30th April 2025

Prayer walk for all ages and abilities is big success in Lancashire parish

Parishioners of all ages from a Lancashire church recently publicly demonstrated the importance of prayer in the Christian life when they held a spring prayer walk around the entire parish boundary.

The walk supported an ongoing Year of Prayer taking place in the parish of St James’ Church in Clitheroe which also coincides with the wider Diocesan Year of Prayer for Growth and Renewal taking place with a variety of events taking place across the County. 

St James' boundary prayer walk involved many adults and children from the church and wound its way through the town and beyond, covering around seven miles. 

But the parish also made sure all ages and abilities were catered for, with the inclusion of an innovative alternative option to prayer walk round a map of the parish laid out on the church floor.

And today the Bishop of Burnley, Rt Rev. Dr Joe Kennedy, said he was 'delighted to see the parishioners of St James’ coming together in this way ... to pray for the people and the life of their parish'. 

Churchwarden Graham Haldane led the outside walk with fellow warden Andrew Stevens. Graham said: “The idea for the for the Prayer Walk came out of our plans for our St James’ Year of Prayer, which is running in parallel with the Diocesan Year of Prayer, but was also prompted by the desire to increase our prayer engagement during our current vacancy for a parish priest.”

“There were opportunities for all ages to engage in praying in different ways for our parish, and the surrounding area.”

He continued: “During the walk, we prayed for local schools, local government, issues such as poverty, local economy, creation care, agriculture, new housing communities and more; alongside prayers for our new priest, for our church and other churches in the area.  

“We also felt it was important to have a ‘non-walk’ prayer option, so we laid out a floor map of the parish with a variety of prayer topics for those unable to participate in the outside event for whatever reason.”

The prayer walk built on existing regular collective prayer that has been taking place every week on Sundays and Wednesdays in small groups and in families; while individual prayer also continues. 

Graham added: “Two highlights of the day were blowing bubbles off the top of the castle, symbolising prayers for the Holy Spirit to move in our town and walking the labyrinth in Castle Park, praying the Lord’s Prayer and for the outreach activities of Love Clitheroe. We continue to pray for Jesus’ presence and love to be recognised and experienced in our parish and beyond.”

Commenting on the walk today, the Bishop of Burnley, Rt Rev. Dr Joe Kennedy, who oversees the ‘Being Witnesses’ strand of the Diocese’s ‘Vision 2026’ work, said: “Jesus said ‘where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them’. Prayer is a vital part of the Christian life.

“As well as being a personal act it can also be a shared calling so I was delighted to see the parishioners of St James’ coming together in this way to share their faith in such a public way and to pray for the people and the life of their  parish.

“In doing so they also modelled some great ideas for collective prayer – I particularly liked the idea of the parish boundary map which allowed people of all abilities to take part and support the event. I would encourage other parishes around Lancashire to try something similar as we continue with our Diocesan Year of Prayer for Growth and Renewal.”

Captions for above pictures, top to bottom:
Pictures by Norman Ivison

1. Parishioners from St James' in Clitheroe walk round the parish map available for people of all abilities at the start of the day
2. The large group of walkers gathers in front of St James’
3. Blowing bubbles from Clitheroe Castle, symbolising prayers for the Holy Spirit to move in the town

Ronnie Semley (with additional words from Mark Ashley), April 2025