With thanks to Jack Branford, Chaplain at Gresham’s school for writing this article:
On Saturday 18 April, the Bishop of Norwich officiated at the latest in a number of bumper services of Confirmation and Baptism in Gresham’s School Chapel. The moving service saw thirty-one students and family members confirming their faith in Christ in front of their relations and friends.
A quiet but unmistakable growth in Christian faith seems to be taking place among young people at Gresham’s School. Over the past five years, since the first visit of the Bishop of Norwich to the School Chapel, more than 200 pupils, parents and staff have been baptised and/or confirmed. What five years ago was a moment of encouragement, now seems to have become a sustained movement, marked not by spectacle, but by steady, relational growth.
Each week, around 60 young people now choose to attend voluntary Communion services. Alongside this, the Christian Union is flourishing, providing space for conversation, prayer and exploration. Increasingly, some pupils are beginning to ask deeper questions about vocation, with a number exploring a call to ordained ministry. So how has this happened?
The School Chaplain, Revd Jack Branford, thinks that part of the answer lies in the nature of a boarding school community. He says, “Like a small parish, a boarding school brings together pupils, staff and families into a shared rhythm of life. At Gresham’s, Chapel has been intentionally placed at the heart of that rhythm — not simply as a place of worship, but as a place of belonging. From that sense of belonging, belief often follows.”
For many pupils, the experience is deeply personal. Reflecting on his recent baptism and confirmation, one pupil spoke simply but powerfully: he felt “taller inside,” adding that he “felt the Holy Spirit” as the Bishop laid hands on him.
Moments like these are not isolated. They form part of a wider culture in which faith is encountered through community, welcome and participation. Much like the growth seen elsewhere across the country amongst young people, the emphasis has been on intentionality — creating a joyful, open environment where people are known, welcomed and invited to explore.
In a world often searching for meaning, the experience at Gresham’s suggests that young people are not indifferent to faith. Rather, when they are offered genuine community, space to ask questions, and a lived expression of Christianity, many are responding. It is, perhaps, a reminder that growth in faith rarely begins with argument or persuasion, but with something much simpler: a sense of home