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Lent Appeal 2012: Giving Ministry Wheels

23 November 2011 By

This photo came from our ALMA partner in Niassa last week and shows a community’s delight in the commissioning of their new well. Bishop Mark Van Koevering can be seen near the Afrid pump that supplies the ‘Living Water’ of London’s 2009 Lent Appeal. Our 2008 Appeal Education for All has seen the completion of two schools in Messumba and Nsosso and the 2010 Appeal ALMA’s Children means that orphaned children are being supported by the Mothers’ Union and assisted with School uniform and books.

To date the 2011 Appeal Training God’s People has raised £47,000 and has already been used to provide additional lay and clerical training – to support the tremendous growth the Mozambican and Angolan churches are experiencing – and will also fund the purchase of 180 ‘Africa Bible Commentaries’ in Portuguese.

Yet if we talk with our partners the biggest impediment to ministry and growth is transport! Their dioceses are huge: Angola is five times the size of the entire UK and each Mozambican Diocese is 1.5 times the size of the UK. Public transport infrastructure is minimal and, although the bicycle is king in local contexts, for effective ministry to happen our partners need vehicles – sturdy and reliable ones that can cope with the dirt roads in the most remote places, and not just in the dry season. Each diocese has two or three vehicles but at the end of their useful lives, so our final Lent Appeal of London Challenge 2012 will be Giving Ministry Wheels. Our aim is to raise £60,000 to help fund a good quality second hand vehicle for Angola, Lebombo (Southern Mozambique) and Niassa (northern Mozambique).

Materials will include Lent Posters (A3 and A4), Lent Appeal Cards and Gift Aid Envelopes which will be available for preview from early December and for collection early January (a sample will be sent to each parish). Additional materials including power points showing some of the journeys our partners make, and problems encountered, will be available on the London Diocesan and ALMA websites along with stories and photos for downloading.

Thank you to every one who has contributed to the Lent Appeals in past years and for your support of the mission and ministry of our partners. Please will you journey with us once more in 2012?

For further information please contact Sheenagh Burrell (Email: almacoordinator [at] london.anglican.org), ALMA Co-ordinator.

Filed Under: ALMA, DCG, Featured articles, Lent Appeal

Course on the Early Church offered to Angola and Mozambique

27 April 2011 By

Following its successful launch in North London last year, the highly acclaimed Evening Course “Living Life in the Early Church” has now been offered through the London Diocesan ALMA programme to our linked dioceses in Angola and Mozambique.

The Course – normally run over six evenings – covers the early period of Church life in the first millennium. It includes the period up to 310AD when the church was harshly persecuted and Baptism very serious indeed, followed after Constantine by a time when a Baptismal Certificate was essential for almost any government job, and people looked for what was the minimum needed to get the coveted Certificate. After around 500AD however (especially the very cold winter of 406/7 when the Rhine froze, and the barbarians could not be kept out), the Roman Empire was disintegrating, the very fabric of the church was under threat, and people were fearful of the future.

However, the course – aimed at a general parish audience – is neither academic nor historical. All this period contained numerous Christian authors, whose encouragement and words of wisdom resonate clearly into the 21st century. In addition to numerous handouts and illustrations (being translated into Portuguese for ALMA), the Course includes many writings from these Early Authors for participants to pray, reflect on and study if they wish. It comes as a surprise to many that in the Early Church, North Africa, Iraq and Syria were among the leading Christian nations – an aspect of which Africans today can be justly proud – together with English Theologians such as Aelred of Rievaulx in Yorkshire, and the Venerable Bede from Tyneside..

Some of the Course material which is being offered is online (in English) is available here.

Filed Under: ALMA, Featured articles, Featured events

Request Lent Appeal materials

25 January 2011 By

The 2011 Diocesan Lent Appeal, the fourth of the five Lent Appeals dedicated to ALMA in London Challenge 2012 will focus on equipping our partner churches in Angola and Mozambique by investing in the training of God’s People. Initial and continuing ministerial education, training of lay catechists and locally ordained priests, lay formation and youth mentoring are vital to the continuing growth and mission of the churches in Angola, Lebombo (Southern Mozambique) and Niassa (Northern Mozambique).

