Column: ​Archbishop’s visit to area was a beautiful day in every way

​Not least because we’d prepared a very busy but hugely rewarding schedule for him as he joined us for a Day of Prayer.

After we met him off the train at Chesterfield station, we travelled first to the foodbank on Derby Road, hosted by Saints Augustine’s church.

He met with volunteers and community leaders who talked to him about the great many families suffering real hardship during the ‘cost of living crisis’ - but also of the hope that comes from joining together and working to support their own community, one of the most deprived in the town.

Next door is the Christian charity Hope House, a community with accommodation for previously homeless people and those recovering from addiction.

Archbishop Justin talked with residents about the difference it makes to have somewhere to live that is warm, dry and safe, a place to call home, after time spent sleeping rough on the streets.

After stopping at a farm near Youlgreave to meet and pray with members of the farming community, the Archbishop joined families and young people to enjoy a lunchtime picnic at Crich Tower where he led a short Clypping Service (his first ever!).

On what turned out to be a very blustery spring afternoon, he was able to hold the whole county in prayer looking out over the extraordinary views.

At Ilkeston marketplace he mingled with Saturday shoppers and offered prayers with local

people and passers-by from outside St Mary’s church. Following a children’s tea party at

Shelton Lock (where I took a turn on the bouncy castle, though the Archbishop found he had run out of time) we travelled on for his final stop to lead prayers in Derby Cathedral at the close of its own prayer day.

Everywhere he went, real people in ordinary places shared their stories - in a community hub, a rehabilitation hostel, on a farm, on a hilltop, in a market, on a bouncy castle, or in

the Cathedral. Archbishop Justin shared with us his own journey of prayer through tough times and at moments of joy. He prayed with us and for us and was deeply moved to receive our prayers for him. It was a beautiful day in every way.

We are thankful to the Archbishop for coming to be with us and for the reminder that, as the Psalmist wrote so long ago, still ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. We need not be afraid … for God is in the midst of us’.

I’d like to give the Archbishop the final word in this column with his reflection on his day among us, and a call to prayer.

Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby: “It’s been great to visit the diocese of Derby, the people have been amazing, and the welcome has been warm. It’s been wonderful to pray together. I encourage people to pray, to bring their whole selves to God, the good, bad and ugly, and let Him meet you with His love.”