Ministry Matters

If you are interested in Christianity in Russia and would enjoy visiting the beautiful northern city of St Petersburg, why not consider participating in the Diocese of London’s annual visit to the Church in St Petersburg next spring? During our visit we make a point of sharing in the liturgy of the Orthodox Church and visit parishes and Church pastoral care projects in and around St Petersburg. And there is always time to explore the former tsarist capital of Russia and sample the outstanding cultural life of the city.

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The Annual Constantinople Lecture will be given by The Rt Revd Dr Christopher Cocksworth, Bishop of Coventry on 26 November. His topic will be The place of the Church of England in, and its contribution to the one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.

For more details and to download a booking form, visit www.london.anglican.org/EventShow_12515.

Archbishop Rowan is the speaker at this year’s Operation Noah lecture, The Climate Crisis: A Christian Response, at Southwark Cathedral. The lecture is seven weeks before the crunch UN climate summit in Copenhagen and will set the scriptural and theological agenda.

For more information, and to reserve a place, visit: www.london.anglican.org/EventShow_12334.

The Children’s and Youth Workers Conference schedule for 7 November has unfortunately been postponed. Problems with the venue have meant that this event will now be rescheduled for May/June next year. Apologies for any inconvenience that this has caused.

This is advance notice of Transforming Lives through Fairtade. This conference to support London Churches will be on Saturday 16 January, 10am-4pm, at St Stephen’s Westbourne Park Road, W2.  John Bell of the Iona Community will be participating.

An invitation will be sent to PCC Secretaries and Chaplains on 22 October. It will also be available to download from London’s Fairtrade website.

If you are new to the role of Section X Checker, it would be very helpful for you to attend one of these sessions. However, they are also a useful refresher to any Section X Checker especially if you’ve been in role for a long time- a refresher will mean you are up to date with any changes.

The sessions are taking place on 2 October, 11am-12.30pm, and 1 December 6pm-7.30pm. Both will be at Diocesan House and are free of charge.

If you would like to book at a place on this course please contact Catherine Ward by e: catherine.ward (Email: catherine.ward [at] london.anglican.org).

A series of meditative services at 6pm in September at St Paul’s Cathedral including composers’ and actors’ interpretations of some of Shakespeare’s finest monologues reflecting on Scriptural themes.

13 September – Faith
20 September – Hope
27 September – Love

Counter Tenor Patrick Craig
Actor Peter Moreton
Preacher The Reverend Canon Lucy Winkett, Precentor

What opportunities and challenges do churches face in multi-faith neighbourhoods?  And what can the wider church learn from their experience?

These questions will be addressed by the autumn programme of the Greater London Presence and Engagement Network (PEN) – launched by Archbishop Rowan at a day of reflection, prayer and sharing of resources in East London.

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In November this year, Ammerdown Conference and Retreat Centre, located near Bath, will be piloting a new weekend course on the theme of ‘Interfaith Dialogue Facilitation Skills’, to be led by Justine Huxley of St Ethelburga’s Centre for Reconciliation & Peace and Jonathan Marshall of Faithnet Southwest.

See www.ammerdown.org/InterfaithDialogueFacilitationSkillsNew.htm for information.

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The Cursillo Taster Day for Clergy has been postponed. Further details will follow.

‘Cursillo’ means ’short course in Christian living’. This one day (9 to 5 on 4 September) Taster event has proved in the past to be both worthwhile and enjoyable. It seeks to enable clergy to find out about the essentials of Cursillo, and the uses it may have in their parishes.

See www.london.anglican.org/EventShow_12165 for full information and to download a booking form.

The Bishop is again hosting a study day for London Diocesan Clergy in the Cathedral as a part of this programme. The Root of All Evil? The Church and Money, will be on Friday 25th September and the Bishop, Professor Alister McGrath and Professor Tim Gorringe will be among the speakers.

For more information and to book a place visit www.london.anglican.org/CME-EventShow_12132.

ALMA Sunday is on 12 July. You are invited to use the suggested prayer points and information to unite with people across Angola, London and Mozambique in praying for the ALMA relationship and the Millennium Development Goals. The ‘Comparative Health Data’ sheet shows the differences in Health Care Provision and underlines why the MDGs are so important.

If you would like to worship alongside our partners there are also three suggested hymns that are sung in each of our countries. More information on ALMA is available at www.almalink.org.

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Anti Apartheid Movement (AAM) and to celebrate the occasion Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA), the successor organisation to the AAM, and the AAM Archives Committee have organised a series of high profile events taking place throughout the summer.

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The Children’s and Youth Workers Conference schedule for 7 November has unfortunately been postponed. Problems with the venue have meant that this event will now be rescheduled for May/June next year. Apologies for any inconvenience that this has caused.

On 7 November there will be a day conference for Children’s and Youth Worker in partnership with the Children’s Society. It will be a very good day on the theme of ‘a good childhood’ and there are already some excellent speakers booked, including Bob Reitemeier (Chief Executive of The Children’s Society) and Mary Hawes (National Children’s Adviser for the Church of England).

There will also be seminars on all age worship and working with children with special needs.

Further details will follow from Sam Donoghue, Children’s Ministry Adviser, by the end of July. This message is to ask you to save the date.

For the first Thursday of the month, July to September, St Paul’s Covent Garden is hosting Jesus Christ the Fullness of Life.

JCFL is an initiative for young adults in the heart of London offering all an experience of the love of Christ.

JCFL meets for a Prayer Vigil and Agape on the first Thursday of each month. The Prayer Vigil offers an encounter with Jesus Christ through readings from the Word of God, beautiful music (Taize, Iona, Gaelic and contemporary styles) and times for quiet reflection. The Agape provides space for wholesome food and friendship.

JCFL originated from a large-scale event in 2005 that brought together more than 2,000 young adults to pray together during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2005. The JCFL prayer continues to offer space for those searching for peace and meaning in their lives.

Beautiful music and nourishing food are at the heart of JCFL and they are always grateful to any volunteers who would like to help. If you would like to play, sing, cook or help in any way please visit www.jcfl.org.uk.

Jesus Christ the Fullness of Life poster (pdf).