MISSION AND MINISTRY IN ENGLISH FOR EVERYONE
IS S N 2 0 5 9 - 1 8 6 1
IS S U E 67 J U LY-S EPT 17 3 DEVOTIONAL 4 FROM THE SEASONAL MISSION DESK 6 GRONINGEN 10 FREIBURG 12 AQUITAINE 14 KORTRIJK
I’m in my fifth year as the Mission Director at ICS and I am still surprised by the creative, innovative ministry I come across. I listen to Sam Van Leer talk about the work he is involved in, or Augustine talking about his developing ministry in Bruges and then the opportunities that he is working on in Kortrijk and I realise we attract innovative, gifted and missional chaplains. I spent a few days with Augustine recently and had the opportunity to speak in the church in Bruges. What is so encouraging, having not been there for a little while, was to see how much it has grown. As I write this, I have only been back from the ICS Conference for a few days, a conference where we hoped to learn about God, enjoy fellowship and celebrate the joy of being in such a ministry as this. I must say I have come back delighted in the knowledge that we have had an amazing conference, with a great attitude of both prayerful devotion and delightful humour. There was one moment where I stood back and looked across the room at 70+ chaplains praying for and supporting each other, encouraging each other to greater things. In some ways, I wish I could somehow have canned this and let you see it. The best I can do is present you the story on our website under ‘News’, and in churches as I go around speaking. On the people front, we welcome Sarah Tillett to St. Peter’s, Chantilly and John Backhouse from Naples as a new associate. We are pleased to say we have recruited for Izmir, more about this soon. Finally, I want to bear my soul to you. This is the year I believe God is calling us to start new things and to pioneer in new ways. This has been the driver behind what we have been seeking to do in Ibiza, Corfu and Izmir. You are going to hear more about new things over the next months. I value your prayer that we are wise while at the same time courageous for the sake of the gospel.
Intercontinental Church Society Unit 11 Ensign Business Centre, Westwood Way, Westwood Business Park, Coventry, CV4 8JA telephone +44 (0) 24 7646 3940 email enquiries@ics-uk.org web www.ics-uk.org
Registered charity no: 1072584; a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales no: 3630342 Intercontinental Church Society (ICS) is an Anglican mission agency. Founded in 1823, we have worked in most parts of the world, ministering and reaching out to people from many nationalities and backgrounds. From the early days we have planted churches in mainland Europe where our work is still strong but also in and around the Mediterranean, North Africa, the South Atlantic and South America. English language ministry has a strategic part to play, alongside national churches, in outreach as increasing numbers for whom English is a second language, attend English-speaking churches. Design by Greyjones Studio • Printed by Swan Print 2
INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY MAGAZINE | July 2017
DEVOTIONAL
A favourite New Testament letter of mine is James. As I read it the wisdom it teaches touches deep core issues of life in a way that confirms its relevance for us today. Its assertions, so plainly stated, reveal the author’s profound understanding of human nature. Verses such as ‘faith without works is dead’ and ‘if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man’ resonate with and speak to life as we know it. A verse that has caught my attention recently is 1:2 ‘count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.’ The ‘joy’ encouraged here isn’t always experienced in the midst of trials. At least that’s my experience. However, joy is for James the response of faith to trials. Habakkuk is a good example of this. In chapter 3 he trembles for he understands that the Babylonians will come to destroy Judah. In the midst of his perplexity and anxiety, in contrast to the days of Solomon when ‘Judah and Israel lived in safety, from Dan to Beersheba, every man under his vine and under his fig tree’, Habakkuk rejoices because he trusts in God even though the fig tree, the vine, the olive, and the flock fail. Habakkuk’s faith finds its home in his confidence in God’s unseen purposes. James’ faith does as well. Trials and joy are not irreconcilable because they fit into the Father’s purposes for our lives. Faith needs to be tested and refined so that it centres in the Father’s person and work. James is teaching that without trials we don’t grow spiritually. ‘Without faith it’s impossible to please God.’
