Dear Friends of Scargill,

We are delighted to announce that our new Programme and latest Momentum magazine is launched today (3rd November)– going live in the morning (during office hours).

This publication opens bookings for new events from March 2026 to the end of  August 2026, as well as having lots of lovely articles and updates from the life of Scargill. 

Our website events pages are now live, coinciding with printed copies of our publication starting to reach your doorstep. When the programme is released, do put in your booking requests via the website (rather than by ‘phone) to help our lovely Admin Team deal with your booking requests in the order that they are made, and we thank you in advance for your patience as we work through each booking in turn.

Also do look at our website for online and in-house events (November 2025 to February 2026) that still have space – we would love to see you!

Our online events allow you to join us from the comfort of your own home:

Also check out below Di’s latest reflection on being real, and living out of a heart of love. Enjoy!

Yesterday, morning prayers were focused about love. Later that afternoon sitting in my office, looking out the window (a rare occurrence), I was faced with this sign that has been there for years and I said to myself ‘I have had enough, for now, of sitting quietly with Jesus, of resting with God, the time for action has come!’. Now, I haven’t moved completely away from embracing contemplation and marching around being busy isn’t on the agenda either, but BEING REAL IS.

This sign encompasses much of what I believe God is asking of us. This is a ‘way of life’, a pathway to follow, with ‘WE’ at the centre!  Challenging perhaps the me, myself and I culture that stops us from looking out to others, looking out for others. And although Christian families can be a base for extending hospitality and supporting other families and individuals in need within their community, this sign is for all and it seems to sum up the Stone family, the very extended Stone family and I pray always will.

I can fully embrace many of these statements. Maybe allowing myself to have FUN and be REALLY LOUD is a little less natural to me. I am very happy to embrace the noise and fun of others – in fact it’s good for me to do so. And to be honest HUGGING has not been a favourite pastime of mine although over the years, dare I say it, I have begun to ’almost’ enjoy giving and receiving them.

Have you noticed WE DO FAMILY, WE DO LOVE lie at the bottom of the list, have you noticed all these words are in capital letters and have you noticed LOVE is the largest word on the sign? Is this because love encompasses all that has been written or is it because, as I heard the other morning, LOVE must be in all we do and say? – probably both.

At the beginning of 1 Corinthians 13 we read the very familiar words: ‘If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.’                                                                                                                                                  
We go on to read, ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.’ And I would like to add ‘love asks us to be real, to accept our and others’ mistakes, to say sorry and give forgiveness, to have fun and be loud, to do hugs and to be family to others.’

Now, no one wants to be a clanging cymbal or a resounding gong, so let’s get out there, let’s meet our neighbours, lets draw them into the love of God, let’s be real and let’s extend our families with LOVE.

With love and prayers from Phil, Di and the Scargill Community 

I have been reading a book called Wayfinding by Michael Bond. It is about ‘the art and science of how we find and lose our way.’ Being good at finding your way is something that develops in childhood. Exploring is something we do naturally as a child. As Robert McFarlane puts it in his book Landmarks, when we are children ‘nature is full of doors…and they swing open at every step.’ In the world of imagination ‘A hollow in a tree is a gateway to a castle.’[1]

As we know, however, Michael Bond reminds us ‘the opportunities for children to wander have greatly diminished.’ What he calls a child’s ‘home range,’ how far they are allowed to roam from their home by their parents is drastically reduced right now.[2] This is largely due to traffic and the perception of ‘stranger danger.’[3]The rise of technology, smartphones and the virtual world have also contributed to this ‘living in our head’ rather than exploring our neighbourhood.

If you are reading this and from an older generation, you might have fond memories of going out on your bike all day or wandering around with your friends as a child, playing football in the streets. Clare, my wife, talks about a spinney and a stream they used to play in as children in Coventry. They would jump on their bikes to get there.

This wandering around without any particular purpose or structure is called ‘free play.’[4] Being able to wander about a larger space and work out how to navigate that space is very good for our children’s development. I am struck by how much children love Scargill. The house is a maze in which they can run around, and play hide and seek. They can get lost and find themselves again. They have the joy of discovering what feels like a secret room, or a magical wardrobe.

Then there is the space outside, the 90 acres of land. They can enjoy the playground, run through the meadow, look for butterflies, see a deer eating from the compost heap. They can meet a dog, cats, chickens – see swifts, swallows, house martins – hear the pheasants and curlews. They can look for water beetles, and newts in the pond (safely supervised of course)! They can paddle in the river Wharfe on a sunny day followed by an ice cream in Kettlewell village.

This year, at our three Summer Fests, children have been on our amazing waterslide, learnt archery, done treasure hunts, been introduced to singer-songwriters, actors, and magicians. At Scargill the community has learnt to trust the space around us, it begins to weave its spell of healing and freedom when allowed to do so.

