J]5(E (L) t) t)ft The Diocese of Oxford Reporter: Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
Number 34
July 1992
GIFTS FOR AFRICA
huts, frican African trees and even a touch of African sunshine, gave this year's three Children's Gift Days at Bloxham, Milton Keynes and Earley a truly international flavour. They also involved three bishops, almost a thousand children and junior church leaders, teachers and parents from all over the Diocese in raising £3500 for an agricultural project in Zaire. And the cheques are "still coming in". At Bloxham on May 23, in blazing sunshine, the Bishop of Oxford launched a cloud of balloons in a field next to the Church of Our Lady. At Milton Keynes on May 30, in the new Church of Christ the Cornerstone, the Bishop of Buckingham served African banana bread from an African hut. While at St Peter's, Earley, on June 6 the Bishop of Reading lay down to be measured for his new chasuble decorated with flowers, snakes and elephants - and then wore it for the afternoon service. The decision to hold not one but three Gift Days was taken because the single event was in uanger of becoming too big. For the Diocesan Children's Officer, Roger Fray, it has meant three separate events to organise, one in each Archdeaconry. Howev-
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er, first impressions were that the experiment had been a success, he said. "Three smaller occasions have proved much more manageable. We probably had
slightly fewer children than last year, but it was half term and not everyone realised they could go to another Archdeaconry's Gift Day." The Gift Day Planning Group will review this year's Gift Days before making a decision about 1993. Money .collected by the children and presented during the Gift Day services will go to support a CMS project in Boga, north eastern Zaire, where subsistence famers and their fami-
lies struggle against drought and erosion to make a living from the soil. A small team of agriculturalists have encouraged the farmers to group together to share their problems, and develop their own initiatives such as experimenting with new erosion-controlling techniques, and new crops like the adaptable leukaena tree. The children were encouraged to study the area and the project before the Gift Days, and they arrived by coach, car and on foot carrying a colourful array of African maps, villages and trees which were displayed during the afternoon services. The Zaire theme was also taken up during the morning workshops. At Earley, for instance, the children experimented with African recipes, music, hairstyles and costumes. In Milton Keynes they constructed puppets and thatched huts. And in Bloxham they made banners, musical instruments and hung prayers for Zaire on the branches of huge cardboard Leukaena trees. Each of the Gift Days had its own flavour. Bloxham came first, and was a rural occasion with leisurely picnics under the soaring spire of one of the Diocese's most beautiful churches. Even a thunderstorm couldn't dampen (continued on back page)
Above: the children's gift day at Earley where two workers admire the vestment they made for Bishop John to wear. Left: the gift day at Milton Keynes, where Bishop Simon receives offerings for the CMS Zaire project. Below left: Bishop Richard looks heavenwards as balloons are released at the Bloxham gift day. More photos on back page: Those at Reading were taken by Frank Blackwell, and at Milton Keynes by Lionel Grech. The Editor took the Bloxham photos.
INSIDE THE DOOR • Be kind to tourists and pilgrims says Richard Thomas (page 8) and in this summer issue we look at Dorchester Abbey's ministry of welcome (page 10) and at the miniature world of Bekonscot Model Village where the director is a Church Army Captain. • Five years ago on Ascension Day Richard Harries became Bishop of Oxford. In this issue he looks back and forward in a frank conversation with David Winter (page 4). • What do you do if your choir is dwindling, your organist squeaking and your director of music retiring? Read Patrick Salisbury's article on page 7.
Sharing the Good News in the Decade of Evangelism
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