At 5.30pm today Blackburn Cathedral is hosting an open-to-all service of celebration: life, faith and love, to remember and reflect on the life of Ben Ashworth.

Ben is the 38-year-old dad of three from Preston who sadly passed away at the start of this month after a five-year battle with bowel cancer.

Ben was an inspiration, not only for the way that he tackled his illness head-on (including over 80 doses of chemotherapy and numerous operations) and completing 24 marathons in 24 months but also for raising awareness about the disease and fundraising for beatingnowelcancer.org; all with a smile.

While we grieve with Louise, his wife, their three daughters and his family and friends, we also know that Ben has reached eternal peace with our Heavenly Father as he was a man of faith, actively involved at St Stephen’s Church in Preston.

We pray that others may come to know Jesus, inspired by Ben’s unwavering faith, despite the painful challenges that he endured.

Ben’s open service of celebration in the cathedral provides an opportunity for folk to come in to a place of Christian worship; perhaps for the first time; perhaps for the first time in a while.

However, we know that this may be a daunting prospect for some. During late May and early June, a significant number of our churches in our Diocese across Lancashire were ‘open to experience and explore’ as part of the national ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ prayer strategy.

We know that many took the opportunity to come into a church to reflect on the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing.

Whilst providing an excellent welcome to visitors is very important, we should not expect people to come to us. We should be outside of our buildings reminding our communities that we are here to serve their needs.

Some of our churches have taken on the challenge this summer by hosting open air services in their churchyard or village green, others are hosting ‘Messy Church’ gazebos or prayer tents at local festivals and car boot sales, whilst others provide a public witness by participating in traditional ‘walking days’.

Please do take the opportunity to have a chat with the church representatives at these events, as they’d like to get to know you.

Dave Champness

Vision Coordinator

The Church of England in Lancashire