All Christians are pilgrims, journeying through life.

The Christian life is a road trip, a journey of the most exhilarating kind. It has a starting point and an end. It is a metaphor for movement. Christians do not stay in one place too long, for they are set for another location. Early Christians were referred to as the followers of “The Way”, a reflection that they seemed determined to follow a different path (Acts 9:2,24:14).

From time to time we might feel the need to make a physical journey to assist our spiritual journey. Since the very earliest times of the church people have made journeys to sites of significance, where events have happened or liminal places where the precense of God is felt more keenly. There are many reasons to make such a journey, perhaps your feeling stuck and need to discern a new direction in life, or you have a particular stress or worry or need that you need God’s help with. Or maybe something joyous that you want to thank God for. Or maybe your just curious and want to see what all the fuss is about, and you come seeking an encounter unsure of what to expect.

Many people simply feel the business of their lives, and like Jesus took time out to go and be alone and pray, so they want to get off the rollercoaster of life for a time, to change the pace, slow down, take time to breath and in the stillness redicover God as his Spirit quenches their thirst and re-energises them to rejoin the race.

In Dyffryn Clwyd we are blessed with many places of pilgrimage, liminal places, thin places where the prayers soaked into the stones can gently whisper to you across the sea of centuries. Places like Llanynys, with it’s rich history and quiet tranquility, places like Llanychan built as a hermitage in the 6th century and still a place of quiet retreat, or Llangynhafal with its Holy Well, a place of replenishment.

All our churches are open and unlocked for visitors and pilgrims alike, to come and explore and encounter the living God that dwells within its walls and is everpresent in the beauty of nature in the churchyards that surround. And once you’ve explored, if you want to relax with a  cake, then Llanbedr DC is the church for you where at the weekends you will be greeted our cake stall with an honesty box in the porch!

We are seeking to deepen our Christian hospitality and are working on producing maps of routes that connect our places of worship that you might like to walk, with devotions and prayers and points of interest along the way. Throughout each year there are also special pilgrim events laid on thoruhgout Dyffryn Clwyd so keep an eye out for upcoming events.