As Bishop of Sherborne and someone fascinated by history I was pleased to note when I arrived here in Dorset that I had a most illustrious predecessor.  Of course I have several not just one but the first Bishop of Sherborne was Adhelm made Bishop in 705 AD.  The observant among you will immediately note that the year 2005 is 1300 years on from the year in which Aldhelm was made Bishop.  We love occasions for celebration and party and therefore we ought to note the 1300th anniversary appropriately

You might well think I am about to go on and tell you about or invite you to some big service somewhere in a Cathedral to celebrate this great event but I am not.  As well as being 1300 years since he was made Bishop of Sherborne it is also 1300 years since the founding of Sherborne Abbey and there are many special events taking place in the town about which I am sure you will hear and I hope you can join in at least some of them.

However there is not to be a big service in Salisbury Cathedral and there is an important reason why not.  Aldhelm noticed that quite a few people left the services in his day before the sermon (just imagine that happening today!).  He also noticed that significant numbers of people did not come into church in the first place.  In other words he was a missionary bishop working at a time when there was a great need for evangelism, for taking the gospel to people where they were (just imagine that today!!).

Aldhelm was a musician and also a writer of riddles and poems.  He used to go out of the church and stand by a bridge or some such place and there he would play popular tunes of the day, Sinatra or Coldplay or whatever.  Once a crowd had gathered he would then tell the Christian story.  This was the Aldhelm way of trying to encourage people to consider Jesus and to follow in his way.  As was the custom in Saxon times Aldhelm would wander around the countryside, he was a pilgrim in the true sense of the word and we have stories of him visiting several places in this part of the world and either founding churches or preaching in market places and elsewhere.

So for next year in the Diocese of Salisbury we are asking every church, parish, benefice or whatever to consider doing something The Aldhelm Way.  We are asking people to plan one event outside the church building, one evangelistic event, to go to the people and tell them something of the Christian story.

There will be a central pilgrimage and hopefully several events to celebrate Aldhelm and his life but in essence we want to encourage people to follow The Aldhelm Way.  Who knows this might mean we have big services in the years to come in Salisbury and elsewhere as thousands of new believers are baptised and confirmed as they take their part on the Aldhelm Way.

Tim Thornton