A Lancashire parish is transporting people to the land of Narnia via a series of handmade tableaus - including more than 1000 local schoolchildren. 

The tableaus have been specially created for an amazing new outreach mission by St Bartholomew’s Church in Colne - using the famous Christian allegories of the Narnia stories to introduce people to Jesus. 

'Finding Jesus in Narnia' is open to all ages and is free. People are visiting from across the community, local schools and more. Watch these pages for more coverage of this innovative mission event shortly. 

Finding Jesus in Narnia has been pulled together by the Vicar, Rev. Alex Oehring, working with Caz Pinder and her artistic team from the church. The team has used their creative skills and imagination to create 14 scenes from the story to be displayed in the church. Everything has been handmade and painted.

The scenes tell the story of 'The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe'. Everyone will be given a booklet with 14 daily reflections, along with character descriptions and allegories within the story.

The church has a welcome team and event guides on hand for visitors to church, which has been transformed into the snowy world of Narnia with its dark places of sadness and loss and the joyful places of redemption and life-changing resurrection.

Rev. Alex says: "Both Caz and I came to faith through reading the Narnia stories and that gave us the inspiration to put this new mission event on. It has been supported financially by the Diocesan Vision Fund and is a great way to introduce people of all ages to Jesus and the hope we have in Him.

"We plan to offer other parishes in the Diocese the chance to put the same event on using our tableaus once this initial launch is over. Being able to speak about Jesus to so many local schoolchildren is fantastic too - I plan to be available to offer guided tours across the coming days alongside handing out the reflection booklets."

The event began last weekend with a grand 'Narnia Sunday' opening, attended by Bishop Jill (pictured with Caz Pinder) and it runs until Saturday, 6 December, 11am to 3pm.

There will be refreshments available everyday at a small cost. This will be hot and cold beverages and various cakes and biscuits.

The light of Christ will be shining bright! Further details on the church Facebook page or events page: Finding Jesus in Narnia | Facebook

Ronnie Semley, November 2025