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• A time to reminisce
• Boundaries came together
• Nativity play with a difference
• A church on the move
• New head of COT
 A time to reminisce
On Pentecost Sunday just over
ten years ago three members of St Paul’s Church were ordained
priests, and on 27 December 2006 they gathered to reminisce and reflect
on the past ten years.
The three priests are Henk de Groote, Jack Hughes and Jean Underwood.
Jack and Henk are still ministering at St Paul’s while Jean is at
Somerset East where she was looking after St Ninian’s during
their interregnum, and where she is very involved in the hospice and
HIV/AIDS work. All are still self-supporting priests, Jack being
retired while Henk, a doctor, is still working part-time at Dora Nginza
hospital.
They enjoyed a braai with Howard and Sheila Lancaster. Howard had been
their mentor and the rector at St Paul’s in Parsons Hill during
their training.
Pic: Looking back - Jack Hughes, Jean Underwood and Henk de Groot joined their former rector,Howard Lancaster (left), to look back on ten years of ordained ministry.
 Boundaries came together
The boundaries of the new
parish of the Good Shepherd came together on Wednesday 17 January with
a visit to All Souls in Bluelilliesbush, reports Pam Brown.
Eileen Bambrough of St Francis, Jeffries Bay, Anne Skosanna of St
Patrick’s in Humansdorp and Pam Brown of St Mark’s
travelled to All Soul's to meet the members there.
This beautiful church is set amongst several RDP developments not far
from Storms River. We arrived in time for tea with the co-priest, Sipho
Tokota and his wife Nozipho, and church-warden Daphne Cunningham. After
tea we visited parishioners in Coldstream and surrounds. A lovely lunch
was enjoyed with the Mother’s Union Christian Family Life members
before an hour’s drive home.
Nativity play with a difference
St David's in Bushmans River
Mouth, teamed up with Bushmans Family Fellowship to produce a nativity
play with a difference reports Jeanne Beadon.
The combined Churches used their sunday school children to enact the
stable scene from the vantage point of a group of animals. Included in
the cast were meercat, birds, a cow, mice, sheep, skunk, snake and the
usual shepherds, angels, wise men and Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. The
story of the nativity was humerously portrayed with a strong
evangelistic thrust and an altar call to which many of the holiday
children responded by giving their lives to Jesus afresh.
Each child was given a fish to symbolize their committment to Christ as
well as a message for them and their families to understand the
decision taken that night.
A play of great joy for all.
A church on the move
"Global South" reports that the Church of Nigeria has elected 20 new bishops in one night.
The vision is clear - we are to make disciples of all peoples. However,
as he traveled along many rural highways it became clear to the
Primate, Archbishop Peter Akinola, that large sections of his own
country of Nigeria were without any significant Anglican presence. "It
was a disturbing indictment of our ministry," said Archbishop Akinola,
even though with 19 million members, it is the largest Province, in
terms of active membership, in the Anglican Communion. This became a
personal challenge for the Primate, Archbishop Peter Akinola, whose
passion to bring all people into a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ is
well known around the world. He has shared this vision throughout the
Province and a number of missionary dioceses have already been
established. This next unprecedented step was approved by the Standing
Committee, when they met in Port Harcourt in September 2006, and so
detailed preparations began that culminated in an amazing night of
back-to-back elections.
"It was a truly historic event and one for which I am very grateful to
God," said Archbishop Akinola, who along with Archbishop Maxwell
Akinwenwa, Dean of the Province, presided over this remarkable night.
Ninety-three Anglican bishops, most wearing traditional purple
cassocks, gathered in the chapel of the Ibru Ecumenical Retreat Center
at Agbarha Otor. The Retreat Center is a sprawling complex of modern
air-conditioned buildings surrounded by palm trees in the middle of the
farmland of the Delta State in the Niger Delta region approximately 6
hours drive from Lagos. The theme for this annual retreat was
"Empowered Leadership" a title that seemed most appropriate in light of
the events that were about to unfold.