The ALMA team is now accepting requests for Lent Appeal materials, which will include Lent Appeal posters, cards and gift aid envelopes.

To order materials for your parish, visit www.london.anglican.org/LentAppeal.

Filed Under: ALMA, Featured articles, Lent Appeal

Training God’s People: 2011 Lent Appeal for ALMA

27 October 2010 By

Lent Appeal posterThe 2011 Diocesan Lent Appeal, the fourth of the five Lent Appeals dedicated to ALMA in London Challenge 2012 will focus on equipping our partner churches in Angola and Mozambique by investing in the training of God’s People. Initial and continuing ministerial education, training of lay catechists and locally ordained priests, lay formation and youth mentoring are vital to the continuing growth and mission of the churches in Angola, Lebombo (Southern Mozambique) and Niassa (Northern Mozambique). [Read more...]

Filed Under: ALMA, Lent Appeal

ALMA and a special appeal

6 July 2010 By

Niassa is one of our Link Dioceses in Southern Africa and Bishop Mark serves in the Diocese as a USPG Mission Partner. As you may know most of the mission agencies are experiencing financial problems and USPG’s deficit puts some of its projects and support in jeopardy including the support costs for Bishop Mark.  USPG needs to raise £15,000 during 2010 and early 2011 to enable the Bishop to continue the sterling work that he is doing in the Diocese, developing leadership and shaping the future of mission and ministry.  Last year USPG extended its Agreement with Bishop Mark, but current plans are that it will finish in April 2011.  Longer term financial arrangements for the continuation of Bishop Mark and Helen’s ministry remain uncertain.

There are already some parishes and individuals in the diocese contributing to USPG’s support cost for the Van Koeverings but if there are others who would like to contribute, please send donations direct to USPG and ensure they are ear-marked for the ‘Diocese of London – Mark and Helen Van Koevering’ Appeal. Donations should be sent to USPG: Anglicans in World Mission, 200 Great Dover Street, London SE1 4YB.   Gift aid forms are available to maximise donations from individuals, and can be downloaded from www.uspg.org.uk/article.php?article_id=518.

Filed Under: ALMA

ALMA City of London Festival exhibitions

21 June 2010 By

ALMA has been invited to be part of this year’s City of London Festival, which has the theme of Portuguese speaking countries.

Swords into Ploughshares, weapons into sculpture starts today at St Paul’s Cathedral. The project has taken over 700,000 weapons out of use and has had a global impact. There are also images of other sculptures and pictures from Angola and Mozambique reflecting both the countries and their connections with London. For more information about the Transforming Arms into Tools project, visit www.almalink.org/transtool.htm.

Also starting today is an exhibition of Angolan and Mozambican Capulanas. In contrast to the hard edges of the sculptures made out of weapons in St Paul’s Cathedral, St Botolph’s-without-Bishopsgate is hosting an altogether softer exhibition — the church interior will be transformed by a sea of brightly-coloured capulanas, the garments traditionally worn by Mozambican and Angolan women.

Filed Under: ALMA, Featured articles, Featured events

Request Lent Appeal materials

27 January 2010 By

Lent resources, including reflections, suggested scriptures, stories and images are available on the ALMA website www.almalink.org. Copies of the Lent Appeal Poster, Card, GA envelope, and Treasurer’s Letter are also available to download.

Please help us to be as environmentally friendly as possible by nominating someone from your parish to collect your Lent Materials from London Diocesan House (very close to Pimlico Tube and Tate Britain).

Materials will be available from Tuesday 2nd February 2010 and throughout Lent. We will parcel up your materials and have them waiting for you at reception if you let us know your requirements in advance. On Tuesdays it will be possible to collect materials without prior notification from 11am-5pm.

Lent Appeal materials request form
Lent Appeal materials request form (26 kB)
Lent Appeal materials request form
Lent Appeal materials request form (86 kB)
Filed Under: ALMA, Information, Lent Appeal

Lent Appeal: Transforming Lives

26 October 2009 By

The 2010 Diocese of London Lent Appeal for ALMA will be supporting ‘ALMA’s Children’.

Since 2001 the ‘ALMA’s Children’ fund has enabled our partner dioceses in Angola, Lebombo and Niassa (in Mozambique) to respond to one of the greatest challenges they face: ministry to young people – when over 50% of the population is under the age of 18. ‘ALMA’s children’ has supported work with Orphaned and Vulnerable children, the building of schools and nurseries, and funding health centres and health education.  London’s Lenten discipline in 2010 can play an important part in transforming the lives of even more children and also in contributing to the dynamic witness of our partners.

Practical details: The Lent Appeal Poster will be available to view in the next mailing and the Lent Appeal Card by December. There will be a Lent Appeal area on the Diocesan website linked to both the ALMA and the Transformative sites. Additional resources, worship suggestions and stories will be available online.

As normal all parishes will receive a set of materials including a gift aid envelope and a resources order form by post in early January. From 19th January pre-ordered resources will be available for collection from Diocesan House.

Once again thank you for your support of the past two Lent Appeals. It is wonderful to share that the 2008 Lent Appeal school in Messumba, Niassa will be officially opened on 15th November 2009, and that the building of the school in Nsossa Angola, is now well underway (photos on the ALMA website: www.almalink.org).

The 2009 Lent Appeal ‘Living Water’ has recently exceeded its target and has raised £63,500 before Gift Aid. This is very special given the economic circumstances here in London. Thank you.

More information:

ALMA Communications Officer: Sheenagh Burrell almacomms (Email: almacomms [at] london.anglican.org); t: 020 7932 1231 (Tuesdays)

Filed Under: ALMA, Information, Lent Appeal

Transformative: Mission – Teaching – Eucharist

1 September 2009 By

A message from the Bishop of London:

For the last year or so I have encouraged a group of priests and theologians in the diocese to pursue their vision for what has come to be called Transformative. It is about how the people of God learn and live the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the Eucharist.  It celebrates our Diocesan life in London as one body in the one bread.  It aims to fire up our zeal for growth and the transformation of hopes and lives.

Following a distinct trajectory, Transformative will begin with a sequence of five Study Sessions in Autumn 2009, drawing on the expertise of speakers from within London and from further afield. This should appeal to everyone, both clergy and laity. As well as being noteworthy and valuable events in themselves, they will generate material for a Lent Course which the College of Bishops will commend to all parishes for 2010. This will be launched at a Festival of St Paul Weekend, in January 2010, the next stage in the Festival.

The St Paul Weekend, centred on the Cathedral, the Bishop’s Chair, a focus of unity for the Diocese, will include a Symposium (with speakers of international renown), an all-night Youth Vigil and a Diocesan Eucharist at which I shall preside and preach. This will be an occasion of great vigour and imagination, drawing together the best of what the various traditions bring to celebration of the Eucharist.

The next stage will be the Lent Course itself. It will be designed to allow individual parishes to choose options that suit their own needs and tradition. The course will be available primarily in web-based form, as part of our commitment to a green agenda, reinforcing a Eucharistic understanding of the fruits of creation. It will also seek to tie in with the Diocesan Lent Appeal for ALMA.

The climax of the festival will be in the great liturgies of Holy Week and Easter – celebrated with much diversity across the Diocese, and concentrating our focus on the paschal mystery which is at the heart of the Eucharist. At St Paul’s Cathedral itself this will of course include the Chrism Eucharist on Maundy Thursday and the Easter Vigil, at which I shall have the joy of baptizing and confirming (April 3rd).

