 2010-11 and 2020-21. The overall proportion spent on late intervention has, therefore, increased in ten years from 58 per cent in 2010-11 to 80 per cent.AdvertisementThe report also reveals regional disparities, in which the north and Midlands have suffered larger cuts in early-intervention services.Mr Russell described it as a “big concern that children in deprived areas, where needs may be greatest, are often among those least likely to get help before problems spiral out of control. If ministers are serious about Levelling Up, they must better target funding to the areas that need it most.”The coalition of charities is calling on the Government to invest a minimum of £2.6 billion in children’s social care: the figure set out in the Independent Review. Such funding needs to be targeted and ring-fenced to ensure that early-intervention services are rebuilt, the charities say.“Councils everywhere have struggled amid government funding cuts,” Mr Russell said, “and this is why we are calling on whoever becomes the next Prime Minister to ensure children’s-services teams across the country get the extra funding they desperately need — sooner, not later.”Questions about children’s social care have not, so far, played a prominent part in the debates between the candidates.
A vital national survey to understand how victims and survivors would like to be involved in the development and implementation of a Church of England survivor engagement framework, has been launched today. This framework will set out how victims and survivors of abuse will inform the Church’s work to develop and improve safeguarding. The anonymous survey will run for two months and is open to any victim or survivor who would like to engage with the Church to inform its work. The questions were formed with survivors who have provided valuable input and feedback in terms of content and promotion of the survey.The National Safeguarding Team (NST) is committed to the development and implementation of this framework with victims and survivors. The Team already engages regularly with a number of victims and survivors and wishes to see more people engaged with different strands of its work. The survey is not about asking questions relating to victims and survivors’ past or present experiences of abuse, harm or neglect but to understand better how victims and survivors would like to be involved in developing the framework, in what ways and what formats. Its purpose is to listen to victims and survivors, including those who have not engaged with the Church previously, about how they would like to be involved in developing and implementing this framework and enable victims and survivors of any form of abuse to engage in different workstreams in the Church, including its response to victims and survivors of abuse.The anonymous survey is available on the survivor engagement webpage of Church of England’s website and runs for two months from 19 July until 18 September 2022. Learning from the survey will inform a publicly accessible report, which will include key themes and next steps to develop the framework and will be published on the same webpage. Bishop Julie Conalty, deputy lead safeguarding bishop for survivor engagement said: “The survivor voice is vital to our ongoing safeguarding work in the Church. It is not just about listening but acting on what we hear. This survey is part of the Church’s commitment to meaningful, transparent and impactful survivor engagement work. I hope we can learn from those who come forward and share their views to develop this new framework.”
A total of £249,530 has been awarded to The Church of England in Lancashire to invest in up to 24 ‘Choir Churches’ where children will be taught hymns and anthems from the English choral tradition, meeting as a new congregation of parents, teachers and the wider community.The Choir Church initiative in the Diocese of Blackburn will include regular worship and will be formed following similar projects in east London parishes and schools, led by Tom Daggett of the Choir Church Foundation.The Bishop of Burnley, Philip North said: “This is a fantastic initiative; we are delighted to be pioneering Choir Church in our Diocese on a scale never before attempted. “With our Choir Church Project we aim to connect home, church and school in a fresh approach to outreach; providing opportunities in places where they may not be available otherwise.” Innovation Funding is aimed at helping parishes explore new ways of sharing the Christian message alongside tried and tested approaches.Dioceses are encouraged to apply for funding for projects lasting up to three years that could act as blueprints for future mission and growth across the country,A total of £1.7 million been awarded in Innovation Funding round for the following projects:• Birmingham, Safe Spaces– helping churches in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, particularly inner city and outer estates, to nurture the faith and ensure they can welcome young people who have had no previous contact with Christianity - £239,775• Blackburn – Choir Church, up to 24 Choir Churches working with schools in parishes across the diocese - £249,530• Bristol – Swindon New Town for a project to adapt successful outreach approach, into a traditional Catholic parish - £249,690• London – Youth Ministry in Communion, to expand on a youth network in the Anglo Catholic tradition, started last year (currently involving nine parishes in London) - £250,000• Royal School of Church Music – Hymnpact – to help fund a programme to nurture faith through singing and appreciation of hymns and spiritual songs in schools in partnership with a range of churches - £230,000• Southwark – Bubble Church- funding to expand Sunday worship that is friendly for parents and children with no previous contact with the church - £250,000• St Hild College – Seedbed - training for lay people to evangelise and plant churches - £223,666
