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Encouraging
the Carers
For
the past two years Barnabas Trust has been mentoring Community-Based
Organisations working in the field of HIV/AIDS in and around Port
Elizabeth, and on Friday 21 November the groups were given their
diplomas of competence.
At
a gala lunch Alma Lawler, the project manager, expressed her
emotions of sadness that she would no longer work with the groups on
a regular basis, but pride at what they had achieved in the last two
years. At the lunch each group was given a diploma of competence.
However, they were assured that the mentors would always be available
to give advice if a crisis should arise. Among the groups going on
their own is ‘Action in Outreach’, which is the HIV/AIDS
programme at St Stephen’s, New Brighton, reported on in the
December Iindaba.
Camilla
Symes, Training Director of the Barnabas Trust, thanked all the
mentors, the groups for their participation and the clergy, such as
Bishop Bethlehem and Lulamile Ngesi, for their incredible support.
Each of the mentors of the groups and the group leaders had a chance
to express their thanks and encouragement. All spoke of how much they
had learnt from one another and of how they were blessed by those who
covered their endeavours with prayer. Over the past two years the
groups have been taught about budgeting, fund-raising, conflict
resolution, training workers, writing applications for funding and
about being organised. The mentors have been alongside them all the
way and helped them grow into self- supporting groups.
The
other groups who received their diplomas were a group running a
crèche for 40 children living with AIDS in Hankey, a group
running a feeding scheme and crèche in Sanddrift and
Masizakhe, and another with a growing ministry of home-based care in
KwaZakhele. Among the special guests present at the lunch were Bishop
Bethlehem, Phil Donnel, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for
Barnabas Trust, Linda Ncaca representing the Dept of Health, Andrew
Symes, assistant priest at St Nicholas, and Canon Michael Farrow,
from Ely, UK, whose contacts in this country brought Andrew and
Camilla Symes to SA. Bishop Bethlehem expressed his appreciation to
the groups for what they have achieved and spoke on the philosophy of
UBUNTU and the challenges facing the groups as they go it alone.
Referring to the AIDS pandemic, he closed by saying, “Together
we shall share what God has given us and we shall win through.”
RIP
Dennis Woolacott
The
Alexandria Parish family, as well as the permanent residents of
Kasouga, were saddened to learn that their friend and priest Dennis
Woolacott had lost his long battle with prostate cancer, writes Peter Bowen.
Born
in PE and educated at Grey, Dennis was a great sportsman in his
early years, playing rugby, cricket and hockey, and gaining EP
colours for the latter two sports. He came back from the war carrying
shrapnel wounds which stayed with him all his days. He married Ann
Currie, also an EP hockey player, and they raised a daughter and a son.
Working
as an accountant in commerce, Dennis found himself in Cape Town, and
in the latter years of his business life, was persuaded by the
Archbishop of Cape Town to become Provincial Treasurer for the CPSA.
Interestingly, at the time, another Woolacott was holding a similar
position in Methodism.
When
the time came for Dennis to enjoy the fruits of retirement, he and
Ann came to Kasouga where they designed and built their own house.
However,
there came to Dennis a call to enter the ordained ministry of the
church and he served as Assistant Curate in the Alexandria parish
under four different rectors - often having to take charge of the
Church when an interregnum occurred. As one of his former rectors, I
know of no other non - stipendiary (ie unpaid) priest that has ever
put more energy into his work of devotion, than Dennis Woolacott.
When
Dennis and Ann finally left these parts they joined their daughter
and family in Hillcrest, Natal, where they enjoyed a few short years
of closeness. The funeral took place in Natal and a Memorial Service
was held at St David’s Church, Bushmans River Mouth, on Monday 1 December.
God
moved powerfully on Fiji mission
Iindaba
caught up with Gary Griffith-Smith when he was on holiday at his
former parish of St David’s, Bushmansrivermouth.
Gary,
who is serving in a parish in Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand,
told Iindaba, "I believe that coming from SA equipped me for
ministry in Fiji. It is not unlike being in the northern suburbs of
Port Elizabeth. In fact, I felt like I was back at St Mary Magdalene.
It looks the same and the people are equally warm and generous in
spirit. It was food for my soul to be there." Gary, Debbie and
the children were relaxing at Kenton-on-Sea. They're very excited as
Debbie is expecting their third child, due in March.
Gary
told Iindaba about his work with SOMANZ (Sharing of Ministries
Abroad NZ) and about a recent mission to Fiji where God moved
powerfully. Iindaba prints his report of the mission so that readers
can rejoice and be encouraged by what is happening through the
ministry of this former member of our clergy.
