ICS News Issue 56 November 2013 - Intercontinental Church Society

Transcription

Your name, O Lord, endures
for ever, your renown, O Lord,
through all generations.
Psalm 135: 13
In this edition are descriptions
from the four areas of seasonal
mission: Ibiza, Swiss, campsite,
and the unique work at KISC, the
International Scouting Centre in
Kandersteg.
As Bishop Geoffrey retires, he
reflects with Richard Bromley
on his time in the Diocese in
Europe (pp 4–6). ICS wish him a
long and fulfilling retirement.
In the centre pages readers
will find a pull-out with the new
ICS Christmas cards for 2013.
ICS News & Prayer Diary is
now published three times per
year. Each edition is completed,
with prayer points for the final
two months, by the 16-page ICS
Prayer Diary Supplement: readers
should contact the office if they
wish to continue receiving it.
Chaplaincy to Scouts at KISC
Bishop Geoffrey at Anglican Church
Freiburg with an aspiring successor!
Centre pull-out
Christmas cards, notelets and books
The magazine of
INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY
ISSN 1755–294X | ISSUE 56 | November 2013
Contents
ICS is an Anglican mission society which makes known the Christ
of the Scriptures to people of any nationality who speak English,
mainly in countries where English is not the first language.
Object
ICS is established to advance the
Christian gospel by evangelical
mission and ministry to Englishspeaking people throughout the
world.
Legal Information
Registered charity no.: 1072584; a
company limited by guarantee
registered in England and Wales
no.: 3630342.
ICS News and Prayer Diary
Published three times a year.
Views expressed by contributors
are not necessarily those of ICS.
Any correspondence should be
addressed to the office.
Sub-editors: Dennis and
Elizabeth Sadler
Credits
Our thanks to all who have provided articles; also for photos by
John Simmons, Almut Schulz (1),
The Diocese in Europe (4), David
Rouch (25, 27), Sarah Milburn
(26), Brian Hutton (55), Theo
Jägers (57); other photos generally by the authors of articles,
chaplains, staff members or
David Healey ARPS.
Biblical quotations from the NIV
unless noted otherwise.
Appointments
These are announced subject, on
occasions, to the usual clearances.
Data Protection
Data about individuals and
organisations with whom ICS is
in contact may be held on its
database for the purposes of
pursuing its activities. We may
contact you by post, telephone or
email unless you tell us you do
not wish to be contacted. ICS
does not pass any mailing lists to
unconnected third parties.
© Intercontinental Church
Society October 2013.
No part of this publication may
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means (electronic, photographic, mechanical,
recording or otherwise) without
ICS’s prior written permission.
ISSN: 1755-294X
As a mission, ICS enables the planting of new international
Anglican churches and other mission initiatives, and spreads
the gospel through seasonal outreach to tourists.
As a patronage society we recruit and nominate ministers for
Anglican churches abroad and own many church buildings.
Our web site and Directory of English-speaking Churches
Abroad enable people to find churches away from home.
A list of ICS projects can be obtained by contacting the
office or by visiting www.ics-uk.org/about/articles.shtml
Features
3 Put your faith where your fear is!
4 Interview with Bishop Geoffrey
7 Farewell from our man in Brussels
10 Tunis children’s and youth ministry
12 Christ Church in the Netherlands
14 A Tale of Three Churches
16 Centenary of St. Mary’s, Rotterdam
18 A powerful lighthouse
20 The locum’s lot
22 Speaking the gospel to Scouts
25 Ibiza idyll?
28 A decade of Wengen encounters
30 Moving up a gear
31 ICS Christmas cards, notelets and books
35 French campsites are a-changing
Prayer Diary
37 Events for prayer, November and December
35 News and Prayer Diary, November and December
63 ICS prayer and support groups
Information
64 Contacting ICS
2
ICS News and Prayer Diary | November 2013
Put your faith where your fear is!
Mission Director Richard Bromley finds that working with
ICS brings opportunities to meet people from many different
walks of life.
Richard Bromley and his
son Ryan in Cairo
1
Luke 9: 23–24
Some of these encounters have stayed with me, haunting my
dreams, my mind wandering to them at a free moment.
Recently I wrote to our Patrons and was delighted to get an
invite to tea with HRH Prince Andrew. I dutifully put on my
best suit and went with Viscount Brentford to Buckingham
Palace. We had forty-five minutes of stimulating conversation, the Prince being happy to continue to put his name to ICS.
But interestingly, there is another meeting that I also cannot
shake from my memory: at an M6 service station, with someone I had been asked to meet by one of the chaplains. The
coffee was average, but the conversation was stimulating and
well worth the time and travel. But during the conversation
he used a phrase that I cannot shake: ‘Put your faith where
your fear is!’ Now this simple little sentence has profound
implications. It projected me back to a retreat in the Troodos
Mountains when I first lived in Cyprus. How important the
words of Jesus were to me then: ‘Whoever wants to be my
disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily
and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose
it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.’1
Put my faith where my fear is—how these words sting,
challenge, irritate and get under my skin. There are hundreds of times and places where my fear overcomes my
faith. Perhaps growing in God is about noticing this and
allowing faith to overcome fear, to be on a journey of letting
go to better hold onto Jesus.
This month I was taking my son on a long-planned trip to
Cairo. He stands out as western, tall and blond: everything inside me screamed, ‘Don’t take him. Stay safe!’ We had to go,
we had to put our faith where our fear was. In ways like this,
but also in a hundred little ways each week, these words speak
to me, about the future, about finance, about leaving my comfort zones: I am challenged to put my faith where my fear is.
I remember once someone referring to Mother Teresa as
that ‘irritating little woman’. Not as a slur or insult, but
rather that her very presence was a challenge to the way we
live our lives. I think I met someone like that on the M6. ICS News and Prayer Diary | November 2013
3
Interview with Bishop Geoffrey
Richard Bromley asked Bishop Geoffrey Rowell what he
would like to give thanks for as he retires from the Diocese
in Europe.
Well, the Diocese in Europe is an extraordinary diocese. It is
larger than any other diocese of any church in the world. It is
a sixth of the earth’s land surface if you look at it geographically. It means that it is crossing a number of cultures; it is
disparate in the particular backgrounds and settings of chaplaincies; it is growing, not in geographical size but in terms of
the chaplaincies. So growth is one of the things, of course,
that I am very thankful for.
I think that I would like to describe my ministry in part as
one of knitting because I have a great affinity with All Saints
and the collect for All Saints’ Day begins: ‘God who has knit
together your elect in one communion and fellowship’. So
part of my journeys around chaplaincies is knitting together
the different congregations: sometimes bringing good news
from one to the other but also being able to see the uniqueness of each congregation and we have had some wonderful
revelatory moments. I think the two Pastoral Conferences in
2005 and 2009 have been particularly significant.
You talk about knitting together and you have this ability in
your role that allows you to helicopter up to see what is
going on and tell others which can be hugely encouraging or
simply, ‘here is another good idea to try’.
Yes, sometimes it is passing on good ideas, sometimes it is
just being able to tell a story: for example people I have
confirmed, or when dealing with different groups of people.
At one Confirmation there was a wonderful group of Iranian
refugees whom I can only describe as thirsting for baptism,
which was a remarkable experience. Also the stories that you
are able to share in as Bishop, where people tell you of their
