The Christian faith arrived in England in the latter part of the 4th Century. By the 5th century, Christianity was also established in what we now call Scotland and Ireland. Learning about these early Christians and their histories were my favorite stories when I studied Church History in seminary.

We have worked with a company called Faith Journeys (who organized our trip to the Holy Land) to visit some of the most significant sites in the northern part of England, as well as Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Ireland. (Rev) David Smith and I are very excited to be leading this pilgrimage. We have a few spaces left on our trip and we hope that you will consider joining us. We depart on September 5, 2024. Those not continuing to Ireland will return on September 15, 2024. Those going to Ireland will return on the 20th.

On our trip, we’ll visit many different sites. Our goal is pilgrimage. We hope that each one of us will journey deeper into our own faith, as we visit some of the places that are most important to the history of Christianity in the British Isles. We’ll worship in some ancient churches, such as York Minster, where Christians have worshiped since the 7th century. We’ll visit Holy Island (formerly known as Lindisfarne), a center for Celtic Christianity since the 6th century. In Scotland we’ll visit Edinburgh and Glasgow and hear how Christians today are meeting the real needs of their cities before we travel on to Iona, the place where Christianity in Scotland was established.

Those who can extend the travel for a few more days will head over the Irish Sea to Northern Ireland. We’ll tour Belfast and visit the sites sacred to St. Patrick. Then we’ll move on to Dublin, Ireland, where we’ll see the Book of Kells (an ancient, illuminated book of the Gospels) and the sites sacred to St. Brigid and St. Kevin.

The tour brochure can be found here. Please reach out to Fran if you would like more information.