Gus Ketola Chaplain, Holy Trinity Algiers
3
INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY MAGAZINE | July 2017
Despite being the ‘close season’ for Seasonal Mission as I write, it is a busy time of preparation. The start of May saw most of the chaplains for the summer season gathering, along with some family and team members, to worship, study and prepare together for the task ahead. We particularly focused on the ‘quest for quality’ in all that we do. At first glance, the season looks rather short on quantity this year, with three Swiss chaplaincies and one in Italy. The reality is, however, that following some recent ‘pruning’, we are preparing for new growth and new challenges. Our work in Zermatt and Wengen may be long established, but that doesn’t mean it is stagnant. Both resorts have potential for development, and with some first-time chaplains going to both places this summer we look forward to fresh insights from them for the future. In Zermatt, we are aware that there is a growing MountainBiker Community and we are considering how we might reach out to these groups. In Wengen, there are growing numbers of Middle- and Far-Eastern tourists, many of whom have En glish as their language of communication within the resort. Please pray for our chaplains, that they will have many opportunities to reveal God’s love to people who may never have considered Jesus before. The Interlaken/Grindelwald chaplaincy can be a real challenge for our chaplains as we have no established base from which to work, but our dedicated team will be seeking to serve tourists, resort workers and local communities by bringing the Gospel through word, worship and action. The value of our work there is seen in the way the local churches and tourist industry partner us so faithfully and generously. An email from the Interlaken Tourist Office a couple of weeks ago said: ‘Thank you for the organisation of this great service for our guests’.
Over on the Adriatic coast of Italy, near Venice, our chaplains to Union Lido in Cavallino also continue to be warmly welcomed and greatly valued for their caring service to the tourists on this huge site—up to 11,000 guests, many who are English-speakers. The reputation and relationships built up over the years by our chaplains have opened many doors for the Gospel and supported discipleship. We still hope to have a presence in Ibiza this year, but we are trialling a very different style of mission, partly alongside the English Church on the island, but also with links to ‘24/7’ and with outreach to the New Age community. There are a few loose ends to tie up before we can be certain of starting this in 2017, but by the time you read this, we expect that to be sorted. And what of the future. New possibilities are opening up which excite but also challenge. There may be an opportunity to renew a partnership begun a few years ago with a chaplaincy in Tenerife. Corfu is also a possibility, again partnering with the local chaplaincy, reaching out to young people. A third potential is to begin a work in the Red Sea resorts of El Gouna and Hurghada, in partnership with the Bishop of Egypt. Three very different types of chaplaincy, possibly calling for the recruitment of new chaplains with particular expertise. Being pruned is painful, but please pray for us as we look to an even more fruitful future for both our old growth and whatever new growth comes over the next year or so from the buds that are forming.
‘EVERY BRANCH THAT DOES BEAR FRUIT HE PRUNES SO THAT IT WILL BE EVEN MORE FRUITFUL’ JOHN 15:2 4
INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY MAGAZINE | July 2017
5
INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY MAGAZINE | July 2017
6
INTERCONTINENTAL 6 INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCHCHURCH SOCIETY SOCIETY MAGAZINE MAGAZINE | July 2017 | July 2017
For the last year-and-a-half, I’ve been trying to fill the sizeable shoes of predecessor Area Dean for the Netherlands, Mark Collinson, called to become Canon Missioner in Winchester Diocese. Mark was our first ever Area Dean, and set a precedent for sound management and missional focus. Located as I am in lovely but remote Groningen (my closest colleague being 2 hours away), and being a non-stipendiary minister working on a local church plant, as well as house-husband looking after three children, I was surprised to be considered for Area Dean, but quite honoured to serve. The landscape here may be flat, but my learning curve has been exhilaratingly steep. Area Deans (better known as ‘Rural Deans’ in England, though ‘Rural’ fits our denselypopulated and largely-urban context less well) support their Archdeacon and the Bishop in their oversight and pastoral care of the particular regions where we are appointed. Diocesan guidelines identify our main tasks: to offer pastoral care for deanery clergy; to help lead the shared mission and ministry of the churches in the deanery; on request, to advise clergy and readers on continuing ministerial education; to support readers; and, at the request of the Archdeacon or Bishop, both to help churchwardens and councils during vacancies and to stand in at the admissions and licensings of readers or clergy, if asked. So far, in my brief time in post, I’ve engaged in all the above (save presiding at a licensing… yet). Roughly bi-monthly, we gather Deanery clergy together for a ‘chapter meeting’, where we handle pressing business, but also catch up with each other, share inspiration and concerns, and pray for and support each other. We meet in beautiful Utrecht and other chaplaincy locations, to get glimpses into each other’s ministry contexts. In the past year, we’ve gathered at the port of Rotterdam, along the Amsterdam canals, in suburban Voorschoten and in hightech Eindhoven. Alongside providing day-to-day support for clergy and councils, we also launched a leadership seminar last summer, getting churchwardens, treasurers and secretaries together from across the country to learn more about their roles and share best practice (photo below). It was so well received that we’re expanding it to include all council members this summer, and have invited James Lawrence of CPAS as keynote speaker (June 9-10).
