Our day out with the Archbishop

By James Wright 

ELEVEN young people from the Diocese of Chelmsford, myself included, had the privilege of going to
Lambeth Palace to spend the day with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

We were joined by other young people from the dioceses of Ely, London, Norwich, Peterborough, St
Albans, St Edmundsbury & Ipswich and Winchester, and together we formed a group of around 100.

The day began with worship in the chapel, followed by Archbishop Rowan explaining how to read and
understand the Bible. He talked about how the Bible can seem like a large textbook that can look very difficult and inaccessible but should be tackled in small pieces.

The Archbishop then moved on to say how the Bible shouldn't be viewed as one complete book of instructions from God, but more as a compilation of stories about human behaviour and how people have encountered God in their lives. Time was then given for personal reflection on which parts of the Bible we found inspiring and easy to read and which parts were more challenging. After this we were divided up into small groups to discuss our feelings, ask questions among ourselves on how to interpret the Bible, and to prepare a short presentation of our group discussion for the other young people.

Most of us had never met before the day so it was a great opportunity to meet new people from across the
region and to talk about a range of topics - from God to football!
The Archbishop also sat and ate with us, saying he wanted to get an idea of what we really thought about
the church and what it is like to be a young Christian in churches where teenagers are often a minority.

After lunch the focus moved from major events in the Bible to major events in our own lives.
No guidelines were set, so many of the group discussions branched off into many different areas. The group I was in discussed the difficulties of leaving school or college and moving onto work or university and we looked at how this could affect our faith in many different ways. Many of us that are going to university said that we worried about going to a new church and also finding new friends who would accept our faith and not be judgemental.

After the discussion time, each group was asked to present their ideas. Other topics had included
young people's image of the church; the media and its influence over Christianity; the creation of the world;
and also the book of Revelations and what it represents.

The day ended with a 'Q&A' session with the Archbishop answering anything and everything. Questions taken included 'How to view the Devil', 'How to interpret the story of Adam and Eve', 'The impact of conspiracy theories such as 'The Da Vinci Code' on Christianity' and 'What we can imagine Hell to be like'.
The day ended with Holy Communion, with the Archbishop presiding. It was a great day and I'm sure that
everyone who attended had a good time and learnt a lot from the experience. We all felt very welcomed
by the Archbishop, who throughout the day talked and sat among the young people listening to our views. It is certainly a day that we will all remember for a long time to come!

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