BUSHMILLS, United Kingdom (AFP) — In a windswept Northern Ireland car park a fleet of vehicles fan out in front of an improvised altar, on the bed of a potato truck, for the faithful to pray at a drive-in, coronavirus lockdown service.

Stewards from Dunseverick Baptist Church outside Bushmills, County Antrim, guided around 70 cars into regimented lines for the first Sunday service since the province relaxed its restrictions.

In a service peppered with hymns backed by a piano, Jones asked drivers to honk their horns in appreciation as he related the words of Christ.

Relating Bible passages to the ordeal of the lockdown, he attempted to give the event the same gravitas as a traditional service, normally held inside the nearby church's locked doors.

One worshipper sat in a full suit — taking Jones at his word that the service was as significant as any other act of Sunday worship.