Stephen Cottrell, Archbishop of York has set out a three-year focus called Faith in the North which will provide prayer, storytelling and church planting resources.
As encouragement of prayer and renewal of faith is a key element of his vision for Faith in the North, Archbishop Stephen is to teach the Lord’s Prayer at a series of events across the North throughout 2025.
Large churches and cathedrals will be hosting the Lord’s Prayer events, open to all. It is hoped this will enable many people to come to a greater understanding of the Lord’s Prayer and begin to see their lives shaped by the vision it presents. Home study resources will be available online in 2025 and Stephen Cottrell has written a book ‘Praying by Heart, The Lord’s Prayer for Everyone’ to be published in the autumn of 2024.
The Faith in the North team will also be providing church and school resources on the Lord’s Prayer, and then later on Pilgrimage and Baptism. Resources will be added to the Faith in the North website. Invitations for churches and schools to join webinars linked with The Lord’s Prayer will be shared in the autumn. Working with Diocesan Directors of Education, school resources will be piloted including collective worship assemblies and then shared more widely.
The Faith in the North movement of prayer, storytelling and church planting is inspired by the Northern Saints such as Hild, Cuthbert, Bede and Paulinus. It is committed to supporting church planting and revitalisation and the ongoing mission priorities of the dioceses in the North. It is hoped that individuals will become inspired to see themselves as part of the big story of Faith in the North and better equipped to tell their story today.
The Archbishop said: “Faith in the North is my priority of mission and ministry as the serving 98th Archbishop of York. I invite people to join in exploring the Lord’s Prayer with me and to discover how we live this out more fully in our lives and how we each might share this with others. Faith in the North is helping us to foster deeper connections with the Christian faith across the north and to renew the Church’s missionary purpose to share God’s love with all. It is my hope that Faith in the North will enable people to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those who have yet to hear and I also pray that others come to know that they just might be the Hild, Cuthbert, Bede or Paulinus of their community today. The North has such a fantastically rich and diverse history, we should celebrate this. We have much light from the past and hope for the future.”
Faith in the North is a movement of prayer and strategic resourcing for churches, parishes and dioceses across the north to support them in their own ministry. It aims to help recapture the missional energy and commitment to prayer of the Anglo Saxon saints. In 2027, there will be the 1400th anniversary of the establishment of the Church of Saint Peter in York and celebrations are being planned to mark the baptism of King Edwin by Paulinus in 627.