journeys: that is an enormous privilege.
So what are your fondest memories of ICS?
You don’t encounter ICS all at once but you do have moments
at which you glimpse a particular context in which the
reality comes alive. Of course that is true at the ICS Chaplains
and Families’ Conference where people come together. In
some ways this is not all that different in importance from
4
meeting with people at Diocesan Synods which are residential, and the pastoral conferences.
Then there have been wonderful memories of particular
chaplaincies which are nurtured, supported and sustained
by ICS and which I suppose you could say display the Fruits
of the Spirit and the Marks of the Church, and in this they are
no different from those who are not ICS-supported chaplaincies. They are the ‘Internet of the Spirit’. The word internet was not a word that any of us knew, certainly when I was
training in the late 1960s but it is now common currency.
When we speak of the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the
Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit that word
koinonia, which in Greek means ‘what we have in common;
fellowship, communion’, can without too much distortion be
translated as internet. And so in the Internet of the Holy
Spirit to which we all belong, these are always the important
things. We all have our particular traditions within the
Church—but in all traditions we are deeply committed to be
Christian, to be the disciples of Jesus Christ, and that means
growing into the likeness of Christ and being open to the gift
and grace of the Holy Spirit. So this is always what you see
when meeting with any group of Christians and therefore at
the ICS Conference you encourage this and ICS as an organisation can only exist to encourage this.
As you look back over the past twelve years, who are the
people who have impressed you or who have stood out?
I think there are many people and many moments and spots
in time. It often goes with a place and I would want to extend
that to the great ecumenical encounters that I have been
privileged to have: Pope Benedict must be one of these
significant people. A very important conversation I had with
him was in 2002 when I was talking to him about the mission
of the Diocese and I said to him: ‘We are not a proselytising
diocese but we often meet with former Catholics or people
from that background and they are searching and we have to
minister to them’. His answer to me was: ‘You cannot believe
yourself to be a church unless you believe in mission. In
Europe today, no one of us can do it alone.’ That is a very
remarkable thing to say and I was able to remind him of that
conversation when I saw him in 2010. So that was a very
significant moment. I can think of others but they are usually
5
personal moments: moments like someone’s confirmation, a
baptism, catching a real sense of excitement. I think in the
Diocese in Europe the Bishop is very privileged in that he is
able to see this in a more intensive way perhaps than in an
English diocese where a bishop may come perhaps just for a
confirmation visit. I have enjoyed the hospitality and the
conversations around the table with chaplains and their
wives and we have enjoyed some laughter which is very
important: enjoying the company and the good things in life.
In the Diocese in Europe there is the very good tradition of
Aperitivos!
Prayer points: page 62
What do the next few years hold for you?
I find it puzzling in a way and I don’t know—but then, when
I moved to be the Bishop of Basingstoke there was in those
days not much in the way of job description and I did not
quite know what I had been asked to do. I did in one sense,
but not in another and I don’t believe you can write most of
these things down. Now I am going to a time in my life when
there is no job description, but I always remember what my
Spiritual Director told me: ‘You have to remember that God is
at the other end too’. I know that there will be things that I
enjoy doing: pastoral care, meeting with people, spiritual
conversations and direction, maybe even retreats. I am an
academic, I write and I enjoy that world, so there are things to
be written; but at the moment I have no huge book bursting
to get out. I have said to the Archbishop of Canterbury: ‘I am
single, I have good health, I am happy to do what you would
like me to do’. So the real answer to all of this is that I have a
few ideas but it is what God wills; that will be a wonderful
surprise.
Bishop, thank you very much.
Bishop Geoffrey with the ICS
Conference, Beatenberg 2013
6
ICS News and Prayer Diary ||April
November
2013 2013
ICS News and Prayer Diary | July 2011
Farewell from our man in Brussels
Gary Wilton, until recently the Archbishop’s Representative
to the EU, expresses deep gratitude for all the support and
encouragement that ICS has given him.
Gary Wilton in Paris
St. Paul begins his letter to the Philippians: ‘I thank my God
every time I remember you. In all of my prayers for all of
you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in
the gospel from the first day until now.’ (1: 3–5)
As I look back over the last five years, I do so full of
thanksgiving. It has been a time rich with opportunities to
contribute to the European public square. A time made even
richer by the privilege of journeying with a unique Christian
community of people in their twenties and thirties at Holy
Trinity, Brussels. ICS has been a very special partner in the
gospel from the first day until now. Mine has been an
unusual calling right at the edge of the church and I have
been constantly encouraged by the prayers and interest of
the staff, the Council and many, many supporters.
At a time of economic and financial constraint, the contribution from ICS towards my salary and the sponsorship of
the vocational internship programme have been very important. I cannot thank ICS enough!
A key part of my experience has been working closely with
three very different ICS interns. Marcus Kankanpää (2009–10)
is now a youth minister in the UK, James Christie Brown
7pm Community
7
(2010–12) is at Ridley Hall, Cambridge training for ordination, while Georgie Morgan (2012–13) feels called to events
organisation and communications within the church. Each
intern readily testified that their ICS internship was a very
significant ‘developmental’ experience. Working alongside
such energetic and able twenty-somethings was certainly a
‘developmental’ experience for me. Wonderfully in my last
year I was able to build a team of three interns around the ICS
internship post. We had a ball!
Also I have greatly valued the fellowship of other ICS
chaplains, the annual Chaplains and Families’ Conference
being a real highlight. Sharing news and praying together
made a significant difference to my capacity to return to a
demanding and sometimes mind-stretching role. I will never
forget Beatenberg in 2011—ending the week with a strongly
renewed sense of my calling to work at European and international levels.
Amongst my highlights was the opportunity to chair my
first high level international conference at the Foreign and
Commonwealth’s Wilton Park—straight after Beatenberg
2011. The hot topic was Freedom of Religion, including the
persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Pakistan. It
was a huge privilege to get to know Alistair Burt, Minister of
State in the FCO, and Os Guinness, international evangelical
commentator on social and political issues. This important
Gary with Alistair Burt
(Wilton Park dialogues)
8
conference preceded two years’ work on freedom of religion
and contributed to compiling the EU’s guidelines on Freedom
of Religion, published in June 2013 and sent to all EU delegations across the globe, which number more than 130.
Each year José Manuel Barroso, as the President of the EU
Commission, has hosted a high level meeting with twenty
senior religious leaders. The Church of England was variously represented by the Bishops of Hume, Guildford and
Exeter. Topics included poverty and social exclusion,
volunteering, freedom of religion and citizenship. It was my
job to make sure that the Church of England bishop was the
best briefed person in the room. Usually he was!
During my last months in post, it was a great joy to welcome Richard Bromley to Brussels, and to work with him on
the appointment of Jeremy Heuslein as part-time outreach
worker at the Chapel of the Resurrection. The chapel is right
next to the European Parliament, and very quickly Jeremy
started reaching out to MEP assistants and officials. At the
time of writing he has proposed hosting a weekly Bible
study group within the Parliament. Currently two assistants
are openly talking about being baptised. Thanks be to God.
You have prayed for me as an ICS-supported worker; I will
now pray for you as an ICS supporter. I will keep in touch and
I will remember you in prayer, doing so with thanksgiving
and joy! Gary’s installation service at
All Saints’, Eccleshall in
Sheffield on 4 September
9
Tunis children’s and youth ministry
St. George’s, Tunis believe children should have a definite
and regular role in the ministry of the church from a young
age. Hilary Musk explains how this is encouraged.
We at St. George’s Tunis have a lively children’s and youth
ministry. Each group takes a regular part in worship leading
and ministry, which helps them feel a significant part of the
church family.
Bill and Hilary Musk
Children’s Ministry A dedicated team is led by Catherine,
from Kenya. The children lead some worship once a month
which includes reciting huge chunks of Scripture! I am so
humbled when I hear a child recite Psalm 121 by heart. The
songs they lead us in are often in other languages (one child
had ten languages!), reflecting their varying backgrounds.
Some talented young worship leaders are born this way.
Voices in the Desert About twenty young teens really enjoy
learning, using drama, discussion and role play. We sit on
mattresses around the edge of the room! They are bursting
with questions and highly original ideas. Once a year we
explore a subject more deeply and then lead a whole service
for the church using drama and other creative methods to
teach (e.g. this year we interviewed Saul of Tarsus’s mum!)
They love doing this as ‘we get to teach the adults instead of
them us!’ People in the congregation are usually moved by
looking at things from a completely new angle. We also have
social events to build trust between them.
The Teens in Christ (TIC) Rosemary from Ghana leads TIC
with a good team of helpers. Discussion is often on the menu.
Here are the reactions of some of the members: ‘I like the
group discussions that we have; the subjects are often
applicable to my everyday life. I feel part of St. George’s
Student members
of St. George’s
10 ICS News and Prayer Diary | November 2013
especially when we lead with the readings, singing, intercessions and helping with Communion monthly. I especially
enjoyed it when we asked Bishop Bill questions because we
talked about things that are usually not openly discussed.’
Budding soloist and
other children
Children singing at
Vacation Bible School
The Youth Band About six to ten teenagers and I lead the
worship once a month. ‘Looking back, I feel so much more
confident vocally now than I did when I joined and I am
more able to play the piano in public. . . . I have been so
encouraged and helped to feel I can do it even when I
doubted myself.’ ‘I love the music and I like the fact that I can
help bring people closer to God by using my talents; however, the early morning starts—I didn’t love those quite as
much!’ ‘I love leading people in worship and the joy I get
when singing to God.’ One of our founding members has
gone on to play in a Christian band in Glasgow!
The Students’ Fellowship Members have Bible study, worship and prayer; they run retreats and lead the worship in
church from time to time; one or two have preached, plus
many of them teach Sunday school. ‘The atmosphere of love
is rare.’ ‘I like having real friends, family, people who accept
me for who I am and with whom I can have fun doing good
things. They are like the eyes at the back of my head: I won’t
always see my wrongs, but it feels good to know that this
family keeps their eyes open for me.’ ‘Serving in church has
really made me feel more at home at St. George’s.’
It is such a privilege to be involved with these lovely
families, many of whom are with the Africa Development
Bank. Often parents are called back to take prominent roles
in government. Others are from highly motivated Christian
worker families. We need to be on our toes to keep challenging and stimulating their children! Prayer points: page 41
Hilary with youth
band members
ICS News and Prayer Diary | November 2013 11
Christ Church in the Netherlands
This year’s annual meeting of the chaplaincy marked a
milestone in the recent history of Christ Church, writes
Senior Chaplain Mark Collinson.
Mark Collinson
For the first time ever, the annual meeting was held in
Heiloo. Previous annual meetings had been held in City
Centre, South Amsterdam and Amsterdam Zuidoost, and
going to Heiloo recognised that we are no longer ‘Christ
Church Amsterdam’. (This is twenty-five years after starting
Heiloo—better late than never.) So one of the main discussions in the annual meeting was deciding what we
should be called. In the end, we decided the name on our
constitution should be ‘Christ Church in the Netherlands’.
The chaplaincy aims to be an umbrella organisation which
nurtures disciples of Christ and recognises the role of church
planting as essential to the discipleship process. All four
congregations feel under-resourced: do we have enough
musicians? Can more people volunteer for kids’ church?
Who could be the next Treasurer? However, the truth is that
planting a new congregation creates a clean slate which
excites people to step forward, take responsibility and use
their gifts in new ways. Planting a new congregation
therefore develops disciples in ways that continuing to grow
an existing congregation never will.
The annual meeting also highlighted the differences
between the four congregations. City Centre now reflects
more the social spectrum of the inner old-city of Amsterdam.
There are more Dutch people, in their twenties and thirties,
many of whom are starting families (Alastair MacDonald
baptised quadruplets while he was here!). Just as after the
Second World War Christ Church saw the birth of many children, so a new generation is being brought up in the faith.
The location of South close to the motorway ring makes it
easy to access by car. Thus people travel locally as well as
from the outer suburbs and towns (even as far away as
Utrecht!). It has a lower proportion of Dutch, and lots of
young families, for whom the school premises are ideal.
Children make up one third of average Sunday attendance.
Zuidoost has adopted a new name, which Bishop Geoffrey
gave when he visited last year: ‘Congregation of the Holy
Spirit, Anglican Church, Amsterdam Zuidoost’. This name
12 ICS News and Prayer Diary ||April
November
2013 2013
fits with the more Pentecostal emphasis of black churches.
However, we emphasise that we are not an ‘African’ church,
but an international church (which is largely black). Thus,
whilst having members from different parts of Africa, we
also have people from Indonesia, the Caribbean and India,
and increasing numbers of Dutch people for whom Zuidoost
(south-east Amsterdam) is an attractive place to live.
There is a cultural divide between the capital city and the
rest of the province of North Holland. Heiloo, located north of
the North Sea Canal, attracts a wide range of people from the
province, again with a strong emphasis on families and youth.
Changing our constitution ensures that no single congregation dominates the chaplaincy council. From next year each
congregation, and any subsequent church plant, will have
protected seats on council; City Centre can no longer be ‘the
main church’. We are a community of churches, seeking the
kingdom of Jesus together. The annual meeting also celebrated the diversity of who we are. Although it would be
easier to run a church whose members are all the same (in
mission terms, the ‘homogenous unit principle’—yuck!),
heaven is not going to be like that. Heaven is going to be full of
all God’s people: every race, every language, every nation,
young and old, rich and poor. Each of our four congregations
is small. But each has this element of diversity which we
celebrate and which gives us a foretaste of heaven. City Centre:
coffee upstairs after church
A Tale of Three Churches
Gillian Wilton describes the three chaplaincies in which she
ministered in the Brussels area, while her husband Gary was
the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Representative to the EU.
Gillian Wilton
As I look back over our last five years in Belgium, I am so
grateful for the rich variety of experiences, people and places
that have made ordained ministry here so interesting and
fulfilling.
When I first arrived, I was asked how I was coping as a
‘trailing spouse’. This concept was completely new to me. It’s
a term often used to describe a spouse who follows their
spouse to other countries without any thought to their own
calling. I salute those who do so but, for Gary and me, it is
not a concept that sits happily in our relationship. We have
always believed that if God calls one partner, he also calls the
other in their own right. It may mean that only one person
knows what they are going to at the beginning but God
always has plans for each one of us. It has not always been
me doing the following but this time it was. I find this very
exciting—not always knowing what will happen next! In
this last five years, I have ended up ministering not just in
one church but in three very different ones!
St. Paul’s, Tervuren
St. Paul’s has been my main focus and it was a great joy to
be a part-time Assistant Chaplain. It is a church with a great
warmth of welcome, which longs to worship God and grow
in faith. Like many ICS linked churches, it provides a spiritual
home for a very transient congregation. People come and go
so often in Brussels that it is amazing how those who are more
permanent continue to welcome newcomers so heartily. For
newcomers it’s important to get stuck in straight away and
find their place in homegroups and ministry.
Gillian with Gary
and their sons
The international make-up of the congregation means that
we have had a lot of fun just trying to understand each other.
Is it a pot-luck dinner or a bring and share supper, a barbie or
a BBQ?
I leave very sadly, saying goodbye to so many dear friends,
yet knowing that they may well pop up somewhere else in
our future under God.
Farewell lunch
Prayer points: pp 41–3
St. Martha and St. Mary’s, Leuven
Much to my surprise I was privileged to be seconded to
M&Ms in Leuven for a year as their first state-recognised
chaplain—while the search for a permanent one was taking
place (Jack McDonald). It was wonderful to have the opportunity to help strengthen and support this small but very
committed group of Christians in such a strategic place. This
university town lends itself to reaching out with the gospel
to international students as well as to locals. It was a very
special gift to have the opportunity to continue my theological studies at the same time. Please pray for the many
and varied opportunities that M&Ms has, and for the nonstudents who give such a vital stability to the congregation’s
mission and ministry.
Holy Trinity, Brussels: 7 pm Community
Although I was at St. Paul’s on Sunday mornings, I was able
to be at Holy Trinity in the evening to support Gary in his
ministry with the 7 pm Community. I think I received more
spiritually than I gave which in turn empowered me to serve
at St. Paul’s. I was glad to lead a number of special events
including a Lent Course and Passover meals but the highlight for me was to be part of the vibrant lives of twenties and
thirties in their journeys of faith.
Holy Trinity had planted both the other two churches, so
there was something very wholesome about being involved
in all three; there is a family connection. Leading the annual
ladies’ retreat was one opportunity that saw the different
churches coming together.
God has stretched me more than I could have imagined
during these last five years and so it has been an exciting
time of spiritual growth for me. I look back with great joy
and thankfulness, and look forward with wonder to what
will happen next! ICS News and Prayer Diary | November 2013 15
Centenary of St. Mary’s, Rotterdam
The churchwardens of St. Mary’s, Rotterdam, Aad van
Elswijk and Anneke Barends-Kraak, rejoice in the church’s
centenary and the fitting way in which it was celebrated.
Panel over the door:
Worship the Lord in the
beauty of holiness
After months of preparations Saturday 1 June arrived in
beautiful, slightly cold, but sunny weather. This day was our
Open Day for everybody interested in our church and her
history.
Our team of helpers was ready to serve coffee, tea and lots
of cakes, all homemade of course. The new photo book was
on sale and much appreciated. The garden got a final
cleaning from our DIY team. In the church a photo exhibition
showed the history of our present church building and the
1717 Bible was on display. The freshly painted panel over the
door, and the sparkling gold letters on the reredos, altar and
hymn boards were a gift to our building.
Bishop Geoffrey with
commemorative plaque
Meal after special service
Our chaplain Stephen Hazlett was joined by former clergy
and members, and many people arrived from other churches
and organisations in Rotterdam.
Sunday 2 June was our real anniversary, as shown on the
stone in the church wall. The Bishop of Northern and Central
Europe had visited Rotterdam in 1913 and one hundred
years later the Bishop in Europe, Geoffrey Rowell, led our
celebratory service on the Sunday. The Acting Archdeacon of
North West Europe, the Revd Canon Meurig Williams, also
joined the service.
The service was a true celebration of one hundred years of
St. Mary’s Church at Pieter de Hoochstraat 4. The choir had
invited former members to join and they sang beautiful
hymns and anthems, including the hymn written for our
congregation’s two hundred and fiftieth anniversary in 1958.
In the glorious sunshine after the service Bishop Geoffrey
blessed the garden, which had been designed and organised
by Ruth Noordegraaf-Thomas and Jennifer Thomas, and
cleaned by Aad van Elswijk and Harry van der Meiden.
An exquisite lunch was served in the Holt Hall, organized
by Jennifer Thomas and her helpers.
The second service of that day was the Confirmation conducted by Bishop Geoffrey. The Holt Hall was again cleaned
and prepared and of course tea and cakes were served.
The weekend was a true success! Bishop Geoffrey blessing
the new garden
A powerful lighthouse
‘Powerful lenses for a powerful lighthouse’ is how John
Moore, Assistant Chaplain at St. Michael’s, Paris, describes
the role of recent additions to the church team.
John Moore
Anyone who has ever studied lighthouse technology will
know that, in order for a lighthouse to function, two
elements are needed: a source of light (commonly called a
‘lamp’) and a concentration of that light (frequently referred
to as a ‘lens’ or ‘optic’). Initially, open fires and candles were
used as lamps for lighthouses, until the eighteenth century
when wick lamps were introduced. As the twentieth century
began, electricity and carbide became revolutionary sources
of light for lighthouses.
Before the advent of modern strobe lights, lighthouses
depended upon large-diameter lenses to concentrate the
continuous source of light that they emitted. Traditionally,
the lenses were ranked by order, in terms of their refracting
power; the first order of lens was the largest and most
powerful, and the sixth order lens was the smallest.
In September 2013 St. Michael’s, Paris received a whole
new set of powerful ‘lenses’. To consider the church owned
by ICS in the French capital as a ‘lighthouse’ is not at all inappropriate, given that for more than a decade St. Michael’s
has publicly stated that it feels called to be a ‘beacon to Paris
and to the nations’. Indeed, on any given Sunday, people
Alyson Lamb
7pm service for students
and young professionals
David Pambakian
Natalie Jones
from as many as thirty-five different countries attend one of
the five services offered (including services in Tamil and in
French).
The new ‘lenses’ arriving at the St. Michael’s ‘lighthouse’
include the new Chaplain, Alyson Lamb; the new Head of
Mission and Discipleship, David Pambakian; and the new
Youth and Student Worker, Natalie Jones.
The Revd Canon Alyson Lamb commenced as Chaplain of
St. Michael’s on 29 September. She was introduced in the ICS
Prayer Diary Supplement. In summary, she previously served
as Vicar of St. John the Evangelist, Eastbourne; during her
time there, the fellowship grew to more than three hundred
adults, children and young people. Alyson was made a
Canon of Chichester Cathedral in February 2012. Prior to
serving in Eastbourne, after training for ordination at Ridley
Hall, Cambridge, Alyson was Assistant Curate at St. Michael
le Belfrey in York, where her responsibilities included
student ministry and mission.
Alyson came to faith in 1998 while attending an Alpha
Course, following which she was invited in 2000 to join the
staff team at Holy Trinity, Brompton in London. She was responsible for resourcing Alpha courses in the UK until 2003.
St. Michael’s new Head of Mission and Discipleship,
David Pambakian, has lived in Paris with his wife Caroline
since 2010. David trained at Oxford Brookes University and
Ridley Hall, Cambridge. Two years as a youth worker at Soul
Survivor Watford Church preceded his becoming Youth and
Children’s Worker at St. Paul’s, Shadwell (London).
And finally, St. Michael’s new Youth and Student Worker
is Natalie Jones, who at Southampton University earned a BA
in English before recently completing a Graduate Diploma in
Youth Work in Ministry. Natalie comes from Nuneaton in
Warwickshire and has prior experience as a youth worker in
two churches and in two schools.
These powerful new ‘lenses’ arrive at a very strategic time.
The ICS-supported chaplaincy is looking afresh at its outreach to Paris and to the nations, and desires more than ever
to be faithful in its reflection of the light and love of Jesus
Christ. Please continue to pray for St. Michael’s, as it allows
its ‘light to shine before men and women, that they . . . may
praise our Father in heaven’ (from Matthew 5: 16). ICS News and Prayer Diary | November 2013 19
The locum’s lot
Since John Philpott retired from the Prague chaplaincy five
years ago, he has served on ICS Council and already fulfilled
seven locum duties. He explains the subtleties of this role.
John and Margaret Philpott
If ‘the policeman’s lot is not a happy one’, the same cannot be
said for this locum’s. In the last five years Margaret and I
have undertaken seven locums including holiday cover in
Paris, and as you read this will (DV) be in Lyon adding to the
number. Locums have been for us, and we trust for the
chaplaincies we have served, great blessings.
The task is, as you might suspect, to help a chaplaincy in
its vacancy period. A locum cleric can assist the congregation
through bereavement at the loss of the former chaplain so
that they are emotionally ready to welcome someone new.
Locum ministers, however similar they are to the previous
chaplain, will not do things in exactly the same way. This
makes it easier for the new person coming in to make the
changes they see as necessary.
The locum’s priorities are taking the Sunday services
so that there is continuity in the ministry of Word and
Sacrament. I do most of my preaching preparation before I
go, mainly because the number of books you can transport
on a budget airline is severely limited. If the locum period
covers the transition from winter to spring or summer to
autumn, just which clothes to take along with your cassock
alb is also a taxing question.
Flexibility is a necessary grace to bring to the vacant chaplaincy. How liturgical they are, and how lectionary orientated they are, can vary. Whilst you may want to do things
differently you are not the person to insist that they are.
Church life continues throughout the vacancy much as
before, in that there will be occasional offices to take, home
groups to attend, seminars to conduct and celebrations to
enjoy. Ongoing pastoral issues will need care and attention,
and some new ones might emerge. The wardens and the
church council will feel extra pressure during a vacancy
period so any help that the locum can give will be greatly
appreciated. There is for them a new chaplain to find and to
welcome on his or her post-interview visit; there is accommodation to be redecorated—but how are they to do that
when the locum is living in it?
Nativity scene, Holy Trinity,
Cannes
For the locum there is a great opportunity to experience a
city or town—its language, culture and climate—with which
one may not have been familiar. I do not think we appreciated
just how strong Mediterranean winter storms could be until
we found seaweed under the bonnet of the car we had parked
on the promenade at Corfu Town. I do not think we appreciated the strength in depth of the Dutch schools of painting
until we undertook two locums at Voorschoten. I do not think
we understood the problems of a country emerging from a
long history of communist rule until we spent nine weeks in
Kiev, the capital of The Ukraine. It was there that we
experienced our one serious problem whilst undertaking
locum duties—a severely broken leg for Margaret, the effects
of which are still with her three years later.
What I think we never cease to marvel at, as we encounter
one church after another, is this: that genealogically and
genetically the people of God, in spite of their great and
wonderful variety of nationalities and experiences, are of a
type. Genealogically we are all brothers and sisters in Christ,
and the family likeness is to be found amongst the people of
God individually and corporately. Genetically the Holy
Spirit is at work modifying characters, refining habits, inspiring hope, tuning hearts and strengthening wills. If we
have learnt anything from our locum periods it is this—
Christianity works and God is good. Wendy, John and Marie Paul,
Holy Trinity, Cannes
www.ics-uk.org
© ICS
ICSICS
News
andand
Prayer
Diary
| November
News
Prayer
Diary
| January 2013
2012 21
Speaking the gospel to Scouts
John Simmons gives thanks for an open door for the gospel at
the Kandersteg International Scouting Centre, Switzerland
despite the increasing secularism in Scouting elsewhere.
John Simmons
Back in the early summer we were reading in the British newspapers that Girlguiding UK had replaced ‘God’ with ‘self’ in
their Promise, and that Scouting UK was looking to formulate
an alternative Promise for atheist boys. The International
Scouting Centre in Kandersteg (KISC), however, conscious of
its links to its Christian founder, Baden-Powell, in its ninetieth
anniversary year, welcomed the services of the Christian
chaplains, there again under the auspices of ICS.
This year three chaplains were provided, covering a total
of six weeks, a fifty per cent increase on last year; the senior
staff (there are about eighty staff there over the summer)
were without exception delighted to see us and sought to
involve us in the programme they offer to over twelve
thousand Scouts and Guides who stay there each year.
I was the final chaplain of the season at Kandersteg and I
had some interesting conversations with staff about how we
might develop the chaplaincy work next summer. I was also
privileged to meet Wayne Bulpitt, UK Chief Commissioner
for Scouts, on his first visit to the World Scout Centre. He
confessed to me that he was delighted to discover there was a
Christian chaplain from the UK serving the Centre and we
John at ‘Scouts Own’,
KISC outdoor chapel
talked at length about his work in Scouting and about our
work as chaplains to the forty or so nationalities who make
up the Centre each summer.
I took a small team to the Bernese Oberland, just four of us
this year, but we already have plans to take six next year for the
final two weeks of the season. We got involved on a daily basis
with activities at the Centre, joining in the Light Trail, taking
part in the international barbecue, the flag-breaking ceremony and in the leaders’ get-togethers, sharing the gospel at a
‘Scouts Own’ in the outdoor chapel, walking the hills with the
Scouts, eating with them and their leaders, attending the daily
staff briefing—and dozens of individual conversations.
Sunday morning means a service in the ‘White Church’ in
the centre of the village. It is a Swiss Reformed church and
we were pleased this year to discover that they have now
rebuilt their church centre and made it available for us to use
however we wished. Our team served food and drink there
after our Sunday services and most folk stayed to chat and
pick up evangelistic literature. Next year I am sure we can
make even more use of it for the whole summer.
It was also great this year to have more contact with local
