Celebrating 200 years of CMS
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July 1999 No 104 Diocese of Oxford Reporter Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
Church of England faces time of soul-searching soul-searching situation' faces the Church of England said the Bishop of Oxford, the Right Revd Richard Harries, in his moving presidential address at the Diocesan Synod on June 12 in St Andrew's Church, High Wycombe. The majority of our fellow men and women are to all intents and purposes outside the Church in that the culture of the Church is strange to them and they often feel spiritually alienated by it and from it. Bishop Richard said. However he
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rejected the caricature of the Church of England so often depicted in the national press of an institution in terminal decline. The Bishop went on to describe the current consultation process in the Oxford Diocese to develop a strategy for mission for the coming years. It is hoped that following consultation with boards and parishes across the Diocese, a mission policy will be endorsed by Diocesan Synod in June 2000. 'We are faced with a missionary
situation in Western Europe as challenging as any that has faced the Christian Church in its history,' said the Bishop, pointing out that while in most countries in the world religious practice is on the increase, the reverse is true in Western Europe. 'We will need to discover wholly new ways of trying to connect with people physically, culturally and spiritually,' Bishop Richard said. More news from Diocesan Synod on page three
inside The DOOR Mission in the Diocese page 2 page 4 The news in pictures page 5 Fishermen's Mission CMS celebrates 200 years pages 8,10,11 &13 here to go for tea DoorPost page 20 ay for Tiny Tots
arrel wth amjssjop 'Oxford to Cambridge with a Camel' walk, led by a Kenyan nomad, celebrates 200 years of the Church Mission Society (CMS) camel, several Kenyan nomads, a 70- year old bishop, some American businessmen and David Longrigg, a licensed lay minister from St Giles' Church, Oxford, were among the members of an extraordinary group which left Radcliffe Square in front of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin on June 22 to walk the 85 miles to Cambridge. Among those seeing them off was the ViceChancellor of Oxford University, Professor Cohn Lucas and the General Secretary of the Church Mission Society (CMS), Canon Diana Witts. Canon Brian Mountford, Vicar of the University Church, prayed to the 'God of the Way' for a blessing on their journey. The 'Oxford to Cambridge with a Camel' walk celebrates the bicentenary of CMS who are sponsoring the journey. The group of 25 men and women walkers accompanying the camel also hope to raise £100,000 for six primary schools in northern Kenya to help them provide more education for nomadic tribes.
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Helping to educate nomadic children 'We have chosen to walk with a camel because the chiidren in Kenya for whom we are raising funds travelled about with camels,' said Canon Graham Kings, Director of the Henry Martyn Centre for Mission Studies, Cambridge and organiser of the walk. The six-day walk was led by the Revd Joseph Galgalo whose own story is an exciting example of how education can change lives. A member of the Gabbra tribe in northern Kenya, he is the first nomadic PhD student in Divinity at the University of Pictured with Chloe the Camel in front of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin at the start of the Cambridge. journey are the Revd Joseph Galgalo, leader of the Oxford to Cambridge Camel walk, and Canon Diana The party travelled along bridal paths and stayed with church members in Aylesbury and Bedford on Witts, General Secretary of CMS who came to see them off. Hidden behind Chloe is Canon Graham Kings, the way. They were due to arrive at Great St Mary's, the organiser of the event who was also a member of the walking group. Photo: Frank Blackwell Cambridge on Sunday, June 27.
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'Anglicans in the Oxford Diocese give thanks for the life of Basil Hume. His Christian holiness and true simplicity were an example and a witness to us all.' + Richard Oxon