By Andy Harris, Leader of Youth Mission and Ministry
We had a great night at the Cathedral on Sunday 3 April for the Pulse.
The theme was ‘Secret Church’ and Naomi Allen from Open Doors UK told the stories of Christians in North Korea, Iran and China who all chose to follow their faith even though this came at great personal cost.
At one point we had a ‘police raid’ (we really should have warned the Cathedral vergers and stewards beforehand!) who came running in to arrest anyone carrying a Bible or gathering to worship God, to help us understand that in some parts of the world it is illegal to own a Bible and meet together to worship.
There was opportunity for young people to respond through a number of prayer stations around the cathedral and to have a transfer ‘tattoo’ on their wrist as a way of remembering and standing with the persecuted church.
We were led in singing by the newly-formed Growing Young Leaders band and Bishop Paul gave a really encouraging message from the Book of Hebrews about staying faithful to God even when it’s really difficult at school or in other contexts.
Well done to Matthew from Holy Trinity Washington for seeing off almost 100 other competitors in a mass game of ‘rock, paper, scissors’!
A massive thank you to Naomi Allen, Tim Cullingworth and other members of the team for their audio-visual assistance, to all the volunteers from Cranmer Hall and around the Diocese, to the wonderful vergers and stewards at the Cathedral and of course to all the young people and their youth leaders and vicars who came along and helped make it such a memorable evening!
To see more photos from the event, click here.