Urban Pilgrim's Progress Project

You may be familiar with the allegory, Pilgrim’s Progress, written by John Bunyan in the late 1600s. If you’re not, it follows the main character, Christian, on his adventurous journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City.  Christian represents every person called by God, our King, on his journey of faith from the world as we know it (the City of Destruction) to heaven (the Celestial City). 

A book written in the 1600s might not be well received by inner-city children in the 21st century, but with the help of Little Pilgrim’s Progress, an adaptation for younger readers written by Helen Taylor, and the C4S Program Director’s creativity, the book comes alive and relevant for the children of Circle4Success through audio retelling, drama, video, small group discussions, and a life-size mural.  Children relate so well to stories and this story, in particular, is accurate in introducing the children to their King who loves them so much and preparing them for a life of discipleship.

The contextualized life-size mural in the C4S hallway visually depicts Christian on his journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City, which the children are helping to paint.  (See the sidebar for the information about the artist and the intern who is guiding the kids’ painting).  Every week, a new panel is added and the children (grades K-8) paint carefully and talk about what they are painting. The mural is quite impressive.  The hallway itself is over 90 feet long and we anticipate having 25 individual panels of artwork depicting the highlights of Christian’s journey to the Celestial City.