In international ministry, we’re accustomed to congregation members coming and going. This year, though, we’ve also seen many clergy move on or retire, and have had five interregna (Amsterdam, Arnhem-Nijmegen, Twente, Haarlem and Rotterdam) though the first and last have now thankfully been filled, respectively, by our able colleagues Alan Strange and Jennifer Pridmore. We pray other good people will be called to the remaining posts soon! Archdeacon Paul Vrolijk has been energetically supporting our chaplaincies, and I, too, have been travelling about assisting, advising and taking several annual general meetings, during which I have gained an even deeper appreciation for the vibrancy and diversity of chaplaincy life in our country, as well as the dedicated ministry of the lay and ordained leadership in each place. This national experience has also helped inspire me with our Groningen church plant. A few years ago, because of my wife’s consultancy job, we moved to Groningen, one of the few remaining major Dutch cities where there was no Anglican church presence. Since then we have seen a faith community grow, from a house group into a regular congregation of fifty, with bi-weekly worship in a city-centre church, Bible studies, a prayer group and an Alpha course. Groningen being a major university city, our group is predominantly young adults (students and recent-graduates), chock full of energy and enthusiasm, but also transient. Still, more and more young couples and families are settling down among us. We are currently engaged in a Mission Action Planning process, to evaluate our strengths and weaknesses, but, more importantly, to discern God’s overall vision for our church and set specific priorities and goals for the coming time. It is our hope and prayer that this work of the Lord in Groningen will continue to grow in maturity, stability and commitment and support solid ministry and bold mission, like such work has done throughout the Netherlands, to God’s glory. In Christ, Sam Van Leer
8
INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY MAGAZINE | July 2017
YOUR INVITATION
ICS AGM
AND SHOWCASE
‘NEW DESTINATIONS’ THURSDAY 7 SEPTEMBER 2017 2-5PM St. Aldates Parish Centre 40 Pembroke Street, Oxford OX1 1BP We are delighted to invite you to join us for the ICS AGM and Showcase, an opportunity to see into the world of ICS, its mission partners and their ministries, to meet members of the team and catch up with friends. Our guest speakers will be Brian Heasley, the International Prayer Director of 24/7 Prayer GB and Francis Blight from the ICS chaplaincy in Heiloo, the Netherlands. Brian has been heavily involved in the Archbishops’ ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ initiative. Francis has been leading and developing the work in Heiloo for several years and has an in-depth understanding of the joys and challenges of chaplaincy life. Advance booking helps us to cater as tea/coffee and cakes will be on offer. Please complete and return the form at the reverse of the address label to reach us by Friday 18 August 2017. Places will be allocated first to Members of the Society (Members have the right to speak and vote at the AGM) then to Members’ guests or other supporters on a first come, first served basis according to the order in which application forms are received. Places will be confirmed from Friday 1 September onwards. Members of ICS will receive further mailings concerning the Annual General Meeting. If you are unclear whether you are a Member contact Maggie at ICS (phone 024-7646 3940 or email mawinham@ics-uk.org)
TRAVEL
There is no parking available on site at the Conference Centre or Church. The nearest facility is the Oxpens Car Park on Oxpens Road. Please note that the Westgate Car Park is now closed. By Bus and Coach Most bus services to the city centre will drop you on St. Aldates or the High Street close to Carfax Tower. If you are coming on the Oxford Tube or Oxford Express from London, get off on the High Street, unless the driver is willing to make a stop at the bus stops opposite St. Aldates. By Train St. Aldates is a 12-minute walk from Oxford train station. Oxford Parkway station is located to the north of the city and is connected to the city centre by the Park and Ride service.
