The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has hailed the success of the Church of England’s Pilgrim Course, which has launched new material.

Two new books and films have been released as part of the second stage of Pilgrim. The ‘Grow’ stage is designed to deepen churchgoers’ faith and understanding of Christian teaching, and the first of the books in the series now available cover the Creeds, or shared beliefs of the church; and the Eucharist, covering teaching on Holy Communion.

The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu said: “I’m so thrilled that the Pilgrim Course has been a great success this past year and is being used so much across the country. Finding out about the Christian faith is the most important thing that anyone can do and I urge anyone who hears about the course to give it a go.

The two new videos show previous attendees and leaders sharing stories about their experiences of the course, including John Constable (pictured right), who has been leading Pilgrim at St Mary’s Beverley. John said that the course gave people “the ability to ask the daft questions – to ask those things that maybe you haven’t had the opportunity to ask before, and maybe don’t get to ask in church” that they found most helpful.” You can watch the videos, starring John, here and here.

The course was created to support the Church’s goal of “spiritual and numerical growth in the church” which was highlighted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, in his first Presidential Address to the General Synod in July 2012.

Billed as offering an approach of “participation, not persuasion”, Pilgrim: A Course for the Christian Journey is published by Church House Publishing (www.pilgrimcourse.org). Assuming little or no knowledge of the Christian faith, Pilgrim can be used at any point on the journey of discipleship and by every tradition in the Church of England.