Gary's
report
My
parish is considered to be one of the key mission orientated
parishes in NZ. It has a long history of supporting missions in
different parts of the world and, about a year after arriving there,
I was invited to join the national council for SOMA which,
surprisingly, has a very low profile in the deep south of NZ. SOMANZ
send teams out to all parts of the world. However, I was pleased when
I was asked to go on a two week mission to Fiji. We started out on
the island of Viti Levu and went straight to a prayer meeting in
Lautoka. We were a team of nine people and ministry was to the
Fijian-Indian community. SOMA teams had visited for two years running
so there was an openness to our ministry. The parish in which we were
based has a thirst for the Holy Spirit. Apart from Sunday services
and home visits, nightly prayer meetings took place in the yard of
homes. (Everything happens outside in Fiji!) About 50 - 100 people
attended, and God moved power-fully! A blind man received his sight,
a man who had severe infection in his gums was totally healed, demons
were cast out, prophetic words were spoken and forty Hindus came to
Christ. Praise God! Much follow up work still needs to be done.
Later
four of us flew north to the island of Vanua Levu to Labasa which in
the past had not been open to visits from SOMA. God moved, and by the
time we left, we had been invited back next year and asked to train
clergy and lay people. Watch this space!
We
felt early on that the purpose for being in Labasa was to plant
seeds. Plant we did. We walked many kms, got sunburnt, caught buses
and taxis, held meetings every night, taught in schools, preached in
churches and did home and hospital visits. There is a great desire
for the things of God in that place. As word spread about the
‘missionaries’ being in town, we were inundated with
requests to go and pray with people.
We
went to the town of Dreketi which is well known as a Spirit-filled
church. We only had one night there as there was a severe drought in
the district. We soon discerned that they were resting on glory of
the past as regards their reputation of being Spirit-filled. One of
the team told them that the drought was linked to their spiritual
dryness and that God would send the rain when they repented of their
arrogance. The next morning I challenged them about their personal
devotional life and made an altar call. The whole church came forward
as they repented before God. Suddenly, the sky darkened and the rains
came! It was awesome! There was much jubilation and praising God.
I
returned to my parish physically exhausted but spiritually revived.
Our God is an awesome God!
Should
churches be allowed to smoke?
The
burning of incense in churches has become an issue in Irish
government circles after a junior Minister, who is also a medical
doctor, said that it could harm children in church.
His
comments come at a time when Ireland is debating government plans to
ban all smoking in places of work, pubs, restaurants, prisons and
psychiatric units. Dr McDaid said that altar-boys and -girls may be
at risk from incense- burning in the Roman Catholic Church.
“Carbon is a carcinogenic agent. Wherever you have smoke, you
are actually looking at carbon molecules, and if you happen to be
inhaling them, there is the chance that you will be doing damage.”
In
the Church of Ireland (Anglican), incense is a rarity: only two
Dublin churches use it.
-
Are Braai’s next? (Ed)
Quotes
from ‘Christian view’
Should
we teach ‘safer sin?’
•
‘Politically correct’ people are afraid to challenge
sinful sexual behaviour. Rather, they sell the ridiculous idea that
school kids have the discipline to avoid AIDS by using a condom
correctly every time - but they cannot discipline themselves to
resist sex.
•
God invented safe sex. He called it marriage and meant it to be a
lifelong union (Genesis 2:24). Sex outside marriage is sin.
A
calling to remember
A
couple of issues ago Iindaba gave a short report on the Diocesan Lay
Ministers' Quiet Day held at St John’s and now prints what Kerry
Phillips wrote about the day.
On
a spring day that still clutched uncertainly to the skirts of
winter, the lay ministers of the parishes of the diocese were
challenged to spend a day in quiet meditation and to remember their
calling to their ministry. For a few hours the frantic activities of
an ordinary Saturday morning were slowly released to the stillness.
Gradually the drone of overcrowded shopping malls and bumper to
bumper traffic, the rushing from one corner of Port Elizabeth to the
next as one child is picked up and another dropped off at the
movies/soccer/dancing etc faded and became distant and unimportant as
time became liquid rather than an incessant tick-tick of seconds or
cell phone beeps.
The
day began with Morning Prayer before the norms and expectations were
determined by the group. The theme of commitment and being faithful
to building a relationship with God provided a framework for the
day’s meditation. Shane Fraser, the lay minister training co-
ordinator, urged us all to reflect on the choice first made when we
became followers of Christ. He challenged us to consider earnestly
how true to the calling we have been since the first moment of our
being licensed. It is strange how silence amplifies that little voice
of the soul. The neat, expansive grounds of St John the Baptist in
Walmer, with its beautiful new extension and its historic gravestones
provided a visual representation of the choice between newness and
growth and experiencing spiritual death and stagnation. But it also
called to mind the act of remembrance - remember-ing our calling, the
hopes we had when we first began as lay ministers, and remembering to
look back to see how far we have come while still moving forward in
the love of God.
The
hours passed quickly and soon, Evening Prayer concluded, it was time
to return to the traffic and noise of everyday living. Some reported
that the day had been ‘refreshing’ and
‘uplifting’. One lay minister said that a ‘question
had been answered’ and another, that she felt ‘recharged,
at peace and renewed’.
It
was definitely not a day of idle daydreaming nor of moral chitchat,
but a few moments spent in intimate conversation with some infinite
God. Truly a day of peace, it is difficult to imagine that anyone
could have walked away without experiencing a touch of heaven and the
quiet joy of being in communion with God.
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