New Co-Directors, Revd Andy Bowerman and Revd Rachel Carnegie, assumed leadership of the Anglican Alliance in January 2014, following the dynamic role played by Sally Keeble as Director for the first three years of the Alliance. Our heartfelt thanks to Sally for all she and the Alliance Secretariat accomplished.
In 2014, one of the first tasks was to complete the Anglican Alliance’s global team, with the recruitment of June Nderitu, an experienced advocacy specialist. June has joined as the Africa Regional Facilitator and is based at the CAPA offices in Nairobi, Kenya, where she supports its mission in advocacy and social development.
In March, our Board of Trustees, chaired by Archbishop Albert Chama of Central Africa, met in Hong Kong, and enjoyed the hospitality of Archbishop Paul Kwong and the local church. This Board meeting overlapped with the first meeting of the Advisory Council, who gathered to help shape the future strategic direction of the Anglican Alliance. This new three-year Strategic Plan will be launched in June 2014 and reported in the next newsletter.
In February and March, the Anglican Alliance Secretariat in London hosted women leaders in education on the Commonwealth Professional Fellowship Scheme. These women leaders – from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Solomon Islands – followed an intensive programme of placements at university education departments, government and church education authorities, and primary and secondary schools. In this newsletter you can read more about their progress now that they have returned to their home countries.
On the relief side, as reported in our last newsletter, the Alliance has continued to accompany the Episcopal Church of South Sudan and Sudan in its humanitarian response following the recent conflict. The first phase of this work, supported by a range of Anglican, Episcopal and ecumenical agencies, has focused on delivering food and medicine to thousands of displaced people gathering in church compounds and elsewhere. Phase two, while continuing the relief work, will also build on the Church’s ministry in reconciliation and trauma counselling, and help to rebuild devastated communities.
A more recent natural disaster was the flooding in the Solomon Islands, which has seen a similarly remarkable response to human need by the Anglican Church of Melanesia. Anglican Alliance Regional Facilitator, Tagolyn Kabekabe, gives a vivid account in this newsletter on the disaster – how the Church is responding by mobilising its own and external support to reach the flood victims and how it is helping to rebuild shattered communities.
The flooding in the Solomon Islands is an example of the terrible impact climate change is making on the fragile coastal communities of the Pacific islands. Climate change and food security have been highlighted by Alliance participants in the Pacific as the key issue for the Anglican Communion to raise at the upcoming G20 conference in Australia. Our Co-Director Andy Bowerman reports on their plans, which will involve Pacific and Australian churches and agencies and look to engage Anglicans worldwide in their campaign.
Meanwhile, in other parts of the Communion, churches have been sharing their experiences of transformation through a participatory and Bible-based approach to church and community mobilisation (CCM), sometimes called Umoja or Awaken. In this newsletter Regional Facilitators June Nderitu, Michael Roy and Paulo Ueti share their insights on how this approach is being adapted to different contexts.
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Easter greetings!
Rachel Carnegie, Co-Director, Anglican Alliance