Christians: with a fellowship which meets down the valley at
Frutigen and prays for our work each year, and with a handful of Christian staff at the Centre too. We hope to develop
these links next year.
‘Pinkies’ at morning
staff briefing
New centre at Swiss church
The fortnight was sprinkled with chance conversations:
chaplaincy is about hanging around and taking gospel opportunities when they present themselves. So, I had a good talk
with a member of staff from overseas who will be studying at
Manchester this year, very close to my home. I found myself
looking at John 3 on my iPhone in the original language with
someone from Greece. I had a fascinating conversation with a
leader who was part of the 530-strong group from Greater
London; he promised to join a Christianity Explored group in
his local church on his return. One of our team was asked
by a Scout to explain the ‘Four Points’ sweatshirt she was
wearing—so that was another chance to explain the gospel.
And there were many more opportunities.
Please pray that next year, if possible, there will be four
chaplains over eight weeks; also that we will manage to offer
a Sunday service at the Scout Centre as well as at the church.
Pray for more involvement in planning ‘spiritual’ activities
in the Scout Centre’s summer programme. Thank God that
fifty English Bibles have been donated for our use, and that a
local Christian has offered her apartment for the chaplaincy
to use. Pray that we will work better with local believers and
make even greater use of the Swiss church’s facilities. Thank
God for an open door for the gospel at the International
Scouting Centre. Pray that we may use it well and for many
to hear the gospel in Kandersteg next year. Congregation arriving
at the ’White Church’
Ibiza idyll?
Michael and Daphne Savage, founding members of the Ibiza
seasonal chaplaincy, reflect on the development of this
ministry over the seven years since it was established.
Michael and Daphne Savage
‘Off clubbing again?’ is a question thrown at us as we have
prepared each time over the past seven years for a spell of
summer seasonal ministry on the east coast in Ibiza, with the
inevitable raising of the sceptical eyebrow. Others have
suggested we will be slobbing in the sunshine, but change
their tune when they read the postcards we send, briefly
indicating the sort of programme we have followed week by
week. ‘Oh, you do have quite a bit to do, don’t you?!’
So, what do we do? At the start of the six-month season, in
May, the first of the four chaplaincy couples visits hotels,
cafés, bars and tourist information offices, spreading the ICS
publicity with details of Sunday services, and announcing
our presence. This is welcomed by hotel staff and holiday
company reps alike, as they are often asked for details of
church services (of all flavours) and are glad to have the
information to hand. Some visits provide an opportunity to
renew acquaintance with workers we have met in previous
years, and in the case of younger reps with little prior contact
with church or chaplains, a chance to allay fears and to
assure them we are actually human! Thus good working
relationships are established.
Salt man of
San Francisco, Ibiza
Chapel at Es Canar
Arriving in one hotel this year to say ‘Hello’ again, we
found there had been an overnight bereavement. Thomson
staff were on hand to deal with the necessary practicalities,
while we were able to provide spiritual support and care to
the widow till her son came out from the UK to take her home.
After one chaplaincy, as we waited in a hotel to bid farewell
to one of the reps, Daphne began chatting to a lady sitting
alone in the bar, miserable, and with a stiff neck. She was
anticipating spending her birthday next day all by herself.
Daphne happened to have a birthday card which she gave her.
From a distance I had overheard some of the conversation, so
I went over and offered to pray for her, putting my hand on her
shoulder. The next moment she had brightened up and was
moving her neck freely; she was a different woman.
Contact with new guests is made through attending
Welcome Meetings, this year at two or three hotels on each
of four mornings a week. We miss the Sunday morning
meetings because of our 10.30 service, but were granted a
slot before the Saturday evening entertainment to briefly
introduce ourselves. Some guests really appreciate the information; sadly the majority remain apparently indifferent.
For Sunday worship, we use a lovely simple Catholic
church in Es Canar (the English church has no premises of its
own in Ibiza) for a Service of the Word, followed by Holy
Communion. People of all allegiances, and none, are made
welcome, needs are prayed for, and further fellowship is
enjoyed after the service over a cup of coffee or cold drink at
Rio’s Bar. Conversations take place, of a general nature, or on
more spiritual issues—one older person used to leave the
church before Communion, eventually admitting to feeling
unworthy to receive. Gradually through the ministry of successive chaplains, the truth became clear that it is not our
worthiness which qualifies us, but what Christ has done for
us through the Cross. What a joy to see the transformation of
this one worshipper alone!
In the evening an informal half-hour Songs of Praise takes
place in a nearby hotel, with varying numbers attending.
One of our frustrations is the difficulty in making effective
contact with guests on the fringe of the church or beyond,
given the brief nature of their stay in resort. Simply giving
Christian literature can sometimes be of help.
One guest writes, ‘I had no knowledge at all of British
chaplains doing a grand job like this! It was lovely to see them
in and out of the hotel through my stay there, and we always
stopped and had a chat: they were so knowledgeable about
all sorts and that helped me a lot. Little did I know I would
need them so much when I received a call from home that my
mother was extremely poorly and may not recover before I
got back home. I was in a state, but so glad I was spotted by
the Chaplain’s wife—I was taken to a quiet lounge and given
a cup of tea: what comfort I received, and assurance.’
Another wrote, ‘Going to church on holiday whilst staying
in a hotel was the first time I had ever done this . . . I didn’t
know that there were any provisions for holidaymakers
abroad . . . I cannot help but be very impressed by the church
for providing the means for these services’.
And again: ‘The work of ICS obviously has many facets, all
with Jesus as a focal point, but my experience this holiday
has made me aware of how much is probably going on in the
hearts and minds of holidaymakers . . . The loving presence
of the chaplains showing the love of Jesus, I believe, affects
far more people than at first it may seem.’
We thank God for the privilege of serving in Ibiza since
2007, and are grateful too for the prayer support of the church
in Ibiza and at home. Please pray now for more candidates to
come forward if this seasonal ministry is to continue. View over Ibiza Town
A decade of Wengen encounters
This June Linda Rowe, with her husband Stuart, was the first
chaplain of the summer season in Wengen. She shares some of
the duties involved, and the joys of ministering there.
Linda Rowe
On Sunday 2 June our day started at 05.45 in a hotel at
St. Pancras and ended at 21.44 when we stepped off the rack
and pinion train into the cool fresh night air in Wengen, in
the Bernese Oberland. A swift downhill walk with our luggage and by 22.00 we were safely inside the chaplaincy flat.
The welcoming comfort and food made the epic journey on
seven trains a pleasure.
Arriving on Sunday evening gave us the advantage of an
extra one and a half days to prepare [usual start day Tuesday].
The first five days were action packed: Maggie Gerber (the
churchwarden), Stuart and I opened up St. Bernard’s for the
summer, mowed the lawns—and chatted; visited the tourist
offices, hotels, campsites, hostels and B&Bs—and chatted; set
up a chaplain’s lap-top which took many hours of patient
work with the help of an English-speaking computer expert,
by telephone from Swiss Com (a two-hour technical chat).
During that first week the temperature rose from -2°C to
+30°C and I bought a sun hat: my ministry to the retailers had