They began with an hour of energetic intercessory prayer for the nation
and the church that was punctuated by spiritual choruses and loud
shouts of praise. This was followed by a traditional service of Holy
Communion and then the work began. Earlier in the meeting large maps of
the various regions had been carefully examined and twenty new
strategic areas for mission reviewed. A committee had worked with
neighboring dioceses and regional leaders to choose a location for the
new work and also gather the necessary resources for housing,
trans-portation and financial support - 3 million Naira per annum for
the first three years (approximately R168 000). Each area was then
briefly described and the particular dynamics discussed - for example
some of the areas are situations where there is virtually no Christian
presence, others are places where new universities have been
established, and still others where an influx of refugees present a
unique challenge. Nominations were then made.
All of those nominated were clergy who had a demonstrated aptitude for
dynamic evangelism and church planting. In some cases as many as four
candidates were proposed and then the ballots distributed. As a team of
election monitors including Bishop Martyn Minns, one of the newest
missionary bishops, carefully counted the ballots there was a time for
prayer and vigorous hymn singing before the results were announced.
This pattern was followed for the next five and a half hours until
03h30! By which time all twenty new bishops had been chosen - nineteen
will serve in new missionary districts and one will fill a vacancy in
an existing diocese. "You have taken three of my best clergy!"
exclaimed Bishop Ben Kwashi of the Diocese of Jos where three new
missionary districts have been established. His big smile however made
it clear that he was proud to be part of this remarkable night.
Finally, there was an election for a new Archbishop for the Niger Delta
Ecclesiastical Province - Bishop Ugochukwu Ezuoke of the Diocese of Aba
- and ninety-three tired but jubilant bishops walked out into the
moonlight aware that they taken part in a historic event. "This is a
dream unfolding!" declared an exuberant Archbishop Akinola. Now they
had to make plans for an unprecedented consecration that will have both
national and international, significance. No one could think of a
similar moment in the history of the Anglican Communion. This truly is
a church on the move.
New head of COT
As reported in the December
issue of iindaba Dr Esther Moraa Mombo, has been appointed as rector of
the College of the Transfiguration in Grahamstown.
More details about Dr Mombe have been released on cpsa.chat and iindaba prints them for our readers.
Dr Mombo, a Kenyan, received a Bachelor of Divinity degree with honours
from St Paul’s United Theological College in Limuru, Kenya in
1984. She has a master’s degree from the University of Dublin in
Philosophy in Ecumenism and received her PhD from the University of
Edinburgh in 1998.
Since September 1999 she has been Academic Dean at St Paul’s
United Theological College in Limuru, Kenya and has taught courses in
Gender issues in Theology, African Christianities, Gender and HIV/AIDS
and Women’s Theologies among other subjects.
Dr Mombo describes herself as a ‘dedicated instructor,
demonstrating creative teaching styles, rigorous approach to research
and intellectual development’. Her research interests are in the
dynamic interrelationship between culture, theology and mission and
their relation to gender. She has contributed to a number of
publications, more recently to ‘Kenyan Reflections: Other Voices
in the Global Church Speak out on Homosexuality [Ed Terry Brown Darton
Longman London] The Call for Women Bishops [H Harris and J Shaw, London
SPCK] and The Oxford Guide to the Book of Common Prayer [Ed Charles
Hefling and Cynthia Shattuck Oxford, Oxford University Press. 2006].
Archbishop Ndungane, Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern
Africa said of her appointment, “I am delighted to welcome Dr
Mombo to the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. She will be an asset
to our theological college and our church and will, I am sure, enable
and encourage more women, who feel a calling, to enter the church. This
can only be a good thing.”
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iindaba
Editor: Frankie Simpson
Layout / design : Frankie
Email: iindaba@anglicandiocesepe.org.za
Tel/fax +27 041 360 6808
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