THERE will be spaceships, aliens and battles with laser guns as part of the worship at a Portsmouth church this Sunday.

St Jude’s Church in Southsea will stage the first episode of a futuristic, sci-fi adventure serial – The Adventures of the J Team – this Sunday morning from 10.30am.

It will be part of the church’s Funday Sunday event, in which worshippers invite their friends to a morning of great coffee, bacon sandwiches, Wii games, craft and the chance to read the Sunday papers. There’s then a quickfire presentation about something to do with Christianity, which this week will feature the first episode of this serial.

The Adventures of the J Team is set in the future, when the evil Dr Lou Cypher has taken control of the planet Earth. The mysterious Big J recruits a team of schoolchildren to help him to defeat these evil forces. Worshippers can follow the adventures of Jenny, Jane and Dudley as they hurtle through space, pursued by Dr Cypher and his henchmen.
 
It’s designed to appeal to adults, teenagers and children, and an episode will be staged every time the church holds a Funday Sunday event. As a special bonus, the second episode will be staged a week after the first – on Sunday 5 July. Then families will have to wait until the next Funday Sunday – on Sunday 28 September – for the third of the 12 episodes.

The drama serial parallels the story of how Jesus recruited a team of disciples to help him spread the good news 2,000 years ago.
 
The vicar of St Jude’s Church, the Rev Mike Duff, said: “Around 300 adults and children join us each time we hold Funday Sunday. It’s an easy way for people to get to know us and each other. If you’re not a regular churchgoer, Funday Sundays are designed for you. You don’t have to wear your Sunday best and we guarantee you and your children will have a great time.”
 
The group who are performing The Adventures of the J Team are Top Cat Theatre Company, a Christian group from Portsmouth who have staged full-length plays and sketches in the area since 1996. They performed The Adventures of the J Team as a full-length play in 1998. It was also staged in schools around the city in the 1990s.