The Simple Invite

Today sees the consecration of the first female Bishop in the Church of England. As discussion rages on the rights and wrongs of this development, an article in the Telegraph about Libby Holden simple journey of faith gripped me much more:

It was as an 11-year-old girl that Libby Holden, as she then was, first found her way into the church. 

Her family, from Glossop, Derbyshire, were not regular churchgoers and it was only through an invitation from a young friend to a children’s group at St John's church in nearby Charlesworth that she first attended. 

It was a simple, almost unthinking, act of kindness when she got there which had the biggest impact on the schoolgirl – and, by extension, helped alter the future history of the Church of England. 

“From the moment I turned up, that church community welcomed me into their extended family and their love for me loved me into faith,” she explained last month.

Read the full article here

A Simple invitation from one child to another, kindled by the love of a community, changed a life forever.