Reps Circular

Dear ALMA Reps and Friends,

A huge thank you for your vital role in the Lent Appeal! It is very noticeable how active ALMA Reps have been in encouraging their parishes to participate in the Appeal and indeed in collecting Lent Appeal resources from Diocesan House.

This mailing contains:

1. Lent Appeal information, suggestions and additional resources.
2. Diary Dates
3. News from Angola, Lebombo, London, Niassa

1. LENT APPEAL

Many of you have collected materials now and it’s not too late if you haven’t! I am at Diocesan House (address above) on Tuesdays 11 - 5 and will be pleased to equip you, or parcel up materials for collection later. If you can offer to collect for a neighbouring parish this is often appreciated.

All the Lent materials are also available to look at and download on the Diocesan and ALMA websites. As well as the Lent Appeal Card, Poster and Gift Aid envelope there are a couple of other things I’d like to draw your attention to:

a) Additional Resources - these include

• Articles from each of our partner dioceses on water: the Christmas 2008 water shortages in Luanda, Angola; the ALMA’s Children Water and School project in Chihunzuine, Lebombo; the February 2008 floods in Niassa.
• Nine short Reflections on water by Revd Helen van Koevering, Niassa.
• A set of Intercessions focussing on both water and fairtrade fortnight, which is also during Lent (22 February to 8 March).
• Some Sermon suggestions for a Lent Series on water from Revd Peter Vannozzi, Vicar of St James Hampton Hill.
• Challenging text and an interactive resource, ideally suited for youth and schools work, ‘the H₂O Challenge’ from our project partner in Angola (Living Water International).

The only note of caution is that funds should be sent via the Diocese of London Lent Appeal and NOT directly.

b) Inspiring examples  - next week will bring news of five Londoners from Harrow Deanery on their very own Everest version of the H₂O challenge.

c) On line donations to the Lent Appeal are possible this year via a special page on JustGiving.

d) USPG Lent Appeal: The Daily Mission – Studies in Luke’s Gospel. Helen Van Koevering writes: The Lent course (week one) features my church in Lichinga, particularly Ottilia, a member of our MU. See the Lent Video on their web site. The opening chorus is the misericordia being sung in Yao.

This reminded me of a 2001 USPG resource that is particularly relevant for us this Lent: ‘Thinking Mission, elements of creation two: streams of living water’. Maggie Rich is very kindly seeing if there is an electronic version available. If there is I will put the details on the Lent Appeal WebPages.

2. DIARY DATES

1. 25 February Ash Wednesday. Bishop Richard launches ‘Living Water’ Lent Appeal at St Gabriel’s Primary School in Pimlico.
2. Tuesdays in March (3 March to 31March) @12.30pm St Mary’s Stoke Newington Lent Lunches for ALMA. The 393 bus from Highbury and Islington tube station stops outside the church. All welcome.
3. 29 March Medical Orchestra Concert @ St Mary Brookfield, Dartmouth Park Rd, NW5 1SL to raise funds for a community rural health post in Mandambuzi, Lago district in Niassa Province.
4. ALMA REPS MEETING will be in April or early May. Date tbc.

3. NEWS

Angola:

• Bishop André’s new Commissary in the United Kingdom is our own ALMA Twinning Officer John Tasker. We warmly congratulate John and wish him well in this new role. We put on record too our thanks to John’s predecessor Revd Mike Clark, also on the ALMA Task Group, for his many years of dedicated service in this role and to the Mission and Ministry Training and Development Programme to provide theological training for Catechists. Mike has undertaken the Herculean task of translating the TEE course materials.
• Mission & Ministry Training Programme It is a particular joy that this month has seen the first students complete the course.

  John writes that the course  ‘has been running for three years, part-funded and resourced through ALMA, and Bishop André invited ALMA to send a representative to recognise the achievements of catechists who have completed three years training.  We have rapidly arranged a visit, the main focus will be three celebrations in Luanda, Uige and Mucaba, but shorter visits to St Stephen’s Luanda, St Barnabas Songo, and St Michael & All Angels Negage are also included - see programme on Alma website.  I would welcome your prayers for the visit to be an encouragement for the catechists and helping to strengthen the mission of the Diocese of Angola, as well as affirming the fruit of the training programme, and developing relationships with Bishop André & clergy’.

Lebombo:

• Catechist training is evidently the trend of this newsletter!
  Bishop Dinis has just spent five days in Chimoio with 30 Catechists from 20 different Congregations in Púngoe Archdeaconry who were taking part in a ten-day training course. He wrote in early February:
  ‘I feel more than excited about the future work which the Catechists which will be undertaking. Some spent two days traveling to the place of their training but all made a sacrifice to come. In addition to the training for the office of a Catechist they made a plan for evangelism and taking the Gospel to more than 20 new places’.
  The full text with some pictures is available here.
• 10th Anniversary of Zove
  Bishop Dinis has sent us a moving account of the recent events marking the 10th Anniversary of the death of Berta Sengulane in the accident at Zove, at which Fr Paul Walmsley-McLeod and Elizabeth Tucker, from Friern Barnet Parish, represented the ALMA partnership.
  Father Paul’s Photographs of Zove and Elizabeth’s visit report are also available.
• Death of Josina Chiponde on 6 February. Josina was the wife of Revd Tomas Chiponde from Liguirine in the District of Inhambane. The Archdeacon, the Ven Agostino Roberto Buque, conducted the funeral on 10 February. Through Ann, our Lebombo Chaplain, many of us were praying for Josina, Tomas and their young son. We had an ALMA Reps meeting at the time of Josina’s funeral and prayed alongside our brothers and sisters. May Josina rest in peace and rise in glory.

London:

• Beryl Warren and the Stoke Newington Sewing Group are working on transforming the Rivers of Prayer from the River of Life Service into ALMA Banners. Some of the prayers are being recorded too.
• Lots of activity on parish and school links and proposed visits. We will devote the March Circular to updates on this.
• We had an ALMA Reps meeting at lunchtime on 10 February, which gave us the opportunity to pray together for Father Tomas and his son, the clergy of Imhambane, and to pray for John as he prepared to go to Angola at short notice with a very intensive itinerary.
  We collected Lent Appeal materials and then spent our time at Elizabeth’s feet as we heard her tales of her recent journey to Beira and then to Zove. She spun us stories illustrated not by powerpoint but with the poetry of her words and the immediacy and vibrancy of the many objects and capulanas she brought to share with us. Do look at her visit report and some of the photos on the website to be a part this remarkable journey.

Niassa:

• Rebecca Vander Meulen, known to many of us as the HIV Co-ordinator in Niassa who has spearheaded the excellent community based HIV Life teams – the Equipas da Vida, has a new role in the diocese.
  Rebecca is now Head of Mission for the Diocese with Mario, now responsible for HIV work, Charles who does ALMA project work and peace work and Kiss who looks after the Diocesan forestry work reporting to her.
  We wish her well in this new post and ask for continued prayers for her.
• Revd Tim MCGowan, curate at St Matthew’s Fulham visited Lichinga in September with a group from South Africa to help teach on the Rooted in Jesus Programme. There are now some photos from this visit on the website, taken in Helen Van Koevering’s Church, showing the teaching.
• Simon Sheldon has sent a link to his Picassa account where you can see seven photos and captions of the Shepperton visit to Niassa in October. There is a fabulous one of the opening of the school in Milange, and also one of the smaller school in Njema.