Reps Circular

What a summer we have had in the ALMA Partnership:

• The first ever pilgrimage from a partner diocese to London: 23 pilgrims from Lebombo Diocese came to London with their Bishop – Bishop Carlos Matsinhe.
• A brilliant celebration of the 19th ALMA Sunday in St Paul’s Cathedral with Bishop Carlos preaching
• A full post pilgrimage programme for Bishop Carlos
• The opportunity to spend time together, get to know each other and build friendships in the Gospel
• Visiting so many Lebombo Link Parishes with the pilgrims
• Exploring our shared Anglican Identity together

Autumn 2017 seems almost as busy!

We look forward to:

• Welcoming Archdeacon Diniz from Milange (the Zambezia area of Niassa Diocese)
• And then Fr Alfredo and our Lebombo Link Officer, Ivan, to London in October

Diary Dates

30 September -10 October. Ven Diniz Mbenuca, Archdeacon of Milange (Niassa Diocese), visits his link Parish St Nicholas Shepperton and London

12-19 October. Fr Alfredo Nhabetse, Priest of Nhamavila parish zone (Lebombo Diocese) and Ivan Macie our ALMA Link Officer in Lebombo visit Fr Alfredo’s link parish, St Paul’s Knightsbridge, and London.

15 October. Inauguration new Ecclesiastical Centre for Southern Angola, covering provinces of Huambo, Bie, Huila, Cunene and Benguela.

17 October. ALMA Meeting, Main Hall, London Diocesan House, 6-8pm with light refreshments from 5.40pm. Please RSVP to Helen Doery.

22-27 October Lusophone Anglican Conference in Oporto.

27-29 October Lebombo Diocesan Family Weekend Maciene.

2018 Advance Dates

13 February 2018. ALMA Meeting, hopefully with Bishop Carlos Matisnhe and Bishop Vicente Msosa.

9 July 2018. ALMA Sunday Eucharist St Paul’s Cathedral at 6pm.

News from Partners

Angola

• 15 October sees the inauguration of the Ecclesiastical centre for Southern Angola in Benguela by Bishop André. The new centre will cover the five southern provinces of Huambo, Bie, Huila, Cineme and Benguela. Meanwhile in Uige St Philips redoutable flute group holds its fifth Evangelistic concert.
• Revd Maria Domingos, our Link Officer reports back on the School Programme in Angola - a key Diocesan Priority. She has visited Nsosso and Negage with Antonio Pedro and Laurindo Morais (Diocesan Administrator and Treasurer) who provided training on Administrative and Financial Management to the school management teams. Maria has sent a good photo of the extension work on Negage School (a St Paul’s Winchmore Hill/ALMA Project).
  • 
    Negage school has now has 727 students and 14 teachers (11 teachers are paid by the government and three are collaborating teachers who are paid locally The school has 11 Classrooms and works with two shifts. In the morning there is primary school from 1st to 6th grades and in the afternoon it is 7th to 9th grade. In the future it would be possible to have a high school as part of the same school site!
  • Nsosso School (Diocese of London Lent Appeal Project 2008) has 566 students and seven teachers, six paid for by the government and the seventh locally.
  • Benguela school and its same size extension (St John’s Pinner/ALMA Project) is almost complete and will be inaugurated officially in February 2018.
• Archdeacon da Costa, church planter extraordinaire (35 and counting!) has planted another church the Congregation of ENGEVIA, located on the Benfica-Viana Expresso Way near Zango. (Picture L).
  

  

  
• Bishop André ordained two deacons and four priests on 17 September. He also commissioned a new Diocesan Secretary, Alves Alexandre, (picture R) who was previously the school director of the St Stephen's School, which is the largest church school in the diocese. Alves was elected to the Diocesan Standing Committee by the Diocesan Synod in June and appointed Standing Committee Secretary and now Diocesan Secretary.
• Revd Adão Alexandre is to be the new Archdeacon of Luanda South, taking over from Ven Simão Adolfo. He will be based at Patterson the Missionary Church with effect from 3 December. (Middle picture) There are other clergy changes too connected to the change of Archdeacon which again take effect from 3 December. We will let the affected Link Parishes in London know.
• John Tasker, our Twinning Officer, visited Angola in June – do read his visit report (1881 Kb),

Lebombo

Bishop Carlos Matsinhe left London on 19 July after a very full three-week programme with ALMA and MANNA, fitted around the Lebombo Pilgrimage to London. Since then he and the Diocese have had a busy time! On his return to Maputo he immediately went to Maciene to the close of an ERD training course with 21 participants from Maputo, Gaza, Tete, Zambezia, Niassa, Angola and Ghana.

