Latest news from Faith in the North – October 2024

Welcome to the latest update from the Faith in the North team.

We are excited to be able to share with you the upcoming dates for the ‘Lord’s Prayer Tour’ which will take place next year, beginning in York Minster on 7 March.

Archbishop Stephen is to visit all 12 dioceses in the Northern Province of the Church of England where he will be speaking and sharing the importance and relevance of the Lord’s Prayer to our world today, encouraging people to pray and live by this as part of their missionary discipleship.

As well as teaching people how to say the Lord’s Prayer and how it can show us a pattern for living, there will also be a collective gathering on 10 October 2025, an invitation for all churches, schools and individuals from across the North of England to come together to say the Lord’s Prayer as one.

Dates for the Lord’s Prayer 2025 are shared below and more will be added in the New Year.  Large churches and cathedrals will be hosting the events, many of which will be livestreamed to enable the widest participation. It is hoped that many people will come to a greater understanding of the Lord’s Prayer and see their lives shaped by the vision it presents.

Dates of the Lord’s Prayer tour

 

Friday 7 March 2025 York Minster
Monday 10 March 2025 Chester Cathedral
Monday 17 March 2025 Liverpool Cathedral
Friday 21 March 2025 Wakefield Cathedral
Friday 28 March 2025 Hull Minster
Tuesday 1 April 2025 Manchester Cathedral
Tuesday 17 June 2025 Carlisle Cathedral
Wednesday 25 June 2025 Sheffield Cathedral
Sunday 6 July 2025 Isle of Man/ Peel Cathedral
Thursday 18 September 2025 Newcastle Cathedral
Friday 3 October 2025 Durham Cathedral
Friday 10 October 2025 Blackburn Cathedral

 

 

 

 

 

Archbishop Stephen has authored Praying by Heart: The Lord’s Prayer for Everyone’, published Thursday 10 October, and ‘The Lord’s Prayer: A Beginner’s Guide’ for children and young people, to be published next spring by Hodder. Video extracts of the book and suggestions for home study resources will be available online in 2025.

 

Saints Days
This month in the Church’s calendar we celebrate the Lesser Festivals for St Paulinus (10th) and St Wilfrid (12th).
2027 will mark the 1400th anniversary of Paulinus baptising King Edwin as the first Christian king of Northumbria and establishing the Church of St Peter in the City of York.

St Paulinus
St Paulinus repeatedly showed courage and a deep commitment to mission. In 601, he came from Rome to Kent to help St Augustine build the church there. In 625, he was sent to Northumbria as bishop to bring the Christian faith to Edwin and his kingdom – a very challenging assignment.

After hearing the Gospel message and thinking long and hard, Edwin decided to follow Christ and was baptised at York in 627. Paulinus was probably almost 60 by this time but is shown travelling far and wide across Edwin’s kingdom to preach and to baptise all who responded.

After King Edwin was killed in battle, Paulinus took the queen and her daughter to safety in Kent where he became bishop of Rochester. In all, he served the Church in England for 43 years.

Collect
God our Saviour,
who sent Paulinus to preach and to baptize,
and so to build up your Church in this land:
grant that, inspired by his example,
we may tell all the world of your truth,
that with him we may receive the reward
you prepare for all your faithful servants;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

St Wilfrid
Wilfrid was born in 634 to aristocratic parents in the kingdom of Northumbria. Queen Eanfled quickly recognised his potential and sent him to study at the monastery on Lindisfarne. She also helped him travel to Rome. There he learned new aspects of worship, church architecture, and monastic life. He brought these ideas back to his homeland – where they still influence church life today. In 664, Wilfrid played an influential role at the Synod of Whitby, when Northumbria decided to follow the Roman rather than the Celtic way of calculating the date of Easter.

Often embroiled in disputes and controversy, Wilfrid was nevertheless a man of intense spiritual energy and commitment – and one of the great leaders of the Christian church in England at a formative time in its history. He served as a bishop for 46 years and left a lasting mark on Ripon and Hexham. He preached the Gospel in Northumbria, the Midlands, and in the South of England, as well as on the Continent.

Collect
Almighty God,
who called our forebears to the light of the gospel by the preaching of your servant Wilfrid:
help us, who keep his life and labour in remembrance,
to glorify your name by following the example of his zeal and perseverance;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.