Projects and Grants
The trustees have supported Faith in the North by making grants for projects which would otherwise have been unfunded.
The Lord’s Prayer Journey is the first in a series of resource boxsets created by Faith in the North to support schools across the Northern Province. Some of these resources are musical and the Trust made a grant towards the production of The Lord’s Prayer Song. This original piece of music comprises the specially commissioned song, complete with sheet music, lyrics and a video designed to engage children with the power and the meaning of the prayer Jesus taught his disciples. With the benefit of Bishopthorpe Partners’ grant the basic song received higher quality production (with a band for the recording), accompanying sheet music, a lyric video with BSL/Makaton versions to increase accessibility and a downloadable school package that could be used to teach the song and values associated with it.
Lord’s Prayer resources prepared by Faith in the North include several materials for use by young people, another of which received a grant from our Trust.
Thy Kingdom Come partnered with Faith in the North for the creation of resources around the Lord’s Prayer with a particular focus on children & young people. Together they commissioned a video series exploring prayer with the creators of the Cheeky Pandas, producing video and print resources for children, for wide use in churches, homes and schools. Bishopthorpe Partners contributed half the project’s costs of producing 4 episodes based on the Lord’s Prayer. Using the magazine-style layout of the Cheeky Pandas and Friends series, the series explores the theme ‘How do I pray?’ examining 4 different styles of prayer for children and families to try.
A full grant was made for the production of a series of prayer cards, Being a Pilgrim, forming part of a wider tool kit of exploring faith trails, welcome signage etc which will enable churches right across the Province of York to develop and deploy simple but very effective and sustainable work of welcome and outreach.
Experience has shown that when given such tools churches respond with growing confidence and creativity. These relate clearly to the faith, spirituality and extraordinary mission achievements of Anglo-Saxon Christians across the North. They also echo key areas of need among people today, showing that Christianity still offers meaning and new life. Research demonstrates clearly that visitors with little or no church background will pick up attractive prayer cards, use them, and take them home as mementos to reuse and share with others. Our Bishopthorpe Partners' grant enabled an initial print run of 450,000 cards.
Pilgrims Trail leaflets are a resource created by Faith in the North with a grant from us. Three short, illustrated trails offer simple, accessible reflections and prayers to be used in churches. They can be picked up by visitors of any background, and then taken home for further spiritual exploration. 750 packs containing a total of 112,500 leaflets were produced.
‘Exploring the Lord’s Prayer’ is based on the prayer which Jesus taught his followers, explores themes which touch all of us in our journey through life, together with ways to discover more of God’s love as he journeys with us.
Christianity offers three main ways to be a pilgrim: seeing the whole of life as a pilgrim-journey with God; using prayer as an inner spiritual pilgrimage bringing us closer to God; resourcing our life journeys through visiting special places to learn and to find forgiveness, healing, or guidance. ‘Being a Pilgrim’ explains how these ways of being a pilgrim can work together and help us in our daily lives.
Early Northern saints bringing the Christian faith to England encountered challenges surprisingly like those we have today. ‘Discover the early Northern Saints: Signposts to God’ relates how they lived, facing conflicts, pandemics, and the frequent threat of losing their homes and communities. It shows their faith can encourage and inspire us now.
Following on from the Pilgrims trail Leaflets, we made a grant for the production of 500 sets of Children's Pilgrim Explorer cards to be placed in churches.
These reusable sets of cards are an engaging, interactive activity pack designed to help children explore churches, cathedrals, and minsters with curiosity and purpose. Thoughtfully created to support learning, reflection, and discovery, the pack encourages young visitors to engage deeply with sacred spaces while making meaningful links to their own experiences.
The success of the Lord's Prayer Song led to a further grant for a special commission from Songs for School: an original piece of music called ‘The Pilgrim Way’. This song, complete with sheet music, lyrics and a video, is designed to engage children with the theme of pilgrimage, encouraging reflection on life as a shared journey of faith. Pilgrimage is not only about travelling long distances, but about pausing to reflect on where we have come from, where we are now, and where we are going.
The Pilgrim Way captures this idea in a way that is engaging and easy for all to learn and sing, making it suitable for use in schools, churches, and other worship settings.
BCPTrust is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation No. 1208221.
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