Picture: Keith Blundy
The Archbishop of York gives the sermon at the closing service for Talking Jesus
Tens of Thousands of people have been involved in a mission in the Diocese of Durham.
During four days from 2nd – 5th March, Twenty five Bishops and their teams from the northern half of The Church of England led by the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu have been Talking Jesus in communities across the Diocese of Durham.
The mission came to a close at a service of celebration at Durham Cathedral on Sunday 5th March 2017. The Rt Revd Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham told a packed Cathedral that the mission has been a resounding success. He said: “We can’t be sure quite how many people we have come into contact with across four days, 450 events, numerous conversations and through social media interactions – but it is many tens of thousands.”
The events which ranged from pie and peas suppers, semaphore flag flying, conversations in pubs, cafes, drop in centres, Angel Bombing to a flashmob in a supermarket have really engaged people. One person at an event saying: “I didn’t think church could be this much fun.”
The Flashmob at Tesco’s in Newton Aycliffe, like many of the events during the four days, was live broadcast on Facebook and went viral with more than 3,500 people watching it during and afterwards and more than 7,500 people reached online.
The Archbishop of York in his sermon at the closing service charged the people of Durham to carry on Talk Jesus saying: “Go and talk about Jesus this week and in the weeks after and although in Durham you get a lot of it, not the weather.”
