Archbishop to preach as major Christian event comes to county
THE ARCHBISHOP of York will preach at a major festival which will attract Christians from across the country when it is staged in a North Yorkshire town for the first time.
The Spring Harvest 2018 event will take place at Harrogate Conference Centre next month and thousands of worshippers are expected to take part.
The Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu will be preaching on the evening of Tuesday, April 3, which is the first day of the fiveday event.
Dr Sentamu said: “Spring Harvest is an excellent opportunity for all churches, big or small, to come and be part of ‘something bigger’, to experience great worship and feel part of the wider family of God.
“I would encourage you to come and be nourished by great Bible teaching, learning from Jesus how to be determined in our discipleship.”
Organisers have said that the priorities of this year’s Spring Harvest festival include the chance to explore scripture through Bible teaching and “seeking God’s presence through Spirit-led worship”.
Spring Harvest was first staged in the United kingdom in 1979, during a time when the evangelical movement was growing. It has developed into one of the major events in the Christian calendar, and will this year be staged across several locations during April including Skegness and Minehead – as well as Harrogate for the first time.
The Archbishop of York has been involved in major religious events in the North of England in recent weeks, including the Moving Mountains Mission that was staged across Cumbria and came to an end on Sunday.
He will also complete a mission to share how he found his faith in the North Yorkshire city where he lives after a journey across his diocese stretching back more than a year.
Dr Sentamu will complete the tour in May with a final event in York, 16 months after he began the weekend missions.