The Bishop of Huddersfield will lead this year’s annual Paulinus Lecture – the first time he has spoken at the Lecture but the 23rd year it has been running.
Entitled ‘O Church of God, awake!’, the Lecture will be held in Dewsbury Minster and will focus on the ‘Challenges and Opportunities facing the Christian Church today’.
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The Rt. Revd. Dr. Jonathan Gibbs, Bishop of Huddersfield, says, “Paulinus was one of the early missionaries to this country, proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ in season and out of season – whether people wanted to hear it or not.
“I will be looking in my lecture at both the challenges and the opportunities that face the Christian Church in Britain today.
“We need to recover something of Paulinus’ boldness and winsomeness in the way we communicate the gospel to the people of our nation in the twenty-first century.
“I hope we will have a lively debate and will go away encouraged and ready to play our part in God’s purposes here in West Yorkshire – as the hymn says: ‘O Church of God, awake’!”
The Lecture was inaugurated in 1992 after the first stage of Dewsbury Minster’s re-ordering, as part of the ‘Minster Re-born’ phase.
While the Lecture has been delivered by Archbishops, Bishops, and renowned theologians in the past, it always retains a focus on ‘Mission’.
The Lecture follows in the steps of Saint Paulinus – a missionary who became the first Bishop of York and who brought Christianity to Dewsbury in AD 627 when 3,000 people were baptised in the River Calder, just behind where the Minster currently stands.
‘O Church of God, awake!’ will be held on Wednesday 7th October 2015 at 7.30pm.
All enquiries must be sent to the Revd Canon Kevin Partington, Team Rector, at: 01924 465491
Or Dewsbury Minster: 01924 457057
Or through: www.dewsburyminster.org.uk