With research showing that 60% of Anglican Churches do not run nurture course, the bishops of West Yorkshire and the Dales have given their backing to the launch of Pilgrim, a new faith and discipleship course from the Church of England which is being introduced across all five Episcopal Areas in June.
Bishop Nick, one of the course contributors, said, “This is a great initiative for the new Diocese to embrace. Each church should have a way of nurturing new and established Christians. It is good that Pilgrim is being launched across all five episcopal areas at the same time.”
Bishop Stephen Cottrell and theologian, Paula Gooder, are among the writers of the course which comprises of two stages: the ‘Follow’ stage for those very new to faith, and the ‘Grow’ stage for those who want to go further. Each stage contains four short six-session courses which focus on a major theme of Christian life. It aims to help every local church create a place where people can explore the Christian faith together and see how it can be lived out each day.
Bishop James Bell, Bishop for the Ripon area, said, “Exploring and deepening discipleship, both personal and corporate has got to be close to the top of the agenda if we are to offer an authentic witness to Jesus Christ. Here’s a great resources to help us all with that’
Each area launch will include a look at some of the audio-visual resources and a sample session.
Venues include St Chad’s, Leeds, (June 10th), Christ the King, Battyeford, Huddersfield (June 12th), Settle Parish Church (June 14th), St Michael’s Cottingley, Bradford (June 16th), Leeds Church Institute (June 17th ) and Wakefield Cathedral (June 18th). Full details on the ‘events’ section