June 20, 2022
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, was in the Diocese of Truro over the weekend as part of his Archbishop’s Mission to encourage acts of loving service, creative outreach and worship.
Bodmin
To start the weekend’s activities, ++Justin visited St Petroc’s Church of England primary school in Bodmin on Friday. Headteacher Sean Perfect lead a tour of the school before the archbishop met staff, children and parents at the school gate. Evangelists were working in school all day, engaging children in prayer stations which led them deeper into the Lord’s Prayer and asked big questions about life and faith.
The Year 5 children had prepared a Blessing with Chris Grey, Esme Page and Choristers from Truro Cathedral. This was sung at the end of the day when Archbishop Justin arrived. The sun shone and everyone mingled sharing stories and taking selfies!
Looe
In Looe, the town gathered in anticipation as the Loveny Male Voice Choir sang out across the bay.
The Revd Ben Morgan-Lundie welcomed the Archbishop who preached the Good News, making it quite clear that God knows and loves each one of us, sharing testimony of his own relationship with Jesus and the changes this brought to his life.
The service ended with, ‘Cornwall My Home’ and a rousing, “Oggy Oggy Oggy”. Again, there was lots of time for chatter and laughter, the latter being something the Archbishop seems to do a lot of!
Menheniot
Later in the afternoon the Archbishop visited Kowetha, a friendship group run by the Menheniot Church family offering hospitality, good conversation and cake to the village. Archbishop Justin interviewed Sonia Stephenson, a member of the group and the first women to be awarded a Michelin Star.
Reflecting Archbishop Justin’s recent radio 4 programmes, “The Archbishop Interviews”, we were all inspired by fascinating story and sharing of faith from both, they had us all laughing and also pondering life’s mystery. Afterwards Archbishop Justin walked across the road to St Lalluwy’s Parish Church, Menheniot to talk to the faithful prayer hub team who have been praying all weekend whilst the Mission took place.
The weekend was a spectacular celebration of God’s love being shared by Christians across the diocese. Inspirational Christian fellowship and Mission was seen in places of hardship, with marginalised folk, whilst providing services to new families and fellowship and care for ex-prisoners and the homeless. There was plenty of worship with young families and youth groups, at the seaside and in our cathedral. All across the diocese Missional events took place to encourage us to proclaim and share the message of God’s love.
Bishop Philip has shared his reflections on the weekend. Watch the video here:
