News from here and there and round about

Recent news - 4 items

But first, if you're worried about carbon and a warmer planet
and don't know where to start - try starting here
Meantime, it may be possible to kit out the church roof with concealed solar panels to power ourselves and perhaps feed into the grid too.
Like to say something about that? or about another matter ?
go to FEEDBACK
and yet another shade of green for a moral reflection here

Job at OMF International
Personnel Assistant. A full-time post for a 12 month period. £13,500 a year salary. If you are interested and have good administrative, organisational and interpersonal skills, tell OMF by email right away.

Expressions of Interest
Crimson Holidays have asked Olive & Gordon Kuhrt if they would like to lead a tour in Israel next March. They haven't agreed yet but are waiting to see how much interest there is. If any one is interested please contact them. Their email is:omkuhrt@tiscali.co.uk or phone 01608 661264

More Cricket Arranged
20th July versus All Saints - we aim to put a dent in their centenary celebrations ! Other matches vs St Mildred's and not least St Michael's vs St Michael's are possibilities too. Previous match on 8th June:- we scored 127 and bowled St Johns out for 114 in a close finish on a lovely day in Greenwich Park

Christian Aid Week
With Gift Aid, we collected just a whisker under £4000.00. Well done everyone !

OLDER NEWS ITEMS

Remembering Keith
A concert in memory of Keith Rogers, who died in January, was held on April 19th [his birthday] in St Michael’s. We celebrated his life in as many aspects as possible but mainly his music. There was a mixture of music which he composed and music he loved, played by his family and friends, some of it on instruments he made. We heard the biggest and smallest Serpents in the world.

Annual Church Meeting 27th April
11.00 am in church after the 10.30 service. New PCC elected. Annual Reports received

New Honorary Curate
Jonathan Croucher was licensed by the Archdeacon here at St Michael’s at the 10.30am service on Sunday 10th February. He was accompanied by his wife Yvette, and their four children.

Christmas Newsletter 2007 from the Diocese of Western Tanganyika
CLICK

Petitioning Downing Street on Church Buildings
The challenge of funding repairs to church buildings goes much wider than the CofE alone, and the Church’s documents have made the case for all listed places of worship. However, this valuable local initiative is broadly in line with General Synod’s calling for greater government support, and with current discussions with government departments. The petition read:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to arrange for the cost of repairs to C of E church buildings to be reimbursed to help preserve our archeological & historic heritage for the future. Churches are a valuable part of our heritage and a major tourist attraction, yet the funding of repairs is left to the parish in which the building is situated. Thus the cost of maintaining a national asset is left to the minority. This is grossly unfair and should be rectified.”
The government response is at
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/output/Page12796.asp

Collections over Christmas
Money ain't everything but churches and charities can't run for free. Christmas service collections between them raised over £4000. To all those who gave, many thanks from St Michael's and from our other benefitting charities (see World Focus)

Open Gardens
The triple garden opening within the parish on Sunday 9th September raised £1125, of which the main beneficiaries were St Michael's £675 and St Christopher's Hospice £405. With openings on other days the total raised was about £1300.

News from Africa
There is a newsletter from Gwyneth available at the back of the church.

Cricket lovely cricket
10th June. St Michaels' won the toss and batted first on a perfect summer's day in beautiful Greenwich Park. 129 runs were amassed with extras scoring particularly well ! In reply St John's tumbled to 25 for 7, but rallied after s refreshment break and the tail began to cause nerves amongst the opposition before finally falling for 84 runs. Great day, great fun, great picnic, great company fuller report click #cricket

Confirmations January 07

On 21st January Christopher Chessun, Bishop of Woolwich confirmed 16 people from the congregation - here are what 14 of them wrote about their decision to be confirmed as Christians

Louise Adams
I cannot explain in words how much my faith and God mean to me. I also find it hard to express what confirmation means to me. All I know is that it is extremely personal.
Over the years I have had so much help from church leaders and close friends. Gwyneth and Leah have helped me more than I can ever thank them for. They have taught me to travel with God and listen to what he has to say. My mother has also been an amazing inspiration and will always help me with anything, faith or otherwise. Mainly however I feel that now is a time for me to carry my faith as through my own decisions, to travel further with God and confirm what I have been taught and what I believe. Rachel Botley
I have decided to get confirmed because of feel that it is the right time to walk with Christ further into my Christian faith. Once I am confirmed I will try to read the bible more often and hopefully put everything I learn into practice. Also I have all my church friends and family behind me helping me to make my decision and to teach me more about life and the difference being a Christian should make. In particular, Leah and my Mum have been there for me every step of the way with the answers to most of my questions about God and my faith. Imogen Drew
I was baptised at St Michael’s and have received most of my religious teaching at this church in its warm and friendly environment. Now that I have started senior school I feel mature enough to learn more about Christianity and ready to take communion in remembrance of Jesus’ death for each of us. Being confirmed allows me to participate with others in showing my faith in God and represents for me the next step in my religious development and understanding of God’s amazing grace. Marlene Drew
I have attended church for a number of years now and want to be confirmed so that I can take part in communion with fellow Christians. I see confirmation as an essential part of practising and declaring my faith and it also gives me a way of expressing my sense of belonging to the church and the wider Christian family. Corrinne Farrow
I have felt increasingly close to God over the past year or so and feel that confirmation of my faith is the next step on my continuing journey. Confirmation at St Michael’s really feels like the right thing at the right time and place for me. Benjamin Grant-Jones
God and the Church had not been part of my life until recently, when I began my journey to faith. On this journey I have experienced God’s love and strength, and the peace it has brought me and I wish to continue and develop this relationship. I feel that now is the right time to take the next step in my faith and become confirmed. Connie
I have been going to church all my life and by becoming confirmed I see it as the next step of my Christian life. I am looking forward to becoming a member of the church and learning more about God and feeling closer to him and having more understanding of his power and love. This is an amazing opportunity for me! Edward
I have been going to St Michael’s for a really long time, and I have really enjoyed the Sunday school. The reason I wanted to get confirmed is because I believe in God, and I need to be confirmed to show it. Being confirmed is a fantastic opportunity for me, and I can’t wait until I can start taking communion, and becoming a member of the church. Daniel King
I have always believed in Jesus and God. I would like to get confirmed so that I feel I can move on in my learning and it can help me to understand a bit more about Jesus and God. Harriet Page
To me, confirmation means “growing up” in my faith. It symbolises that I am now ready to commit my life to Jesus, and that from now on, Jesus will always be walking along with me, and guiding me.
To me, it also means that I am now ready to take communion and to eat the body and drink the blood of Christ. It will also show that I know what Jesus did for all of our wrongdoings, and that he will forgive us and love us no matter what. Taking communion will also remind me that Jesus was a real person, and that he died for us.
I am being confirmed because I feel that I am now ready to believe and trust in Jesus Christ for the rest of my life. Roxanne Pratt
I want to be confirmed because I want to learn more about God and become a better Christian as well as a better person. Annabel Savage
I am getting confirmed because I have felt God in my life a lot more recently. My friend’s dad isn’t very well at the moment and with God’s help I am supporting her in the best way I can. Everyday God is there for me, so I can be there for her. At school I go to prayer meetings with some of the other Christians, and I really enjoy being able to share my beliefs with them but I want it to be more permanent, I want to be untied with the Christian community and I think that God wants the same thing for me too. Alistair Wooder
It’s quite hard to specifically pinpoint why I’m getting confirmed. Some say that it reminds us of Christ’s community, and it does. Other say that it is the continuation of a journey, and it is. For me, however, I think confirmation is valuable because it reminds me why I am a Christian in the first place. Sometimes, I get too tied up and twisted in knots to consider the only things that really matter: that Jesus died to save us. I forget why I believe, the incredible people I’ve met that have taught me and even the crucial basics. I worried so much about how God works that I forgot that God actually does work. Confirmation reminded me of how much Jesus gave for us, and that I cannot do anything that compares with it. All I can do is to believe, and to try as hard as I can to do what God wants. All are really basics of faith, but it is amazing how easy it is to forget them. Confirmation is necessary to refresh the wonderment and get me thinking again about Jesus and what he did for us, and hopefully everyone who goes through it will come out the other end as stronger Christians, with a new and simpler outlook on Jesus and life in general. Stephen Wrist
I have reached a stage where I am ready to open up and invite God into my life. As a child I didn’t give God or religion too much thought, accepting what I was told by my parents and peers. As an adult I have the choice and have chosen to enrich my life by committing myself to Christianity.

Notes from a Warwickshire village December 06

At this time of the year, our thoughts are inevitably turning back to all the past Christmases that we spent with you all at St Michael's. Although we miss you all very much, we are feeling very encouraged with the love and support we are receiving here, since we moved earler in the year. The attendance at Sunday services is growing and families are beginning to realise that the church is for them too! We are having the usual Christmas Services & a Choir has been practising regularly. They haven't quite reached St Michael's standard yet, but are enthusiastic. For the first time we have managed to get a children's Choir together. Having a dozen children in my house for the practices (we have no Church Hall) is a bit hairy, but good fun. We have been staggered at the numbers coming to a mid-week meeting at which Gordon has spoken & then led discussion. He has tackled basic issues of faith. When he spoke on 'Why does God allow suffering', thirty-seven people came! He is having to do a repeat of all four sessions in January as so many have requested it.

Olive and Gordon

Christmas Newsletter from the Diocese of Western Tanganyika

Our God Reigns Mungu Wetu Amiliki So Christmas reminds us when God decided to take on our human nature and came to live among us some 2000 + years ago. What more could God have done? That is the highest form of expressing of his love to humanity. Above all he comes to us everyday by his spirit to bring hope to our hopeless world. Yes its time to celebrate. Let us give thanks to God for the gift of his son. Let us pray for and remember all those who will not be able to enjoy the joy of Christmas especially little children. So what has been going on in D.W.T. this year? Well a lot. So much has happened so quickly that I hardly know where to begin. Let me just share a little of what God has done and continues to do through us. 1. CHILDREN’S MINISTRY: Let me begin with our Children’s Ministry. I am so grateful to God that in most of our churches we have a thriving Children’s Ministry. Children come together not only on Sunday but in some churches, they assemble even during the week, to worship, to read scriptures and to have fun. In some of our churches, Kindergarten Schools have been introduced. Yesterday I attended the graduation ceremony of the children at D.W.T. Kindergarten School in Kasulu town. What a lovely ceremony. You should have seen the excitement those of those kids. You should have seen even the Moslem kids reciting scriptural verses. A quarter of the student body is made up of children from Moslem families. I think this is one of the best methods of evangelism and reaching out to Moslems for Christ. You should have seen the joyful faces of their parents as they came with gifts to congratulate their kids for finishing the two year pre-primary education. I was so impressed by their intellectual ability even at that tender age. All of the children were under five year of age but you could already see their different gifts as they performed before us. They have given us a challenge which I would like to share with you for prayer. We need to start a Diocesan Primary School so that when these children graduate from the Kindergarten, they can proceed to another church primary school. We have buildings we can use, so we can at least start off easily. The challenge is to have some good Christian teachers both from Tanzania and from overseas. The Anglican Mission in New Zealand has already indicated interest to send us teachers for the Bible School as well as the prospective primary school. If we get everything in order, we hope to get the school started in January 2008. Of course we will need some funding to get this school off the ground. Please pray that we may find the right people and funding for our teaching ministry to kids in our diocese. 2. KASULU BIBLE COLLEGE: This institution continues to play a vital role in the life of our diocese. This is where we train both lay evangelists as well as those who prepare for ordained ministry. This year we had more students than the past two years. We had 85 students. Our facilities including accommodation can only handle 60 students. This indicates that the school is growing and needs some extension of facilities. We also need to build some accommodation facilities for married students so that we can accommodate couples. Right now we only have single accommodations and students have to leave their wives home for the entire period of three years. If they are married, I don’t need to tell you that this arrangement is not suitable. Furthermore, we need to train and prepare both wife and husband, so as to equip them together for ministry. To leave the wife home makes her unprepared for the task of ministry which God has called them both to do. So again I ask for your prayers as we seek to raise resources for Bible School accommodation. We are grateful to St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Connecticut- U.S which has helped us to build one unit. Each unit will accommodate two families. So we need five more units in order to accommodate twelve families at Kasulu Bible College. We thank God for our new Library which has now been equipped with ten new computers. This means that our students can have access to some of the theological resource materials available on the website. . We are grateful to our partners who are supporting this internet project. We now have access to email at the college. Those who know our little town of Kasulu with no electricity will understand that for us access to email is a big deal!!! I don’t have enough words to thank all those who have supported our Bible College. Your gifts have enabled us to train our young pastors whom we need so much as the church continues to grow. This year I ordained 12 deacons and 10 priests who were all well prepared at our college. Just to mention a few of our Bible College supporters; I would like to thank, Truro Church in Virginia, St. Michaels Blackheath London, St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Virginia, Church of the Holy Spirit, in Tulsa Oklohoma, Grace Church in Oldsaybrook Connecticut, Anglican Board of Mission New Zealand and All Saints Church – Atlanta Georgia and our dear friend from New Zealand David Scott. 3. CHURCH BUILDING PROGRAM: Our Church is experiencing what we call a “growth crisis”. Church construction is one of the ongoing activities throughout the year in our Diocese. When we plant and begin a new church, it usually begins with a few people ranging from 5 – 30 members. At that level they obviously don’t have a building. They meet in someone’s home or in a classroom if there is a private school around. The government has forbidden using public school buildings for worship. In some cases they simply meet under a tree. So the need to have some temporary structure for church worship becomes very necessary. They therefore work on that structure within several months depending on the quality of leadership they have. Most of these new churches are planted by lay evangelists and catechists. Then they begin to grow and within a year or two they double or triple their membership from tens to hundreds. They then outgrow the original temporary structure and seek to build a much bigger and permanent structure. They then begin to mobilize their own local resources including funds and voluntary labor. They make bricks and build the walls. Now the challenge comes to roofing. Roofing materials and cement for plastering the walls and floor are very expensive for folks who live on (or less) one dollar per day. This is where our diocesan intervention is called upon for help. Depending on the size of the building, the assistance needed to complete a church building ranges from the minimum of 4000 US Dollars to the maximum of US $ 15,000, per building. Unfortunately the cost for roofing materials have recently doubled due to rising costs of fuel. Building materials to support our churches is one of the most pressing needs in our diocese but I have to unfortunately add that it’s the least supported. This year we received only a couple of gifts for this project from Church of the Holy Spirit in Tulsa and Grace Church. However even with these few resources, we were able to support five new churches which were dedicated this year. These are Ujiji, Kigogo, Simbo, Musagara and Mwayaya. We also dedicated that huge & beautiful church in Matiazo. It took 8 years to build and has cost more than 100,000 US Dollars. We are deeply grateful to our generous friends in Germany who contributed about half of the costs for Matiazo. I would like to thank our dear Archbishop Donald Mtetemela who kindly took his time with his dear wife Gladys to come to celebrate and perform dedications with us. Thanks Baba Askofu Mkuu Donald for your Ministry among us. As I write this letter, we have more than 15 churches which have standing walls with no roofing. Some of these churches like Kigaga, Nyakitonto, Kazuramimba and Ruhita, have been standing there for the last three years waiting for roofing support. My heart aches when I visit and see these unroofed open buildings. Then my headaches when they plead for whatever help I can offer and find out that I have nothing to help. My response has always been, please keep on praying for Gods provision for this need. Would you please join us in praying for this very urgent need in our Diocese. 4. Scholarships: This year we were able to sponsor two students to study theology in Kenya. We are now opting to sponsor students to study within Africa because of the costs involved in sending people in Europe or U.S.A. We also invite those interested to sponsor a student at our Bible College to please do so. It costs only US $ 500 to sponsor a student per year. Last year I shared in my last newsletter about “Mpango Scholarship Fund” established in the honor of my Dad’s 87 th birthday. We thank all those who have supported this fund. We were able to assist 25 students at the local secondary schools. The cost for Secondary School fees is $ 100 per students. We again welcome contributions to support especially those children who have lost their parents through HIV Aids. Let me end my newsletter here. May I again take this opportunity to wish you all Merry Christmas and a very happy new year. Yours Sincerely, + Gerard Mpango Bishop of Western Tanganyika .

Cricket Report by John Bartram

St Michael’s, not needing help from any of its Angels on this occasion, easily beat St John’s by 46 runs in their inaugural cricket match on a balmy summer Sunday afternoon in Greenwich Park on June 10.
Led by a determined and unbeaten 30 from captain Richard King, St Michael’s reached 129 for 7 in its allotted 35 overs, pushing the run rate along after the drinks break following a slow start. The first three batsmen went for 17 to St John’s opening bowler Ian Ridgewell whose tidy length was enough to bring rewards. Then came the recovery with a stand of 52 between King and the self proclaimed “Naughty Clergyman” Tex Dunstan who compiled a tidy 26 despite limping with a bruised foot. Low and uneven bounce made batting difficult for most of the others. Richard Godden picked up a couple of wickets with interesting left arm slow deliveries, some of which seemed to approach the Great Umpire in the Sky. 11 year old Daniel King looked stylish and promising but extras remained the next biggest scorer with 25. St Michael’s total could have been even bigger with better running between the wickets and if the umpires had not been over generous to the bowlers in not signalling wides. For a time it seemed we might even have been at Old Trafford watching the misplaced efforts of England’s Harmison and Plunkett, although at a slightly slower pace.
A good-sized, colourful crowd then eased themselves up from the grass to enjoy a superb tea served elegantly by the ladies of the Tea Committee under the gazebo, an effort that more than outclassed the performance of the Ambridge cricket ladies, as Archers fans will recognise.
St John’s started badly with James O’Keefe taking three quick wickets and they then collapsed dramatically to 25 for 8 as Joe Watkins demolished the middle order with two double wicket maidens in his first two overs. England’s declared objective of ramming home any advantage had obviously not seeped down as far as the St Michael’s captain who immediately took Watkins off, allowing the opposition to add a further 58 runs for the last two wickets, mainly due to the efforts of Charles Cave, an elegant 12-year old batsman who compiled an undefeated 37 in St John’s total of 83 and was presented with the match ball afterwards.
Obviously suffused with the Christian spirit of a highly entertaining occasion, Richard King quite rightly abandoned the chance to enforce a crushing victory and opted instead to extend the match to 6.40pm by letting all his team have a bowl apart from himself and the wicketkeeper. But it only delayed the inevitable and St John’s then vowed to exact revenge in a return match next year. See the pictures of the day - click here