The Installation Service of Rt Rev Philip North, the tenth Bishop of Blackburn, will take place at 2pm today (Saturday, June 24) and is available to watch in full via a high-quality livestream.

Watch the livestream here on YouTube ... the livestream will start around 30 minutes before the service proper to allow for the broadcast of pre-service singing by young people from local schools.

And here is the Order of Service for the day. 

During the service, Bishop Philip will put the spotlight on social justice; working with young people and the importance of proclaiming the Gospel to the whole County of Lancashire in his sermon.

Bishop Philip looked forward to the service in a video released a couple of days ago alongside the Anglican Bishop of Lancaster, Rt Rev. Dr Jill Duff, released today (see more below).

Meanwhile, in what is thought to be a first for any Bishop’s Installation, children attending the service on Saturday will be invited to attend a ‘Messy Installation’ downstairs in the Cathedral crypt area. 

• As well as the livestream you can also follow events live on our social media channels, mainly on Facebook/BlackburnDiocese but with some tweets on Twitter @cofelancs 

Meanwhile, Bishop Philip has chosen two charities he hopes people will be able to give generously to as part of the celebration service on Saturday; they are SportsReach and Ambassadors Football UK.

Both charities seek to equip churches in sports ministry as well as engage directly in using sport as a tool to reach people for Christ. They work predominantly with children and young people but do have something for all ages and work in Lancashire as well as across the globe.

Click here to make a donation.