Reps Circular

Dear ALMA Reps and Friends,

What a two months since the last email circular! All around our partnership there has been activity, travel and evidence of the Gospel in action –particularly as flood relief work continues in Niassa.

Our partner Bishops, Bishops André, Carlos, Mark and Manuel, Revd Helen Van Koevering, MU president of Lebombo Joana Chilengue, Ven Jossias Sengulane and Revd Kiaku Avelino have been to Recife, Brazil, to the second conference of Portuguese Speaking Churches of the Anglican Communion, which affirmed

“We believe in God; We believe in the power of poor people,
In the audacity of those poets, In the boldness of the prophets,
In the inspiration of the artists.
We believe in Jesus, we believe in humility to serve;
In the courage to transform, in the joy of celebrating,
In the respect of the differences, in the bread for the whole table, in comfort for every sorrow.
We believe in the Spirit, we believe in the hope of starting over;
In the beauty of the gesture of solidarity, in fairness to all oppression, in compassion before
pain, In love, divine-human gift. Amen.”

Delegates to the conference

Angola

Lebombo

Niassa

In London ALMA is simultaneously rejoicing and sorrowful as both Bishop Paul, our ‘Bishop for ALMA’ and Archdeacon Rachel, Chair of ALMA, have been appointed Diocesan Bishops and will be leaving London. Bishop Paul goes to Southwell and Nottingham and Archdeacon Rachel to Gloucester as the first woman Diocesan Bishop in the UK. We ask for your prayers for them in their new posts, and for us, as we look to the future without them.

1. Diary Dates

ALMA Reps Meeting Dates for 2015 are:

Tuesday 21 April. 6-8 pm at Diocesan House Main Hall. Refreshments from 5.40pm. We will have an update on the Niassa floods and first three months of 2015 and some further training on our newest initiative. Do bring people who might be interested and RSVP to almacomms@london.anglican.org

Saturday 11 July. MANNA AGM St John’s Waterloo

Sunday 12 July. ALMA Sunday with Bishop Mark van Koevering. 6pm St Paul’s Cathedral and preceded by our ALMA Reps and Friends afternoon tea. Venue for the tea tbc.

Tuesday 20 October. Reps meeting Main Hall Diocesan House 6-8pm

2. News from our Partners

a) Angola

• The 2012 Lent Appeal “Giving Ministry Wheels” Vehicle has been purchased and appropriately blessed in Luanda! See more pictures of the three 2012 Lent Appeal Vehicles.
• Oswaldo Ferriera who visited London in 2007 has been commissioned Executive Secretary of Anglican Youth in Angola.
• In mid March there was severe flooding in Benguela and Lobito.

b) Lebombo

• In early March many from Lebombo were on the annual pilgrimage to Guambene, the birthplace of Bernard Mizeki.
  

  

  On 20-22 March, 120 clergy, and lay leaders, representing every congregation in Lebombo, gathered to reflect, discern and define the Mission, Vision and Values of the Diocese for the next ten years.

  

  

  On Sunday 22 March, at the concluding service, tribute was paid to Bento Micahangula (right) who has served the Diocese since 1985 as Diocesan Secretary. Bento has now managed to properly retire and we send warm wishes to wish him and his family as well as our greetings to his successor Fr Sergio Bambo.

• We also welcome Ivan Macie as the new ALMA Link Officer for Lebombo.
• Emeritus Bishop Dinis has been voted Personality of the Year in Mozambique.

c) Niassa

• The Niassan floods in January affected 157,172 people in northern Mozambique, with 120 deaths. 12,799 homes destroyed and 950 classrooms. 11 million people (half the Mozambican population) were without electricity for nearly a month. See: http://www.fews.net/southern-africa/alert/january-2015-0.

  You have seen the photos of the bridges destroyed by the flood surge and the impact of these on north - south communications, including flood relief work. The Equipa da Vida and emergency teams have been beacons of hope in procuring, transporting emergency supplies,and in reconstruction and resilience work. They have faced major obstacles and gone many many extra miles.

  
  Carrying food across a river

  
  

  
  Stuck in the mud at Murrapula

  
  Stuck in the mud at Murrapula

  Milange, Murrupula and Mecanhelas suffered particularly in the floods so it was a delight to hear from Helen Van Koevering today that the three banners, made by St Augustine’s Whitton Dorcas group, are now proudly hanging in Mecanhelas church. We last saw them on ALMA Sunday 2014 before their journey to Niassa!

  
  Banners at Mecanhelas church

  Please pray for the teams as they continue their flood work, and for the Diocese.

• The Niassa Diocesan Review has been postponed, because of the floods, to 9 - 11 June.

3. London

• Our major news has been highlighted at the start –we will greatly miss Bishop Paul with his remit on training, and Archdeacon Rachel who has been involved in ALMA for many years since her initial visit in 2002. We send them on to Southwell and Nottingham, and Gloucester with our love, gratitude and deep appreciation.
• We are so grateful to everyone in London who has responded to the Niassa Flood Appeal. Our step of faith in sending £5000 as soon as we heard the news, (and before we had raised the money!) has been blessed. We have been so encouraged by your generous responses. In addition to the initial £5000 we are now sending a further £7952 for flood relief with three other donations totalling £2980.64 for mosquito nets, reconstruction in Milange and Mecanhelas – an overall total of £15,932.64. Deus e bom.

4. Wider Issues

• The Eco-Bishops Conference was held in South Africa and they have issued a Holy week call for global climate action:

  Climate change is the “most urgent” moral issue facing humanity, according to a group of 17 Anglican bishops, calling on the church's 85 million-strong followers to take action. The bishops, from Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Americas, say they have been “complicit in a theology of domination” that has seen environmental degradation ignored. Writing ahead of the most important Christian festival of the year, Easter, they urge fellow Anglicans to push for an ambitious UN climate deal in Paris later this year. They also commit their own dioceses to divest from fossil fuels, invest in renewable energy and take energy conservation measures in church buildings. “In the words of St Theresa of Avila, we are God's hands and feet on earth – now is the time for us, rooted in prayer, to step up and take action on the climate crisis,” said the archbishop of Cape Town and primate of southern Africa, Thabo Makgoba.

• 23 March was World Water Day and we remember the statistics that 748 million people lack access to clean water worldwide. In Mozambique, more than half of the population have no access to drinking water. We remember the efforts of the church and the WASH project to be and to give Living Water
• Those involved in theology training and teaching may be interested in a new Partnership in the Anglican Communion focusing on Mission Theology – Its purpose is to research, stimulate, connect and publish works of theology in the Anglican Communion, with particular focus on insights from Africa, Asia and Latin America, in their ecumenical contexts.