St John the Baptist Pilgrim Trail by Rev Matthew Stafford

Rev Matthew Stafford is Team Rector of the Wenlock Team Ministry. On Saturday, 19th September 2026 he will be leading a pilgrimage from Much Wenlock, the St John the Baptist Pilgrim Trail, as part of our Year of Celebration pilgrimages, with Bishop Richard

St John The Baptist Pilgrim Trail:  Hughley, Church Preen & Kenley

Three of our churches within the Wenlock Team have strong historical associations with Wenlock Priory. This easy/moderate walk covers 6.5 miles with both road and cross-country access. It was these three churches that the Cluniac Monks of Wenlock used to retreat to on foot in the days of Wenlock Priory for prayer, contemplation and spiritual renewal. 

St. John the Baptist had one special calling from God: to prepare the way for Jesus. John sums it up well when he says, “He must become greater. I must become less” (John 3:30).

Other than the Blessed Virgin Mary, John the Baptist is perhaps the most highly venerated saint of the Christian faith. This is because, like all the greatest saints but to a greater extent, his life mirrored the life of Christ so fully. Unlike other saints, though, he imitated Christ’s life in advance, as part of his prophetic mission.

The Cluniac Religious Community of Much Wenlock and indeed the monastic community at large, revered St John the Baptist, who is affectionately known as ‘the forerunner’ to Jesus. The appearance of John the Baptist in all four Gospels and reference to his baptism in the Acts of the Apostles suggests that John was regarded by early Christian communities as the link with Jesus from earliest times. 

It is all these attributes of Saint John the Baptist that the parishes dedicated to him within the Wenlock Team wish fellow pilgrims to celebrate, reflect upon and affirm as they embark on the St John the Baptist Pilgrim Trail. 

Timothy Radliffe once said Christianity ‘is not a religion of the book’ but one with encounter with the Lord, and such a personal engagement with the divine always escapes being fully captured in words. St John the Baptist knew this only too well and this is why he is affectionately remembered for those words.

Questions invite us to enter further into mystery. If questioned about life and faith many people will often say I am spiritual, but I am not religious. For me this is what entering the mystery we call God is all about, and very much what my understanding of what pilgrimage is all about.

If we see pilgrimage as rooted in the here and now, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, as well as being open and receptive to those encounters that connect us more closely to ourselves, one another and indeed the source of all being, as a result, we will be more spiritually receptive to those words of John when he encountered Jesus when out walking along the River Jordan, and be able to join with him in experiencing the reality of those words, 

‘Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’ John 1.29

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE PILGRIMAGE on Saturday, please visit our Eventbrite page here.