The Lord's Prayer Tour - Faith in the North With The Archbishop of York

Taking place on Friday 10th October from 7pm, Blackburn Cathedral will host The Archbishop of York as he teaches the Lord’s Prayer across the North of England throughout 2025. There is no charge and everybody is welcome.

The Lord’s Prayer not only guides our prayers but also influences how we live our daily lives.

Led by the Archbishop of York, this Faith in the North event will include a compelling teaching session, music and thought-provoking film, a Q&A session and the opportunity for reflection and discussion.

It doesn't matter if you know the prayer well or are exploring its significance for the first time, this event is open to everyone. Whether you are part of a church community or simply curious about faith and prayer, you are warmly invited to join us at this special event which is part of a wider series of events taking place across the North of England.

More About the Event

The Archbishop 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.

Working alongside others, the Archbishop is encouraging prayer, storytelling and church planting inspired by the Northern Saints such as Hild, Cuthbert, Bede and Paulinus. The aim is to foster deeper connections with the Christian faith across the north and renew the Church’s missionary purpose to share God’s love with all.

Archbishop Stephen Cottrell said:

“In less than 70 words, Jesus gives us a prayer to learn by heart and a prayer that gets inside our hearts, shaping the way we live. The Lord’s Prayer surely is the best place to start. It is said in just about every church service, from the coronation of the King to the christening of a child. It’s a challenging prayer and when we say this prayer together, we become part of God’s movement of change, of bringing God’s heaven to earth. It teaches us how to pray. But it also teaches us how to live”.

As well as teaching people how to say the Lord’s Prayer and how it can show us a pattern for living and 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.

The Archbishop has authored ‘Praying by Heart: The Lord’s Prayer for Everyone’ and ‘The Lord’s Prayer: A Beginner’s Guide’ for children and young people, to be published next year by Hodder.

Learn more about the Lords Prayer Tour.

About Faith in the North Faith in the North is a movement of prayer and strategic resourcing for churches, schools and individuals to foster deeper connections with the Christian faith and renew missionary purpose.

Faith in the North aims to help recapture the missional energy and commitment to prayer of the Anglo-Saxon saints leading towards 2027, with the celebration of the 1400th anniversary of the establishment of the Church of Saint Peter in York and baptism of King Edwin by Paulinus in 627.

Learn more about Faith in the North.

About The Archbishop of York - Stephen Cottrell

Born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, in 1958, Stephen Cottrell was educated at Belfairs High School, Leigh-on-Sea, and the Polytechnic of Central London. He found faith as a teenager through the work of youth organisations in his local church. After a brief spell working in the film industry, and at St Christopher’s Hospice in South London, he began training for ministry at St Stephen’s House, Oxford, in 1981 and was ordained deacon at the age of 25. He later studied for an MA with St Mellitus College.

Serving his curacy in Christ Church and St Paul’s, Forest Hill, south London, in the mid-1980s he was priest-in-charge at St Wilfrid’s, in Parklands, a council estate parish in Chichester from 1988 to 1993. He also served as Assistant Director of Pastoral Studies at Chichester Theological College at the same time.

He then moved to West Yorkshire, as Diocesan Missioner and Bishop’s Chaplain for Evangelism in the Diocese of Wakefield and in 1998 he also became a member of Springboard, the Archbishop of York and Canterbury’s team for evangelism. Throughout this time he adopted Huddersfield Town as his team alongside his beloved Spurs.

In 2001, he was called south to become Canon Pastor of Peterborough Cathedral and three years later was consecrated as Bishop of Reading. He became Bishop of Chelmsford in 2010 and served there until 2020 when he became the 98th Archbishop of York.

Author of more than 20 books including children’s books, Stephen enjoys poetry, music and art. He has undertaken several walking pilgrimages, including twice walking the Camino to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, as well as pilgrim routes in England. You can read about this in his book, Striking Out, poems and stories from the Camino. In 2002 he walked from Durham to York with young people from his church youth group.

A founding member of the Church of England’s College of Evangelists, he has also chaired a group of bishops with an interest in the media and is one of the authors of the Church of England’s Pilgrim course, a major teaching and discipleship resource. He is President of the College of Preachers.

Stephen is married to Rebecca who is a potter and they have three sons, two grandchildren and a dog.

Venue Details

Blackburn Cathedral is two minutes from the bus interchange and railway station. Please note that there is no onsite parking however there are a number of public car parks close by.

Although there are some old, uneven surfaces and care should be taken, the Cathedral is fully accessible and wheelchair friendly. There is level access into and around the building.

Call: 01254 277430

Email: info@blackburncathedral.com

Blackburn Cathedral, Cathedral Close, Blackburn, BB1 5AA