Churches Together in Bromley Common have enjoyed two successful outdoor Pentecost celebrations and are already looking forward to a third in 2026.
Pioneered in 2024 and with a few tweaks this year – “We learned we had to tie everything down to stop it blowing away!” said one of the organisers, Jess Jenner – this may well be the start of a popular new interdenominational tradition.
Verity Mitchell is a trustee of BRF Ministries and a member of St Augustine’s parish church on the edge of Bromley Common where the service takes place. She led the music and worked with Jess to include some action songs because “they’re a way brilliant of involving everyone in worship, young and old.”
The churches were blessed with warm and sunny weather again this year and well over 150 people attended, of which 40 were children who helped lead the congregation in the action songs.
Jess is children and families worker for Jubilee church in Bromley, part of the Pioneer Network, and brought her experience in intergenerational worship to the Pentecost planning. For weeks before the service, her desk was piled high with cut-out paper flames and shiny windmills, which were a big hit last year:
“We had goodie bags for families, and they all had windmills in them, like you get at the seaside. When they held them up during worship, the wind blew and you got an amazing sound and a real sense of flickering flames as the windmills whirled round.”
In a new addition this year, Jess created special ‘widgets’, as part of a visual timetable in the order of service, to help people with additional needs participate more fully in all the activities.
Amidst all those fun activities, there was one key takeaway that Jess was hoping for: “What I would love is for Pentecost not to be that one Sunday of the year when we talk about the Holy Spirit doing amazing things, but to be the kind of catalyst for this becoming our normal everyday way of approaching things.”
Tired but elated, after the event, Jess added: “The service went brilliantly, with representatives from at least five different churches and over 150 people present. A highlight for me was having prayers shared by members from different churches in a range of native languages. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes out of the event this year; there was chat about inter-youth group events over teas and coffees afterwards, and hopefully we will continue to spark church unity as we meet together.”
Eley McAinsh is the Communications Officer for BRF Ministries, home of Messy Church, Parenting for Faith and Anna Chaplaincy. BRF Ministries is a Charity and Network in Association with Churches Together in England.
Photo credits: Jess Jenner