This liturgical re-visiting of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus is to be the goal and experience that is truly transformative, truly the action of the Holy Spirit, truly empowerment for future mission. This is ‘liturgy’ as ‘work’ – the celebration of sins forgiven, lives transformed, the earth renewed, the kingdom revealed, creation restored, and all humanity gathered at the banquet of life in heaven.

As the content of Transformative develops it will be available on the Diocesan website (www.london.anglican.org/transformative). I commend it to you and the whole people of God so that all our Mission and Ministry might be grounded in a deep understanding of our Holy Communion.

With thanks for our partnership in the Gospel

+Richard

The Rt Revd & Rt Hon Richard Chartres KCVO DD FSA

Filed Under: ALMA, Information, Transformative

Lent Appeal result

24 July 2009 By

Living Water, the 2009 Diocesan Lent Appeal for ALMA, has almost reached its £60,000 target.

£56,246, which is 93% of the target, is already banked and contributions are still arriving daily. Thank you so much to everyone who has contributed. Thank you too for the many imaginative ways parishes and groups have identified and engaged with our ALMA partners through thinking about water and raising funds for water projects throughout Lent.

Reports on the water projects will be on the ALMA website as soon as possible. We hope that other communities, like Chihunzuine, will soon be transformed by the provision of clean water.

It’s not too late to make donations to the Lent Appeal if you would still like to. See www.justgiving.com/almalent09 to donate online or send cheques payable to ‘LDF (Lent Appeal for ALMA)’ to ALMA Link Officer, London Diocesan House, 36 Causton St, London SW1P 4AU. If you have any queries, please email ALMA Communications Officer: almacomms (Email: almacomms [at] london.anglican.org).

Filed Under: ALMA, Information, Lent Appeal

ALMA Sunday

22 June 2009 By

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.

Downloads
Prayers and Suggestions for ALMA Sunday
Prayers and Suggestions for ALMA Sunday (88 kB)
Prayers and Suggestions for ALMA Sunday
Prayers and Suggestions for ALMA Sunday (72 kB)
2009 ALMA comparative health data
2009 ALMA comparative health data (47 kB)
2009 ALMA comparative health data
2009 ALMA comparative health data (40 kB)
Filed Under: ALMA, Featured events, Information

ALMA fundraising events

26 February 2009 By

If you are arranging a special event to raise funds for ALMA, whether for the Lent Appeal or beyond, please let us know by emailing almacomms (Email: almacomms [at] london.anglican.org).

For example, St Mary Brookfield has arranged a concert by the London Medical Orchestra to raise money for a health post in the Diocese of Niassa. Visit www.london.anglican.org/EventShow_11591 for full information.

Filed Under: ALMA, Featured events, Information, Lent Appeal

Lent Appeal advance notice

22 October 2008 By

The theme of the Diocese of London Lent Appeal 2009 will be Water. It will focus on the use and provision of water both here in London and in our partner dioceses in Angola and Mozambique. We will raise funds to build wells and boreholes in communities where there is no water supply – including the three schools funded by the 2008 Lent Appeal.

Water was the theme of ALMA’s 10th Anniversary ‘River of Life’ Service in July. London Challenge, the Lambeth Conference Bishops’ March, and Think:Fast, all focus on the imperative of achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Sufficient water is a prerequisite for this to happen.

The 2009 Lent Appeal will have a general leaflet, poster, gift aid envelope and the clergy guide will share insight, reflections and stories of water from Angola and Mozambique along with worship suggestions.

Filed Under: ALMA, Information, Lent Appeal

Angolan Elections

26 August 2008 By

Dear Friends,

We all know Africa has had particularly difficult elections this year. Results in Kenya and Zimbabwe have been contested, and many people in both countries have been killed in violence related to the elections.

It is against this painful background that Angolan legislative elections are due to take place on 5th September this year. [Read more...]

Filed Under: ALMA, Information