Psychologist Peter Gray argues that ‘free play is the means by which children learn to make friends, overcome their fears, solve their own problems, and generally take control of their own lives…Nothing that we do, no amount of toys we buy or ‘quality time’ or special training we give our children, can compensate for the freedom we take away.’[5]

‘Play’ is of course a core value at Scargill and reflected implicitly in the community Pathway promises. I have seen it in action many times! Play leads to the release of creativity. Creativity is the antidote to our world of fear and uncertainty and the narratives that offer us no hope.

[1] Quoted in Michael Bond, Wayfinding (Picador, 2020), 23.

[2] Bond, 24.

[3] Bond, 25-26.

[4] Bond, 29.

[5] Peter Gray, Free to Learn: Why unleashing the instinct to play will make our children happier, more self-reliant, and better students for life (Basic Books, 2013, 5, quoted in Bond, 29.

We’ll let Remiel introduce himself.

Hello, my dear friends! My name is Remiel from Hong Kong, one of the newest members of community. I am so happy that one of my friends, a guest here, suggested me to come here. Because at that time I wished to join a community and also, I can learn about how to build good community life in Europe. And learn how to be a good community builder in the future, especially in the European church. So now I was invited to join the kitchen team. We work hard every day but I am learning a lot form the kitchen team. I am learning to work with people from different backgrounds. I’m learning very practical skills both in the kitchen and our daily life. I hope I will learn a lot and that I will find an enjoyable life here at Scargill.

What have you enjoyed so far?

I have enjoyed the work in the kitchen, the bible study group time, prayers, and having some time for silence and learning. I can learn how to adjust my manner with the people and the guests.

You’ve got the practical stuff in the kitchen, preparing meals for people, a bit like Jesus prepared a meal for his disciples, that’s the spiritual principle. Are there any other spiritual things we do you’ve enjoyed?

I think it’s quite hard to separate out different parts of one’s spirituality. Because when I was serving the meals to the guests, I think this is very important to my spiritual life. I can try to practise how to be hospitable to different needs, as well as pick up on people’s feelings. I would also like to practise group leading during the dinner times. We are invited to talk to our guests, to listen, perhaps to draw out someone who is quieter.

Brilliant! And what were you doing in Hong Kong?

Before coming to Scargill I was working as a freelancer, doing translation, teaching, and telephone interviews. Before that I was finishing a Master’s degree in theology.

You’ve already visited London, Leeds, Skipton and Grassington, what motivates your curiosity?

I have visited friends and of course curiosity is a very good reason. For Skipton I want to experience and feel how life is lived by people here. Another reason is going to a church which has a connection with me.

You’re from a Lutheran background?

Yes, yes, I am!

Can you say a prayer for us?

Dear Lord thank you that we can meet in Scargill and keep learning here. And keep growing as well. We can come together in a community the way Jesus came together with his disciples. Jesus, I pray you shape us in this kind of community life. Also, a blessing on our guests from different places, from Britain and different cultures. I would like to send blessings to people from different countries. My prayer is also for the Hong Kong people. Please hear our prayer in Jesus’ name Amen.

Thank you Remiel, may your stay here be a blessing as you bless us!

The story so far – Naaman has gone down to the River Jordan, swallowed his pride, (and who knows what else!) and dipped himself seven times. He comes up cleansed from his skin disease, grateful, with a changed heart, acknowledging Elisha’s God ‘that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel’. And of course, it was this exclamation from Naaman that made him realise the difficult and complex situation he was going to have to face when he went back to Aram.

He tentatively and apologetically asks for forgiveness for when he goes back he will have to go with his King to the house of Rimmon and bow down while the King leans on his arm. Poor Naaman, having just experienced and realised the truth about God he finds himself in a place of compromise where he would be outwardly going against his earlier emphatic declaration. Adrian Plass, who writes on this wonderful passage, says, “Well is it OK to do that? Or not? Or what? Have I got to make a stand?”

Elisha’s response is surprising, liberating, and gives hope to all of us faced with on-going difficult times or impossible situations, ‘Go in peace’. Not exactly the response he expected yet what beautiful three words they are! Adrian goes on to say, “that was all Elisha said and it seemed to be all that was needed on that particular occasion. Through a prophet, who is more interested in hearing the authentic whisper of the Holy Spirit than blindly following patterns and pre-conceptions, God was cutting Naaman a little slack, and this new follower of the one true God was probably even more grateful than before, don’t you think? How lovely to be told that you can go in peace when you are expecting a thick ear or a thunderbolt.”

The wonderful truth about these words ‘Go in peace’ is that it gives us opportunity to have a dynamic, life-giving dialogue with God. These three words are not closed but are open and spacious words.