begun! This was our tenth chaplaincy in this village where
visitor numbers matter to all who work there. By Sunday the
temperature had plummeted and the rain came down. Such a
Stuart at apartment entrance
St. Bernard’s Church
(in foreground)
28 ICS News and Prayer Diary ||April
November
2013 2013
Welcome to St. Bernard’s
View across to Murren
See also page 39
disappointment for all; however, such joy as the congregation
far exceeded our expectations. The press-ganged organist,
who last played at St. Bernard’s in 1953, did a sterling job as
we lifted our voices in faithful praise of God. The morning
ended with hot drinks at the Berghaus where the buzz of
fellowship was a great encouragement. The highlight for all
was the gentleman who had the courage to stand and tell us
all that he had sobbed with the joy of the Holy Spirit throughout the service. We were all mightily blessed.
We spent time with holidaymakers. Whilst out walking
we were stopped by a South Korean girl, who asked the way
to the railway station. I complimented her on her nation’s
desire for peace. She replied that it was all they wanted. We
explained the peace of our faith, to which she responded that
‘she had no faith’ and hurried away.
This year I established good relationships with the holiday
reps and was delighted to find that they had heard good
reports of the church services from their clients. We attended
two welcome meetings and the congregations grew.
The most frequent comment from the congregations was
that St. Bernard’s figured prominently in their holiday plans.
We heard about a number of answered prayers and learnt
more about the history of the bell and the gentleman who
used to ring it. We also came to understand how much our
enthusiasm for the gospel was valued.
The final weekend proved to be a huge blessing. We were
introduced to Jack, a regular June visitor and an organist, and
a crowd of us were chatting over bedtime drinks and discussing hymn choices. ‘I will go in the strength of the Lord’
was suggested by Eileen, a choirmistress, as a good last hymn.
As she sang it to us I was enchanted, and resolved to include
it on Sunday morning. A lady stood in the aisle and sang the
hymn from memory; after church we all learnt that it had been
written by her brother-in-law (the whole family are Salvation
Army officers) and that he was dangerously ill in hospital. The
blessing is that she felt that God was speaking to her and we
were blessed by persevering with the plan to sing it.
Maggie, Stuart and I enjoyed twenty-three days of happy
work; we saw that all the prayers for us were answered in
abundance and that the Holy Spirit was very generous with
his gifts and fruit. ICS News
ICS and
News
Prayer
and Prayer
Diary |Diary
November
| July 2011
2013 29
Moving up a gear
Ninety-three ICS members and friends met at the Coventry
Transport Museum for the Annual Meeting, in September.
Here is a brief glimpse into what took place.
Chair Julian Henderson,
Vice-Chair Angela Marshall
The buzz at prayer time
Not many annual meetings are surrounded by vintage cars,
but the speakers on Saturday 21 September certainly gave
classic presentations. As recently retired chaplains with long
experience, Chris Martin and Bob Short were in a strong position to give perceptive insights into chaplaincy life. They
built on their recent retrospective articles in ICS News.
Chris Martin underlined the fluid nature of chaplaincy life
in Lyon. A membership survey had revealed twenty-one
nationalities in church on Sunday morning; only 60 per cent
had a Christian background and 26 per cent were notionally
Anglican. Out of 100 members interviewed in 2001–2, 76 had
now left Lyon. Chris also reflected that the customary structures of church were not really suitable for reaching out to a
generation that was based on networks rather than neighbourhoods. Chris then related stories of people who had
joined the church and how it had supported them, or how
God had spoken to them in their time there.
Bob Short explored whether the Ibiza seasonal chaplaincy
might be a way forward for other chaplaincies. The population of Ibiza is 130,000 but each year six million people,
mostly tourists, pass through the airport. The seasonal chaplaincy there evolved from a need for assistance on the east
coast to meet a request for summer ministry from a Thomson
Gold hotel. In response to a suggestion from Bob, ICS began to
find seasonal chaplains to serve in Es Canar and Cala Llonga.
Their ministry is perceived by the hotel as being rooted in the
much wider permanent ministry. This avoids the suspicion of
being yet another agenda-seeking group. Bob spoke warmly
of the commitment of the chaplains.
Angela Marshall interviewed Richard Bromley in his first
year as Mission Director. Richard had chosen the closing
hymn: ‘Be Thou my vision’ which was very much in keeping
with the tone he had set for the afternoon. There was an encouraging buzz as the meeting broke into small groups for a
time of prayer for those whom the Society supports.
The AGM included the usual essentials: receiving reports
and accounts, and appointing auditors. Rosie Dymond was
elected to Council and five other members were re-elected. 30 ICS News and Prayer Diary | November 2013
ICS Christmas cards 2013
Four new designs this year, plus some limited stocks from
previous years, all feature ICS’s seasonal mission. Cards are
high quality with laminated or UV coated images.
W9A
WENGEN W9A/B
Six of each design
per pack
Painting: Elaine Nash
Photograph: Brian Hutton
ICS built the historic English
Church in 1927. Using volunteer chaplains it maintains and
develops seasonal (summer and
winter) ministry to tourists and
local people.
W9B
Starting to snow, Wengen
ZERMATT Z8A/B
Six of each design
per pack
Christmas crib scene at St. Bernard’s
Z8A
Photograph: Chris Denham
Painting: Patrick Duncan
St. Peter’s, Zermatt, in winter
Z8B
local people.
St. Peter’s, Zermatt
All Christmas cards with Bible verse: By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on
high will break upon us to give light . . . . Luke 1: 78, 79 (NRSV)
Pack of twelve with
envelopes, size 6”x 4"
(148 x 105mm), £3.50
Greeting in Christmas cards:
Wishing you peace and joy this Christmas
and in the coming year
ICS cards and other publications
Z7B
ZERMATT Z7A/B
Six of each design
per pack
Photographs: Chris Denham
local people.
Pack of twelve with
envelopes, size 6"x 4"
(148 x 105mm), £3.00
Z7A
OTHER ICS
PUBLICATIONS
See www.ics-uk.org
for information
Faith and New Frontiers
A story of planting and
nurturing churches,
1923–2003
by Brian Underwood
£5.00 inc. postage
A church in the Alps
The history of St. Peter’s,
Zermatt
by Cicely Williams
£4.00 inc. postage
Directory of Englishspeaking Churches Abroad
A unique resource for
travellers and ministers,
listing English-speaking
Protestant churches in
over ninety countries
where English is not the
main language
£4.75 inc. postage
To order: go on line,
call ICS or send in a
cheque payable to
‘Intercontinental
Church Society’.
A Supplement to ICS News and Prayer Diary | April 2010
ICS notelets
W7A
WENGEN W7A/B
Six of each design
per pack
Blank cards (notelets
without Bible verse)
Photographs:
David Healey ARPS
St. Bernard’s in the spring
W7B
Wengen in springtime
Z6A
ZERMATT Z6A/B
Six of each design
per pack
Blank cards (notelets
without Bible verse)
Paintings: Patrick Duncan
and Miriam Ogle-Nelson
St. Peter’s, Zermatt, in summer
Z6B
Pack of twelve with
envelopes, size 6"x 4"
(148 x 105mm), £3.00
Old Zermatt
Please return order
form overleaf to:
Intercontinental Church Society, Unit 11 Ensign Business Centre,
Westwood Way, Westwood Business Park, Coventry CV4 8JA
Card and book order form
Card postage (£)
No. of
packs
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
UK
0.85
1.20
1.20
2.30
2.30
4.80
4.80
5.00
Overseas
(small pkts)
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.50
9.00
9.00
Other quantities: please call
024 – 7646 3940 or e-mail
[email protected]
before ordering. Stock will
be available from midNovember. ICS will
endeavour to despatch
orders within seven working
days of receipt. If you are
unhappy with the products,
you may return them at your
expense in original condition
within seven days of delivery
for a refund.
Gift Aid Declaration for UK
taxpayers: I confirm I have paid
