Reps Circular

Dear ALMA Reps and Friends,

Once again we have been reminded of the cost of discipleship. We join with the lament of the Angolan church who are in shock after the brutal murder of Revd Manuel Ferreira in Uige province at Cassexe commune as he left church on Sunday 2 May. Please pray for Bishop André and his priests as they lead their people and for Revd Ferreira’s wife Rosa Nunes Ferreira and their six children. See the message from Bishop André and the responses from Bishop Michael and John Tasker.

We also pray for Bishop Dinis whose sister Ana died in April so soon after the death of his mother, for Bishop Mark who is this week in South Africa for a medical check up, and for the family of Padre Isaias - we are very thankful that Revd Paul Walmsley-McLeod of Friern Barnet was able to travel to Mozambique for the funeral of their much loved Link Priest.

1. Diary Dates

21 June –11 July  ALMA EXHIBITIONS during City of London Festival, at St Paul’s Cathedral and St Botolph’s-without-Bishopsgate.

PLEASE see if you can volunteer to steward one of the sessions we need to cover. You are welcome to bring a friend and you will have free admission. Email Helen Doery with offers to steward. helendoery@hotmail.com  Remember: ALMA NEEDS YOU!

Tuesday 22 June Launch event at St Botolph’s in the evening (more details to follow).

11 July ALMA Sunday.

The Diary Dates section of the site has up-to-date details of all these events.

2. News in Brief

a. Angola

The Revd Deacon Mansita who is Bishop André’s Secretary, and was previously the Archbishop of Congo’s Secretary, has been studying theology at the University of Strasbourg on a scholarship from the French Government since September.  He is doing a masters and doctorate in theology, and also another masters in ethics and human rights, so will be in Strasbourg for about four years.  Bishop David Hamil who is the Suffragan Bishop of Europe has just been visiting the Anglican Chaplaincy in Strasbourg and has given him permission to officiate, and also invited him to London later in the year.

We look forward to meeting him and an Angolan oriented ALMA Reps meeting.

There is a new issue of the Angolan Monitor with news on:

• Eight years of peace in Angola
• General elections set for 2012
• New anti-corruption laws
• Angola and Nigeria aim for closer cooperation
• Angolan Airlines (TAAG) to resume flights to Europe
• Mass retrenchments in construction sector

b. Lebombo

Padre Isaias’ funeral lasted six hours and was at his birthplace, an eleven hour drive from Maputo. He had started about 50 congregations and about 350 managed to be present. The tributes lasted two hours.

Magumeto St. John the Evangelist is 10 Kms from Chihunzuine and has appealed for urgent help to assist their 87 children along the model of Chihunzuine. Good practice spreads and we are exploring if ALMA’s Children can help.

c. Niassa

Despite Bishop Mark’s illness we have received the Strategic Plan for Growing the Church in the Diocese of Niassa: 2010-2015. We will put this on this website – but encourage you to  look at this and marvel at the growth of the church and the challenges that brings for the next five years. Here’s a taster:

God has been working in a new way in the Diocese of Niassa in Northern Mozambique! Great organic growth has occurred in the last five years:

• Congregations have grown from 250 to about 500
• Parishes have grown from 20 to 30
• Numbers of priests have risen from 18 to 45
• Archdeaconries have grown from four to five
• Church members have grown from 30,000 to about 60,000
• Mother’s Union members have grown from 110 to 230
• From one staff member, a diocesan structure has been put in place 

There is hope that this growth will continue, with God’s grace and help, for the next three years, and that our members will increase from 60,000 to 90,000, with catechists needing to increase from 600 to 900.

d. London

Twenty of us attended the recent ALMA Reps meeting where we had the opportunity to hear about Jo Lambert’s work in Niassa with the Community Development Team – primarily with water projects and repairing pumps. It was a marvellous evening and so good to see such life giving work. Jo is going to write this up for us and you can have a preview: watch Jo’s film on Youtube.

There are several ALMA visits to Mozambique coming up including my own later today! John has also been invited to Angola in August for their Diocesan Synod. Do look at the visit list for details. I will put my itinerary on this website and can promise extensive photos of link parishes and people. I will be back at the ALMA desk on Tuesday 22 June.

AND FINALLY

3. Two pieces of good news:

The Jubilee Debt Campaign Bill on Vulture Funds, which had been defeated at the third reading, was passed during the Parliamentary Washup session. Thank you for your advocacy on this.

Dr Peg Cumberland has been awarded an MBE for her work in Niassa! Matthew Parris wrote in the Times on 15 April:

The ultimate honour

Can I claim a record for Dr Peg Cumberland, a wonderful person I met on the Mozambique shore of Lake Niassa (or, as the Malawians call it, Lake Malawi). I’ve just heard from her. Dr Peg, as everyone calls her, travels the only way you can practically, on foot, up and down the Lagos province of northern Mozambique, teaching about health and ministering to the sick.

The record I claim is this: is this the last person to discover that she is on the New Year’s Honours List? Peg found out last week. Somebody approached her ages ago, to sound her out on the possibility of an MBE, but she supposed nothing would come of it and, checking online in January, and failing to spot her name, assumed nothing had. “I didn’t realise there was something called the Overseas List,” she tells me. She does now. She’s thrilled.