Elisha cut Naaman some slack, and Jesus cuts us slack too. Our community promises has the response – “with the encouragement and guidance of the brothers and sisters who share this pathway, we will try our very best to follow the example of Jesus”. Each night I reflect on my day and sometimes I realise how my relationships or attitudes has not lived up to the promises I have made. I have messed up, and I can’t quite get it right at the moment. Jesus forgives, he says have a good night’s sleep, lets work together on the difficulties, ‘Go in peace’. And he says this with affection and love.

Elisha begins to give us an understanding of God’s compassion and Jesus shows it to us fully. I pray that we will learn to live and move in it.
In the All Age services during SummerFest we sang our Naaman song – words by Bridget and Adrian Plass, sung and produced by Anna Andersson on the attached music file – enjoy! We had three weeks of it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g5YeJ6jPdw

Our theme has been Naaman’s story from 2 Kings 5 – check it out it is a good read. It is the story of Naaman’s healing of his skin disease that came in a very unexpected manner, it is a healing, which was far more than skin deep, it was conversion of his heart. It was a radical and life-changing experience.

We read that Naaman arrived outside Elisha’s house with all his soldiers and chariots, and mules laden with gold and silver. Naaman’s identity was bound up in his wealth, his position and his success. He came to Elisha displaying how powerful he was, desperately wanting to buy his healing. You can imagine that Naaman was well put out when Elisha would not come to greet him as he felt his rank deserved and, adding insult to injury, he is told by Elisha’s servant to go down to the murky Jordan and dip himself in it seven times if he wants to be healed. Naaman was besides himself with anger. He was a huffy old Naaman! Yet with the courage and love of his servants he is persuaded to go down and dip himself in the Jordan. Isn’t it good that we too can have friends who are able to speak the truth in love, to save us from messing up?

It is very significant that Naaman ‘went down’ into the Jordan. He had to make himself small. He had to give up his identity that meant so much to him. He went down as a proud and successful general with a serious skin disease and came up with the skin of a young boy, with a childlike heart, declaring, “there is no God in all the world except in Israel”.

It is a story peppered with grace, yet it is grace that could only be received if Naaman was willing to go down. John Stott writes, ’Pride is your greatest enemy, Humility is your greatest gift’. It is true for us all that if we want to discover the grace God has for us we have to make ourselves small, we have to go down. If you are ever privileged enough to go to Bethlehem to visit the Church of the Nativity you have to bow down to get through the doorway.

So like Naaman when we go down, bow down or make ourselves small we understand a bit more of who God is, and what He is about. As it says in the Jerusalem Bible, “The fear of Yahweh is a school of wisdom, before there can be glory, there must be humility.” Proverbs 15:33

Mad Hatter’s Tea Party at Summerfest with good friends from St Stephen’s – great fun!

On Wednesday we were in Canterbury where it was a privilege and an honour to be at the consecration of two women bishops, one of them being a good friend Rachel Treweek. It was very moving and a truly joyful occasion.

On Friday, we were at the funeral of a close friend, Malcolm, and I was given the privilege of giving the address. Malcolm and his wife Caroline had been great friends of ours while I was vicar of their church in London, and since we have been at Scargill. The service was a celebration of a life well lived, with grief at the loss of someone we loved dearly.

You may ask, “What does a consecration and a funeral have in common?” Unsurprisingly, yet joyfully, we caught up with old friends and had time to share laughter and tears, but most importantly the tale of these two friends is a tale of hope.

Rachel is now the Bishop of Gloucester – the first woman Diocesan Bishop in the Church of England! It has been a long struggle with a great deal of patience and perseverance, often much heartache, which has now culminated in this most joyful celebration – and it is full of hope. Having worked with Rachel, when she was our archdeacon in London, it is wonderful to see that her gifts, and the person she is, can be experienced within the Episcopate. There is hope for the Church as Rachel and other gifted women are called by the Holy Spirit to become bishops. It will be so life giving for the Church!

Malcolm, who was 60, struggled with cancer over the last eighteen months, and through his illness was such a person of hope. Malcolm lived in the knowledge that he was deeply loved by God, and however dimly or partially he saw it, he believed that he would know it fully. Malcolm died in this hope, being literally “sung into heaven” by those he loves, and those who love him.

And the hope in which Rachel lives, and Malcolm died in, is the hope that is gifted in the person of Jesus Christ. Paul’s words to Timothy (1 Tim 1 v1) ring with truth for whatever lies before us, “Christ Jesus our hope”. Shawshank Redemption (a must see film!) is full of great hope quotes – “hope is a good thing, may be the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” So the Risen Lord Jesus is our hope, that we live, move and have our being in, and it is this Hope that longs to make his home in our hearts for eternity.