Things are big in Washington! The Washington National Cathedral (WNC) is the 5th largest in the world; this year’s budget is $14million (and before the financial crisis it was $22million; thereby hangs another tale). Every Sunday there are two, essentially identical, services at 8.45 and 11.15, each with upwards of 800 people present; and on Easter Day the two services each had 3000+ people at them.

Two extracts from WNC’s Goals Summary provide a focus for what they do from an educational perspective: “to provide the highest quality of thought provoking and intellectually challenging sermons” and “to build a congregation where members are committed to regular worship, Christian formation, direct service and the mission of hospitality.”

This work is where Dean Sam Lloyd sees his particular gifts being, and he preaches at the main services every other week; the 11.15 Eucharist is broadcast live and available online afterwards.

He also heads up a course called DOCC (Disciples of Christ in Community) which runs for ten weeks.

This course covers the basics of Christian belief and practice, similar in shape to Alpha though somewhat less prescriptive. The evening begins with a meal, Sam gives a talk for an hour and then there are facilitated discussion groups finishing with a plenary. When I was there 100+ people were taking the course. I went to three evenings of the course and they were excellent.

At Salisbury we take our preaching and teaching very seriously too, but we share that out among the Principal Persons in a more equitable way.

By virtue of her office our Dean has a significant role on the Bishop’s Senior Staff and within the diocese, which the Dean of Washington does not, and thus expectations of the role are different.

Alongside this there are a plethora of prayer groups of various sorts which are very similar to ones that we run – though size and space enables them to have more of them!

Sam Lloyd is also pivotal to the Sunday Forum which takes place between the two Sunday morning services and sees Sam engaging in thought-provoking discussions on the major issues of the day with guests who span a wide range of disciplines, from renowned scientists to writers, artists, political figures, journalists, scholars, and religious leaders. These are again broadcast live and available as podcasts later.

WNC is very aware of the privileged place it has in the local community and society and attempts to reach out to those less well resourced. Under the auspices of its Canon Missioner it runs an educational programme, Cathedral Scholars, for a select group of students from DC state schools who experience a rich academic and social programme. There is also a free 5-week summer course, The Education for Excellence Programme (TEEP), which attracts middle school students from under-resourced communities across the city.

What WNC does not have is anything similar to our Education Centre and the excellent schools’ work that Sarah Rickett oversees; given the very generalized way religious education takes place in US state schools this is not surprising.

At the moment there is little or no work with young people even within the Cathedral Congregation, and if you had young children WNC might not be your first port of call.

This has been deliberate policy because local parishes have felt uneasy about the Cathedral starting up a designated ‘Congregation’, though things might change. Engaging with young people and families with young children and making them feel ‘at home’ in a Cathedral setting is something we wrestle with just as much as WNC does.

The final area of educational activity I would highlight is their inter-faith programme. WNC actively pursues inter-faith dialogue and collaboration, particularly among the three Abrahamic faiths. Just before I arrived they had hosted a Christian-Muslim summit with some quite significant figures involved. The challenge with ‘big’ is how to be personal, and that is being worked on by having a very clearly defined ‘Cathedral Congregation’ – they wear badges at services (I wonder how that would go down at Salisbury!) ... and last year 500 families pledged $700,000 through Stewardship, ... but that’s probably another article!