We’re here! We’ve finally arrived in Taizé after a mammoth 24hr journey, travelling over 700 miles. As our three coaches rolled up this morning, we were warmly welcomed into the Taizé community with coffee, croissants and that unique Taizé welcome making us all feel instantly peaceful and at home.
So far, we’ve been pitching tents, finding our dorm room allocations, collecting our meal tokens and finding our feet in a place that will be our home for the next week.
The schools representing Yorkshire for the Yorkshire Schools Pilgrimage to the Taizé community are Abbey Grange, Bishop Young, Barlby High, Archbishop Holgate’s School, Manor CE Academy and York College. Many of the young people joining us have taken part in the Young Leaders Award run by us at the Archbishop of York Youth Trust. We are expectant that throughout this experience they will have time to find some space and reflect, whilst also feeling empowered to transform their communities back at home.
This week will be unlike most weeks for us. We’ve not got iPads or TVs; our phone signal is limited and we’re away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. But we have come expectant for the Young Leaders to develop deeper relationships with each other and be able to explore faith in a unique community. Through the times of quiet, the evenings of fun and meeting people from different cultures, we’re excited to see what’s in store for all of these Young Leaders.
Our week in Taizé will be a fantastic opportunity for these Young Leaders to meet young people from across the world and learn from each other by discovering more about how they live out their lives and faith in very different cultures. Our prayer is that by experiencing this pilgrimage, these Young Leaders will go home inspired and empowered to ‘be the change they want to see’ in their schools, homes and communities.
We’ll be posting blogs from Young Leaders for every day of our pilgrimage, sharing their reflections and thoughts on the journey so far.
Keep an eye on our social media for regular updates:
Each year members of Dundee Utd Supporters AFC meet in York to compete against PVC Utrecht FC in a fantastic charity football tournament between these two friendly rivals.
In celebration of Her Majesty the Queen’s 70 years on the throne the Archbishop of York Youth Trust are challenging pupils in primary and secondary schools to share their vision and hopes for the next
Young Christians will be walking and cycling in a relay which began in Cornwall in June and will finish at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow in November.
