The Diocesan Companion Link

Moses Thabethe Writes:As Link Officer, I was invited by the bishop of Southwell and Nottingham, George Cassidy, for a month long visit to the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham in the UK.

This visit was special as my wife Thuli and our son, Lungelo, were sponsored by a cluster of parishes to accompany me. The purpose of the visit was to strengthen the Companion Link between our two dioceses by sharing in the life of their diocese through prayer, worship, special events and by listening and learning from each other through informal conversations and encounters. We were hosted by a cluster of parishes around Gotham in the south of the Diocese and accommodated in the house of a loving couple, Greg and Anne Farnsworth, who are parishioners of St Lawrence, Gotham. A day after our arrival (Sunday 29th June), I attended an ordination service at Southwell Minster, where a candidate from the Gotham Cluster was ordained deacon. This provided a wonderful beginning to what was to be a most enriching and inspiring visit. This was also an opportunity to meet the bishops and some of the senior clergy of the diocese. A programme of events was prepared by Revd Steve Osman, priest in charge of Gotham Cluster, and Revd Barbara Holbrook, Link Officer in Southwell and Nottingham. The fi rst two weeks were quite intense and involved preaching at services, speaking engagements at schools, small groups and informal gatherings, outings to historical sites and other places of interest. Thuli also had speaking engagements with the Mothers Union Diocesan Council and the Deanery Synod. Throughout our stay, I had several meetings with the Link Offi cer, Barbara Holbrook, where we talked at length about the Companion Link and explored various issues including Youth Ministry, establishing strategic exchange visits, possibility of encouraging school links and the place of prayer in our Companion Link. From these encounters, I gleaned that the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham has placed great value on our Companion Link and it felt as though the two dioceses were truly united. At every gathering or meeting, there was genuine intercession for Bishop Rubin's full recovery. Bishop George expressed his sadness at the fact that Bishop Rubin wasn't able to visit the diocese but assured us of his continued prayers for him. It was quite exciting to meet our two Suffragan Bishops, Funginkosi and Nkosinathi, together with their wives. They arrived a week before the Lambeth Conference commenced in order to spend some time in the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham. We were able to have meaningful talks with the Bishops of Southwell and Nottingham and explored further the possibilities offered by the Link. Amongst the speaking engagements at schools, two of them were of signifi cance: Nottingham Bluecoat and Gamston Primary, both Church of England Schools. The Bluecoat school has a link with our diocesan school in Pietermaritzburg, St Nicholas, and there has been an exchange of student visits between the two schools. We spent about three hours at Gamston Primary, in the northern part of the diocese, sharing stories of South Africa and answering questions from the various classes. I was both amazed and enthused by the level of interest in the Companion Link from both learners and teachers alike. Our visit to Gamston even had press coverage! One of the special moments was a meeting I had with Steve Simmonds, a Church Army Captain, who also coordinates the 'Street Pastors' project in Nottingham City centre. This project offers pastoral support to those who work in or use the city at night and the Street Pastors Team helps to bring a Christian presence, prayer and comfort to those in need. This is a signifi cant ministry in the city's nightlife which is usually associated with crime, drug and alcohol abuse. Most of the time, this ministry involves developing relationships with bar staff and regulars, and listening to those who are burdened. It was encouraging to witness this unique contribution of the Church to society through the transforming power of the Gospel in its simplicity and honesty. In the third week of our visit we had an opportunity to spend three days of sightseeing in London, which was quite an experience. I was able to meet Frank Kantor, who now works for the United Reformed Churches in London. The fourth week was back to basics as we visited more places and met different groups and finally bid our hosts farewell and started the journey back on Friday, 25th July. One of the objectives of my visit was to further explore parts of the diocese which I had not seen, especially the north. This exercise always provides an opportunity for an exposure to the diocese in all its diversity. It came as no surprise that like ourselves, the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham - indeed all England is confronted with challenges of rich and poor, rural and urban, resourced and under resourced, albeit in slightly less obvious ways. Here are some of my observations: There is a rigorous exploration of new ways of doing church, accompanied by some critical refl ection of how to minister in such an increasingly multi cultural society. Worship services have become more vibrant with people participating with enthusiasm. The concept of fresh expression of church has freed people to own the church and adapt the Christian message to areas which were seen to be pagan, such as pubs. The church exists in a society with highly developed social services (national health system and social grants), and there has been a marked increase in the number of teenage pregnancies. The rich sense of Christian history contrasts with the fewer numbers of worshippers in church. The challenge is how to make people realize their need for God in their lives. One of the challenges facing the church, like us, is how to reach the young people whose value system is far different from the traditional norm. An interesting concept, a church without walls is making its round and many congregations are exploring ways of reaching out to their communities to spread the love of Christ with no strings attached. The Church in England fi nds itself in a post Christian era, with many people not connected to the church at all except through Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals. Viewed in this way, the established church has become a useful institution for peoples great life events (births, weddings and deaths) without them establishing meaning relationships with the church. The concept of a 'church without walls' is an attempt to minister to such people with no religious affiliation. - Moses Thabethe

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