• 26 - 29 July. School of clergy at Maciene (Formcao Continuada-Continuing Training) with 45 priests participating. Bishop Carlos shares ‘It was an exciting moment as we shared stories of our ministry and exchanged knowledge, checked how the diocesan Vision and Mission and Plan is being implemented as well as doing some coordination. Enthusiasm is great and this is encouraging to see that the Spirit is at work’.
• 20 August Bishop Carlos visited St. Benedicto of Malhangalene (a church whose foundation stone was laid by Bishop Richard). There was a good harvest: 38 were baptised; 73 confirmed; 15 new Mothers Union members were admitted and four Bernard Mizeki’s members along with 12 into the Young Adults Guild!
• 27 August - the Lebombo Harvest and Thanksgiving Festival - was a big encouragement with the whole Diocese giving generously – in money and in kind - including building materials. There were also three significant gifts of land. Bishop Carlos laid foundation stones at two of these plots: at St Simon of Cyrene in Boane; St Stephen of Venhene (close to Maciene) and blessed a large plot of land at the Bartholomew Congregation near Chambone. This was given to the church by an elderly couple with no children who said ‘since the bishop has come to receive this gift I can now sing the Song of Simeon because I am ready to go and meet the Lord’. Bishop Carlos adds ‘I was deeply humbled to see such faith’
• 28 August the diocesan work in the wake of Cyclone Dineo was commissioned -this included handing over two classrooms at Hanhane Primary School about 10 km north of Homoine town which had been reroofed, and the presentation of ALMA Tutudesks to the small school. ‘The Permanent Secretary of the District Government and the District Director of Education joined us for the occasion. It touched me to be welcomed by the local community representatives, the very dynamic teachers and they happy 300 hundred or so children who sung joyously for the occasion. Later three rebuilt homes were handed over to elderly people whose homes had been lost in the cyclone.
  

  

  
• 15 - 16 September Training Course for Baptism and Confirmation teachers -the first time these lay ministers have been able to meet and exchange experiences. This is important work as ‘in the face of religious plurality and competition in Mozambique Anglicans need to reflect on the most timely methods of teaching and making disciples’
• 17 September Pastoral visit to the Church of the Good Samaritan in Zimpeto, Maputo. More than 500 people packed the church with 26 (adults and children) baptised, 29 confirmed, 23 admitted to MU, 11 to Bernard Mizeki and five from other churches to the Anglican Communion
• 24 - 30 September Bishop Carlos and our other partner Bishops attended Synod of Bishops in South Africa
• 15 - 23 October Pastoral Visit to Pungue to visit Marromeu and run a clergy retreat at Chimoio and ending with the dedication of St Simon of Cyrene at Catandica and the ordination of two priests there.
• 28 - 29 October Diocesan Family Celebration at Maciene
• 9 - 12 November 40th Diocesan Conference of Lebombo Mothers’ Union. It will be a time of looking back and see how God has used Mothers Union to strengthen His church and where is God leading the MU to in these our troubled days ahead. We are inviting MU members from neighbouring dioceses so that they can share their experiences of MU leadership.

Niassa

• We warmly welcome some new members to the Niassa Team:
  • Revd Lucas Mchuma is to be the new Director of Ministry the portfolio Revd Helen Van Koevering exercised. Revd Lucas Mchuma supported by Rebecca Vander Meulen is the new ALMA Link Officer for Niassa.
  • Revd Mateus Ntiko is an assistant to Rebecca Vander Meulen in the Mission Department
  • Arnold Gezan is the new Rooted in Jesus co-ordinator supported by Ven Bukutu.

  Please pray for them, and all the new post holders we have mentioned in this newsletter.

• Bishop Vicente has made a pastoral visits to Murrupula with Bishop Manuel
  

  

  

  This is a church with a long history going back to UMCA days when it was linked with a church in Paddington in 1915! Many thanks to Robert Ashdown for sharing this history which we will expand on our website.

• During his time in South Africa for Provincial Synod of Bishops Bishop Vicente was invited back to his training college - his alma mater - the College of the Transfiguration to celebrate the Eucharist.
• The Niassa Adeptos team (the community facilitators who work alongside the Equipas da Vida) had their annual Mission department training conference in Cobue on the Niassan Lakeshore.
  

  

London News

• A special report on the Lebombo Pilgrimage will be available at the Meeting on 17 October to accompany the premier of the Pilgrimage film. Including the reflection on the Pilgrimage on this newsletter would double its length! It will also be available on the website. However, I thought you might like to read one parish’s reflection on the pilgrimage and ALMA Sunday. Many thanks to St Paul’s Knightsbridge and Fr Louis Darrant
• We are also delighted to formally welcome the youngest member of the ALMA London team: Zachariah John Beale son of Joanne, our Mozambique Projects Officer, and Andrew who was born on 2 August. We send many congratulations to this new family.

Wider Issues

• On 23 August Angolan elections involved voting for a new president for the first time in 37 years - a significant transfer of power regionally and internationally. The final results were confirmed on 6 September with the ruling MPLA gaining 61% of the vote and winning 150 seats in the 220 seater parliament. João Lourenço is the new President.

  Chatham House has many interesting online resources on Angola. Do look at The Angola Forum 2017 which examined Angola's economic and political future after the election, the relationship between the state and its citizens, and how Angola’s institutions can be strengthened. Opposition representatives from UNITA and CASA-CE gave their parties’ policy perspectives.

  Read the summary >

  Listen to the audio (session 1) >

  Listen to the audio (session 2) >

• Continuity and Change in Angola: Insights from Modern History A review article of six recently published books on Angola assesses the prospects of continuity and change in modern Angolan politics.

  Read the review > .

• Some of you have also been following the debt situation in Mozambique and may be interested in the Kroll report. Kroll suggests that Credit Suisse may have violated British Law by failing to undertake an adequate due diligence enquiry on the loans to ProIndicus and Ematum

Very much look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 17 October at our meeting and to welcoming Ivan and Fr Alfredo to London.

All best wishes,

Sheenagh Burrell
ALMA Co-ordinator
Tel: +44 20 7932 1231 Tuesdays Diocese of London, London Diocesan House, 36 Causton St, London SW1P 4AU.