The Bishop of Kondoa in Tanzania has thanked people here for the warmth of their welcome during his week-long visit to the Northwest to initiate a five-year mission link between his diocese and the Diocese of Derry & Raphoe.
Most Rev Dr Given Gaula was speaking in St Eunan’s Cathedral in Raphoe where he preached the first of two sermons at a Service of Evening Prayer to launch the new partnership agreement. The companionship link could see groups and individuals from each diocese visiting each other to witness and share in work for the Kingdom, and supporting one another through prayer, resources and skilled personnel.
During this evening’s service, Bishop Andrew Forster presented Bishop Given with a pectoral cross, cut from the same piece of ancient bog oak as the cross he himself wears. The crosses were carved by the Bishop’s Curate of the Ardara Group of Parishes, Rev Robert Wray.
“What I hope,” Bishop Andrew told Dr Gaula, “is that whenever you wear this cross, it will remind you to pray for us.” Pointing to his own cross, he said, “Whenever I wear this cross it will remind me that your cross is made from the same piece of wood, and I will pray for you. And it reminds us that even though we come from very different parts of the world we are children of God, we are one in Christ.”
Rev Wray presented Bishop Given with a larger cross, too, to place on his desk in Kondoa. It was a gift from the clergy of Derry & Raphoe.
Clergy and parishioners travelled from far and wide across the Diocese of Derry & Raphoe to attend the Launch Service, including from Macosquin, Ballyshannon, Omagh, Fanad, Dunfanaghy, Inver, Faughanvale, Donegal, Moville, Limavady and Londonderry.
In his sermon, Dr Gaula drew inspiration from chapter 5 of Luke’s Gospel, which recounts how Jesus called his first disciples. He tells Simon – who had had a fruitless night fishing – to put out into deep water and let down their nets for a catch. The sceptical Simon did as Jesus suggested, and they caught so many fish that their nets began to break. They signaled their partners in a second boat to come and help them, and they hauled in so many fish that both boats began to sink.
“Friends,” Bishop Given said, “God is calling us to go even deeper, to experience his power, to experience his blessings.” Peter’s faith brought him many blessings, the Bishop said. He challenged the congregation to do three things to make the new relationship between Kondoa and Derry & Raphoe go even deeper.
“The first thing I encourage each one of us to consider on iour journey is our love for Jesus. We need to love Jesus so that our relationship can go even deeper, Our relationship can be a good example of the Anglican Communion. We can only make this possible if we love Jesus in our lives. Jesus will be the centrepiece of our relationship.
“Secondly, not only to love Jesus, I’m encouraging each one of us to live for Jesus. Live Jes`us. If we live Jesus, those who are surrounding us – our neighbours, our children, our grandchildren and all around us – when they see us living Jesus, their lives will be transformed and our relationship will go from strength to strength.
“And thirdly – in order to go even deeper and catch more fish by bringing more people to Jesus – please, friends, I am encouraging each one of you, we should not keep Jesus as our own property but rather we should give Jesus to others. And this is a call to mission. You need to give Jesus to your children. You need to give Jesus to your granchildren, to your neighbour. God is calling us to give others Jesus. It is only Jesus who can transform the lives of others.”
The second sermon was preached by Bishop Andrew who said he felt blessed to be inaugurating something that would be good for us and good for Kondoa, as well. The mission link is being facilitated by CMS Ireland, whose Mission Director, Jenny Smyth, was in the congregation.
“For too long,” Bishop Andrew said, “the church in the West – the bit that we’re part of – has looked to the church in other parts of the world and almost said something along the lines of, ‘Be like us’. And in so doing, what we’ve tried to do is transport our culture – our Christian culture – to a church that actually needs to transport some of its culture to us, because what we see in the church today is that in places like Kondoa – in places across the global south – [there’s] a church that’s growing, a church that’s vibrant, a church that’s filled with a heart to communicate the Gospel into its community and into its world. And what we need, Bishop Given, is some of that passion back in the church in the west, some of that heart.
“So, the days have long since gone when it was about ‘The West to the Rest’. What we need is the church that is growing and vibrant coming to us and sharing that love and goodness and grace, and thank you for already doing that.”
Bishop Andrew said he was filled with excitement about the new link. “I need to hear of a diocese that in 10 years has grown from 5,000 members to 25,000 members. I need to hear the stories of a diocese where people are content to meet under a tree to worship God, because in their worship of God they go out to share Jesus. I want to hear about a diocese that is empowering women in a mainly Muslim area – empowering women about their own value in the eyes of Jesus Christ. I want to hear the stories of a diocese that is not content to sit back and maintain what we have but to reach out and do great things for Jesus. That’s what I’ve been hearing about all week, and it’s been wonderful, and that’s what I hope will bless us.”
This evening’s service was led by the Dean of Raphoe, Very Rev Liz Fitzgerald, who was assisted by the Archdeacon of Raphoe, Ven. David Huss, and members of the Cathedral Chapter, Rev Canon Mervyn Peoples and Canon Brian Russell who read from Scripture. Archdeacon Huss led the prayers. Music was provided by members of the Cathedral choir, accompanied by church organist Renee Goudie.