9
INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY MAGAZINE | July 2017
Freiburg It has been over a year now since my wife Anke and two daughters, Hannah and Lucia, moved with me from Vancouver Island, Canada to Freiburg, Germany as I minister with the people of the Anglican Church in Freiburg. As a family, we have gone from a temperate rainforest climate and have settled into life in one of the sunniest places in Germany where we are a short hop, skip, and jump from the French and Swiss borders. My role as priest-in-charge takes on so many exciting areas as the congregation is made up of over twenty nationalities with a wide range of backgrounds. Some of the delights are also part of our challenges, as the church families grow in number (forty-fifty children on Sunday) we now pray for wisdom and guidance in our Children’s Ministry programme and for God to lift-up Children’s Church, and Youth leaders from within the chaplaincy. The Anglican Church in Freiburg participates in many ecumenical activities around the city, however, one of the most direct ecumenical church relationships happens in the building we share with two other churches. We represent what is known as the Intercultural Church Centre (ICCC) where we as Anglicans work with the local German Badische Landeskirche and the Royal Family Baptist Church. While many people are excellent English speakers, many people who join our congregation first come to our German/English conversation group. A lot of people who are new to the city will often want a safe place to learn German as well as English, and they find themselves attracted to the church community as a place of lived faith with a heart for people. Freiburg is a ‘green’ city, in that there are a lot of political and social causes for environmental protection and awareness. As such, a good number of people in the chaplaincy work in areas such as Solar Engineering or are associated with the large employers in the area: the University of Freiburg and the University Hospital. It is exciting to think how God has built up this church community, and as we continue to meet the challenges that come with growth, we will be implementing more home groups and further develop our seasonal welcome parties so that people can better connect and become involved.
10
INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY MAGAZINE | July 2017
Deepening our faith through prayer groups or learning about God in educational groups, are all activities that draw people together and closer to their relationship with Jesus. Our Anglican Church in Freiburg has seen membership rise and we are trying to discern how we can best serve those who join us for four weeks, to those who stay for forty years.
11
INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY MAGAZINE | July 2017
Over the years, Ingrid and I had often discussed the possibility of serving in a chaplaincy in France. It was therefore with great anticipation that, in August last year, we found ourselves on the quayside in Portsmouth accompanied by a removal lorry full of our furniture heading for South-West France to take up the post of Chaplain to Aquitaine. The nine months since that day seem to have whistled past and yet, looking back, it seems like a very long time ago. Largely due to the warm welcoming nature of everyone in the chaplaincy, we have settled into our new home remarkable quickly and we are greatly enjoying getting to know our local congregations, ecumenical partners and the beautiful countryside—it does help to be living in the midst of arguably the finest vineyards in the world! The Chaplaincy of Aquitaine is big—about 200km (N-S) x 250km (E-W)—with congregations currently meeting in fifteen different locations. Most of the churches are in fairly rural areas serving largely international communities both of permanent residents and ‘second homers’. However, we also have a church near the city centre of Bordeaux with a very much more diverse congregation in terms of both age and nationality. Ministering to all these churches would, of course, be impossible on my own but we are blessed with a wonderfully committed ministry team of both clergy and lay ministers. I have found that the absence of time spent on ancient buildings, churchyards and rushing between three or four different churches every Sunday has allowed me and Ingrid to get to know people almost better in nine months here than we were able in the previous six years in rural Gloucestershire. The wide-flung nature of the churches means that Sundays are also used as an opportunity to get together for fellowship, a meal and sometimes meetings. Quite apart from good resource-management, this allows us to spend more time together and thus helps to build a real sense of community. There are certainly challenges ahead, most notably due to the concern about what Brexit will mean to us as UK internationals living in the EU, but there are also many exciting opportunities. Several of our churches are actively growing, we have three people currently exploring vocations to lay or ordained ministry and there is a real appetite for exploring where the Holy Spirit is leading us. The chaplaincy is nicely summed up in the words of a mission summary developed recently by our church in Bordeaux. Praise, Prayer, Care, Share. Ingrid and I are both thrilled to be a part of this exciting, caring and faithful chaplaincy.
12
INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY MAGAZINE | July 2017
Holy Week
Archdeacon Meurig Williams (L) & Tony
Ingrid and Tony
13
Licensing of Michael Torne as a Reader
INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY MAGAZINE | July 2017
NEWS FROM WEST FLANDERS BELGIUM There are many exciting developments in ministry in West Flanders. Among them is the idea of planting a new church in Kortrijk by the chaplaincy of Ostend-Bruges.
