Reps Circular

Dear ALMA Reps and Friends,

On behalf of the ALMA Task Group may I thank each of you for what you do in your part of London to keep the ALMA link present and undergirded by prayer. 2007 has been a very good year for ALMA and there are so many encouraging signs to be thankful for. I know you will be thrilled that the 2008 Diocesan Lent Appeal is focussed on Angola and Mozambique and the Millennium Development Goals – we are hoping to finance the building of a primary school in each of our link Dioceses. However, before then, we have Christmas and may it be a very special time for you and your loved ones, and those we journey alongside in Angola and Mozambique.

This mailing contains:

1. ALMA Diary Dates for 2008 plus a request for help 2 January 2008
2. Brief NEWS round up

1. Diary Dates 2008

2 January (Wednesday) at 2pm Diocesan House - Packing 475 envelopes with sample Lent Appeal Materials for every parish in London Diocese. If you could spare an hour or two to help with this the ALMA publicity sub group would be very grateful. Please let Sheenagh know if you can spare an hour or two.

Three Dates for 2008 Lent Appeal Materials Collection

• 9 January (Wednesday)
• 14 January (Monday)
• 22 January (Tuesday)

ALMA Reps are warmly invited to pop into Diocesan House for a chat and a coffee and to collect your parish’s 2008 Lent Appeal Resources. SB will be at LDH 10.30 –5pm on these three days

Ash Wednesday Launch of 2008 Diocese of London Lent Appeal

20 April (Sunday) at 3.15pm St Paul’s Cathedral

Installation of Bishop Michael as Canon at St Paul’s Cathedral

24 April ALMA REPS MEETING 6pm London Diocesan House

13 July ALMA SUNDAY – also 10th Anniversary of ALMA – at 6.00pm St Paul’s Cathedral There will be a special diocesan service to celebrate ALMA at the centre of other world-wide relationships which exist between different parishes. The service comes before the Lambeth conference and it is hoped that it will be attended, not only by the bishops from Angola and Mozambique, but also by other bishops from other countries where parish relationships exist. Please book this important date in your diary now and watch this space. Please also suggest coming as a parish to this unique celebration!

2. BRIEF NEWS UPDATE

1. Bishop Michael retires, in January, as Bishop of Kensington. He will be installed as a Canon of St Paul’s Cathedral on 20 April @3.15pm.  All ALMA Reps and Friends are warmly invited to attend this service – and rejoice that Bishop Michael will continue as Chairman of ALMA!
2. Belated news from Bagamoyo, Maputo: A Degree of Compassion In May 2007 Rev’d Juliao Mutemba was awarded an honours degree in Theology specialising in Urban Missiology after remote learning from the University of South Africa (UNISA). Fr Juliao is rector of the large parish of St Barnabas’, Bagamoyo near Maputo and also vicar of Good Samaritan Church and of St Monica’s and also responsible for some eight other parishes or congregations. Two years ago St Barnabas’ Church began a project working with people of all ages who live off the local rubbish tip. Now Fr Juliao has embarked on a research Master’s degree in the Theology of Missiology with UNISA. Again specializing in Urban Ministry, his thesis title will be: “A Theology of Garbage at Hulene Dumping Area: On search for the hidden treasure”.
3. Thank you to Christian Aid for hosting a joint meeting with ALMA, and giving us the privilege of meeting and learning from Luis Samacumbi in December. Luis spoke warmly of Bishop Dinis’s role in peacemaking and perpetuating a culture of peace in Mozambique, and the long road ahead for Angola, where many families including his own ended up on opposite sides in the civil war. He believes the church has a pivotal role to play in bringing about a sustainable peace. A fuller report of this meeting will be available in the New Year.
4. This theme of peacemaking was echoed in John Pridmore’s Sunday Readings in the Church Times on 30/11. In the readings for the 1st Sunday in Advent he looked in detail at the Swords into Ploughshares project. We hope to be able to reprint this on our website soon.
5. Crossing Continents on BBC radio 4 featured Angola in a report by Lucy Ash on 4 December. It is a very comprehensive programme, which can be heard online.
6. Malaria: three interesting updates on malaria work:
   • from DFID about Mozambique:
   • Malaria Consortium Mozambique publication “Mosquito Nets Save Lives: Mozambicans tell their stories”
   • Some ALMA Reps attended the lecture given by the UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Health who called on All Actors to fulfil their Human Rights Duties in the Fight against Malaria. See the Malaria Consortium web site for more information.
7. We have just received some wonderful pictures from Bishop Andre in Angola. We will have these up on the ALMA website early in the New Year so do please log on, have a look and be uplifted.