or will pay an amount of Income
Tax and/or Capital Gains Tax for
each tax year (6 April to 5 April)
that is at least equal to the
amount of tax that all the
charities or Community
Amateur Sports Clubs (CASCs)
that I donate to will reclaim on
my gifts for that tax year.
I understand that other taxes
such as VAT and Council Tax do
not qualify. I understand the
charity will reclaim 28p of tax on
every £1 that I gave up to 5
April 2008 and will reclaim 25p
of tax on every £1 that I give on
or after 6 April 2008.
If your tax position (such that
you can no longer use the Gift
Aid scheme), name or address
changes please notify ICS
immediately. We may
periodically ask you to
reconfirm your tax status.
Gifts for specific objectives or
projects: our donation policy
can be found on our web site.
Data Protection: data about
individuals and organisations
with whom ICS is in contact
will be held in its database for
the purposes of pursuing its
activities. ICS does not pass
mailing lists to unconnected
third parties except as stated.
Qty
Cards priced per pack of twelve
£
p
Wengen 9A/B Christmas with Bible verse (£3.50)
Zermatt 7A/B Christmas with Bible verse (£3.00)
Zermatt 8A/B Christmas with Bible verse (£3.50)
Wengen 7A/B Notelet (£3.00)
Zermatt 6A/B Notelet (£3.00)
Plus postage for total number of packs of cards:
Faith and New Frontiers (£5.00)
A Church in the Alps (£4.00)
Directory of English-speaking Churches Abroad (£4.75)
Grand total for goods
My gift towards ICS’s wider mission and ministry
TOTAL cheque* to ‘INTERCONTINENTAL CHURCH SOCIETY’
*Charity vouchers or CAF Cards may be used for gifts to ICS only, not goods
or charge my MasterCard/Visa credit/debit/CAF card (delete as necessary):
No:
/
Expires:
The security code adjacent to
my card’s signature strip is:
Name as on card ____________________________________________________________
If the address above is not that on your credit card statement, please include a note of that address also.
Please tick the boxes that apply to you and sign below
UK taxpayers only: I want ICS to treat all donations I make from the date of
this declaration as Gift Aid donations, until I notify you otherwise. (See margin for
remainder of Gift Aid Declaration.)
I do not require acknowledgement of the receipt of my gift.
Please send me ICS News for one year. To receive ICS News and become a Friend
please donate at least £16.00 (x18.00, CHF22.00) annually to cover the cost of mailings.
You may substitute a card design if my choice is unavailable.
Sign here __________________________________________ Date ___________________
Name ______________________________ Daytime tel. no. ________________________
Address ___________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________
E-mail _______________________________________________________________________
Registered charity no.: 1072584; company limited by guarantee no.: 3630342 (England
and Wales). ICS registered office as shown on previous page.
French campsites are a-changing
Dennis Sadler first served as seasonal chaplain in Royan in
the mid-nineties, then on all the current Brittany chaplaincies. He reflects on the social changes affecting ministry.
Dennis and Elizabeth Sadler
Pool with flumes
Village of mobile homes
Typical mobile home decking
Aerial walkway
When I first began in seasonal chaplaincy, the mix of accommodation commonly found on sites was tents, touring
caravans and some mobile homes. Most campers then would
use the communal shower block—but gone are the good old
days of rising at dawn to be among the first to use the
showers before the hot water ran out! Gone too are the
central washing-up points which were the starting point of
many ongoing conversations and made for a sense of
community. Most people stayed for the two weeks of their
summer holidays; now many move on after a few days.
The facilities on site would be simple: a heated swimming
pool, maybe with a flume; a small shop for essentials; and,
depending on the site’s star rating, a restaurant. The chaplain
was welcome to walk the site and visit campers on their
pitch. This was seldom resented, even though the response
might be, ‘I don’t go to church, but I’m glad you’re here’.
However, a growing number of sites have changed their
ethos to ‘glamping’—glamour camping. In so doing they
have excluded tents and caravans to create villages of mobile
homes, some with a population of many thousands. Each
unit is self-sufficient within its own hedged enclosure. Many
have decking, some a verandah enclosed by a sliding screen:
less camping, more self-catering apartment.
Another change is the provision of many more on-site
attractions such as a climbing wall, an aerial walkway with
zip wires through the trees, a beauty salon, an indoor swimming pool, full sports provision and even a nine-hole golf
course. Some sites set out to be a health spa. The aim is to
encourage customers to stay and spend their money on site.
Other social trends have made a seasonal chaplaincy
harder. An insidious secular idea subtly promoted in the
media is that religion is dangerous and people, particularly
the young, need protecting from it. Therefore a chaplain
walking a site today may be regarded with suspicion, even
hostility. One way of overcoming this is to prayer walk the
site—I have yet to meet anyone who objects to being prayed
for. Curiously, even atheists will accept prayer!
Indoor and outdoor pools
Foam party
Climbing wall
Another change is that one cannot assume any basic
Christian teaching upon which to build. It naturally follows
therefore that for such people the Bible does not carry any
authority.
One should never underestimate the power of worship in
evangelism, but the growing trend for British Christians to
take a holiday from church means that the church service has
become a less effective medium for evangelism. This year I
was grateful for the support of other believers who helped to
make Bénodet services more welcoming. People, mostly from
other European countries, were there sorting out what they
believed, so it was good for a believing core to be present.
These are just some of the changes facing the seasonal
chaplain; so, how to turn them to opportunities?
It may be necessary to move from the more organised sites
to those which encourage the original spirit of camping and
caravanning; some declare this to be their deliberate policy.
When people live in such a community they naturally expect
to engage in conversation.
While French law may heavily regulate holiday club type
activity, another way to begin to redress the lack of Bible
knowledge is to provide puzzles, with the relevant Bible
material, for children to take away. One year a boy was so
keen to collect each day’s puzzle that he would be at the
chaplain’s noticeboard before breakfast. Two teenage girls
with hair dyed green, orange and blue discovered the young
people’s puzzles and were overheard to exclaim, ‘Have you
seen these? They’re great!’ The puzzles have also led to
significant conversations with appreciative parents.
In my early seasonal chaplaincies, the emphasis was on
the Sunday service and one was encouraged to consider the
time in resort as fifty-fifty duty and holiday—not that it was
ever possible to combine the two in my experience. Now the
emphasis has moved to outreach which is much more time
consuming, but rewarding. At the AGM Chris Martin quoted
the Dutch theologian Jan van Hoekendijk, ‘The church must
be forever asking “What kind of day is it today?”’ That holds
true for campsite chaplaincies and for any Christian work.
Seasonal ministry has changed, probably for the better,
from mainly the provision of Sunday services for Christians—
valid as that is—to an emphasis on mission. 36 ICS News and Prayer Diary | November 2013

ICS News Issue 56 November 2013 - Intercontinental Church Society

Transcription

Similar documents

Adding RCA outputs to Mercedes Benz 2005 C240 W203 Audio20

Silego Technology - Globalpress Electronics Summit

Zalinski Op Brief

The Thank You Report - International Charter School

27 1134.62 KB - Incarnation Catholic School

lenten practices at ics - Incarnation Catholic School

Newsletter for March 17-23 2292.93 KB

September 18 - Roblin Evangelical Mission Church

PLEASE PRAY WITH ME AND STAY WITH ME

2012 Tucson brochure - St. Cyril of Alexandria Community