The first question to ask is: Why Kortrijk or Courtrai? Well, here are some simple responses: it is the biggest city of southern West Flanders and it is both a judicial and administrative unit in the Flemish Province where interest in Anglicanism is fast growing. It is not a surprise that Anglicanism is taught in Flemish schools! There is a University of Leuven campus in Kortrijk (KULAK) and a campus of the University of Gent as well as other higher institutions including the Katholieke Hogeschool, Hogeschool West Vlaanderen, etc., all located in Kortrijk.
14
Kortrijk is surrounded by many other smaller municipalities. It forms a major part of crossborder Euro metropolis of Lille-KortrijkTournai of about 2,155,161 residents (2008). In the centuries past, flax and wool (textile) industries flourished in Kortrijk bringing in many expats and British nationals, which helped transform the city into one of the richest cities in Flanders. It hosts the Beguinage (enclosed communities designed to meet their spiritual and material needs) and the Belfry of Kortrijk which are listed as UNESCO world heritage sites since 1998 and 1999 respectively. Like the rest of Flanders, Kortrijk suffered in both Great Wars, only 30 kilometres to Menin Gate in Ypres. It boasts of easy access to international transport, with direct trains to Zaventem airport and to Lille in France. There is also Kortrijk-Welvegem Airport, an international business airport. The business and economic place of Kortrijk is strategic. International companies like CISCO, Barco and Bekaert have their Belgian headquarters all in
INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY MAGAZINE | July 2017
Kortrijk, and there is a new plan to open up a branch of IKEA (Sweden) in Wevelgem-Kortrijk. All these make Kortrijk an accessible international tourist and business destination.
services. Memberships are a mix of Europeans, Asians of Filipino origin, and Africans. Ministry to English speakers in Kortrijk would require a full time ministry, and this is the real challenge!
There is therefore no doubt that there are a high number of English-speaking international populations in Kortrijk. This makes the presence of an English Church very compelling. The Roman Catholic Church in Kortrijk has offered us a church building with minimal charges for usage. The church of Sint-Jan Baptist in Kortrijk is located at the centre of the city, at Sint-Jansplein, 8500 Kortrijk. There is a weekly Saturday Roman Catholic mass on Saturday evening, and now an Anglican Service on Sundays at 10.30am. The first liturgical service was held in Kortrijk on 5 March (first Sunday of Lent). The chaplaincy council of Ostend/Bruges is keen to see the flourishing of a new vibrant church community and to support this initiative, however, finances are very limited. Currently, there is a regular attendance of twenty people at Sunday
15
INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY MAGAZINE | July 2017
PRAYER MEETINGS If you would like to start up an ICS prayer meeting in your region, get in touch with Jeannette at ajspaanderman@ics-uk.org and we will help organise this for you.
Cheltenham Tuesday 22 August at 10.30am for 10.45 am Contact Audrey Martin-Doyle 01242 510 352 Exeter Monday 17 July at 11am Contact John Philpott 01395 225 044 Edinburgh 10 Kirkhill Terrace, Edinburgh EH16 5DQ Contact Chris Martin 0131 668 4071 revchris.martin45@gmail.com Keighley 42 Hollins Lane, Keighley, BD20 6LT Contact Michael Savage 01535 606 790 Norfolk The Vicarage, 37 Church Road, Tilney St Lawrence, Kings Lynn PE34 4QQ Contact Martin Dale 01945 880 259
North Birmingham Thursday 10 August at 7.30 pm 12 Trinity Close, Shenstone, WS14 0NU Contact Tim Cox at timcox45@yahoo.com Northern Ireland 74 Demesne Road, Seaforde, Ballynahinch, BT24 8NS Contact John Dinnen 028 44 811 148 South East Thursdays 14 September, 12 October at 10 am The Rectory, Cock Lane, Hamstreet, Kent TN26 2HU Contact Rod Whateley 01233 732 274 Warwick Monday 2 October at 7.30pm 11 Verden Avenue, Chase Meadow, Warwick CV34 6RX Contact Anna Hopkins 07745 223 580 The Wirral Monday 3 July at 7.30pm 11 Stanford Ave, Wallesey CH45 5AP Contact Peter Jordan 0151 639 7860
MISSION AND MINISTRY IN ENGLISH FOR EVERYONE
www.ics-uk.org
ICS NEWS ICS NEWS
Cambridge Wednesday 26 July, at 7-8.15 pm Thursday 19 October at 7-8.15 pm Impington Church Hall, Histon CB24 9JE Contact Dennis Sadler 01223 232 194