Sally Welch – författare

This compact and carryable guide will open your eyes to what journeys of pilgrimage can teach you, whether you're planning an epic expedition or a virtual pilgrim interested in the spiritual dimensions of this long-standing tradition.Simultaneously practical and uplifting, it will take you through each aspect of the journey, from preparing to leave to readjusting to normal life after extraordinary experiences.Including the stories of modern pilgrims and ancient ones, this book is full of inspiration, with quotes and reflections in each section. Whether you're an experienced pilgrim or considering the idea for the first time, this book extends an invitation to make travel sacred - by realizing that whatever your destination, it is the journey that matters in the end.

Helping churches to reconnect and value their environment. A creative worship and activity resource for churches to use outside the church building, Outdoor Church functions in any green space and is suitable for churches in urban, suburban and rural contexts. - Four sessions for each season - Four stand-alone service outlines, one for each season - Material based on Bible stories and parables - All-age activities and seasonal prayers - Indoor alternatives for rainy days

Mapping your spiritual journey is a technique used in spiritual direction, on retreats and pastoral work, as a way of recognising and interpreting God’s presence in the highs and lows of your life experiences. This book offers creative ways to explore your own spiritual journey, helping you to trace your relationship with God from the beginning, whether looking at your entire life or exploring significant moments. It can be done in multiple creative ways – drawing, collages, timelines, maps, collections of objects or photographs, modelling, journaling, making a garden and more. It offers suggestions for ways to reflect on your journey by looking at parallels in the narratives of the Bible and in everyday life and to learn from these how to deepen your understanding of God’s presence and actions in your life. This equips you to look forward and plan your future journey with God with confidence.

In this year’s BRF Lent book Sally Welch explores two questions: What is the Easter story really about, and how do we share it?Through each week of Lent, a different aspect of the Easter story is examined: repenting, changing, hoping, trusting, forgiving, loving and sacrificing. Within each week, the days are focused on what we need to do in order to share the story: listening, understanding, reflecting, living, telling, sharing and becoming. Each day offers a Bible passage, followed by a reflection and prayer activity. Suggestions for group study and group study questions are also included.

In this year's BRF Advent book Sally Welch explores two questions: What is the Christmas story really about, and how do we share it?Through each week of Advent, a different aspect of the Christmas story is examined: light, promise, mystery, love, peace and hope. Within each week, the days are focused on the ways in which the Christmas story is shared: prophecies, journeys, new life, signs, poems, stories and conversations. Each day offers a Bible passage, followed by a reflection and prayer activity. Suggestions for group study and group study questions are also included.‘Imbued with biblical insight, this book delves into the failings, the forgivings and the foibles of the way we are and the way we behave. Into the glorious muddle of our lives, we search for God and find God. In Sally Welch we have a delightful, experienced pastoral guide.’ Gordon Giles, author of At Home in Advent‘Sally has woven a beautiful golden cord, binding together scriptural truth and wisdom, profound contemporary relevance and insightful personal experience. Written with warmth, love and understanding, this is a genuine treasure.’ Margaret Silf, author of Lighted Windows

A labyrinth is a pattern consisting of a single circuitous path that winds into the centre, with no possibility of getting lost, as in a maze, and no dead ends. It is one of the most ancient tools for spiritual growth and development, dating back to medieval Christianity, and is currently enjoying a popular revival, especially in contemporary 'Fresh Expressions' of church. As an effective focus for prayer and worship, labyrinths - temporary and permanent - are increasingly found in traditional and alternative church communities and at festivals like Greenbelt. This book provides a complete guide for beginner and seasoned labyrinth explorer alike. An accessible and inviting illustrated guide, it: traces the history of labyrinths in the Christian spiritual tradition, explores the different ways groups and individuals can use a labyrinth for prayer and reflection, gives instructions for creating small and large, simple and complex, temporary and permanent, indoor and outdoor labyrinths based on the most well known designs - e.g Chartres, Rouen and Amien cathedrals, and it provides outlines for spiritual exercises using the labyrinth.

Whether in the home, in a church building or around familiar landmarks in a local community, a pilgrim journey can be made that will bring a new level of understanding and appreciation of daily life and the holy spaces it inhabits. Linking in with the traditional experiences of pilgrimage - Beginning, Discovering, Struggling, Resting, Remembering and more, this book provides guided meditations for ten prayer journeys inspired by everyday sights. Appropriate prayers and reflections are provided throughout and photographs encourage us to see familiar objects afresh. The book helps us create our own 'waymarks' out of the basic stuff of our lives that will remind us every day that wherever we go, we walk on holy ground.