Capernwray Bible School

Photo from www.palindromefaith.wordpress.com

When the idea first came to me, I thought it might be too good to be true. I had found an old friend on Facebook and was browsing through her photos when I realized that she had been to England recently. Not only had she been to England, she had lived in England for two months as a student at a Bible school in Lancashire! I saw pictures of a gorgeous old hall, teapots, laughing groups of young adults, archery lessons, fields of spring flowers—and I actually cried.

It was all too, too beautiful for words. That was what my heart has been longing for all these years, and those pictures called to me so strongly that I thought I would burst. My first thought was, “Oh, why couldn’t that have been me?” My next thought was “Why can’t that be me?” That was my introduction to Capernwray.

Capernwray Hall according to the website, “Edward Sharpe was the architect, and in about 1820, Capernwray Hall became the stately home of the Marton family, built at that time for a family of 5 with 30 servants.” After World War II “the whole of the Capernwray estate went under auction” and “became the property of the Thomas family.” Major Ian Thomas had been “longing for a place where young people could come for not only a good holiday in the physical sense, but where they could hear clearly the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ in their lives.” And so began the thriving ministry of what is now Torchbearers International.

Copyright Hywel Williams and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

I must admit, at first I considered Bible school to be something helpful and enriching, but deep down it was probably little more than an excuse to get to England for more than two weeks. What a difference after listening to the Capernwray podcasts! Now I’m itching to hear more from these amazing lecturers, and dig deeper into the Word for its own sake.

Capernwray pond, a photo by Fiona L Cooper on Flickr.

I had a fantastic lunch with my friend, and she let me ask her all kinds of questions about the ins and outs of school life. I grilled her about day-trip opportunities, the workload, the atmosphere, the demographics—and she was good enough to tell me all about her own experiences and give me information she wished she’d known before going.

Now I’m almost finished filling out my application for admission. I am (as is my custom) apprehensive and insecure, but if this is the Lord’s will for me then I know He will finish what He has started. If it isn’t His will, then I know there’s a better way just around the corner.

Cheers!

Abigail

See more pictures of Capernwray here!