Jerusalem
and the Middle East
Church Association

Editorial

News

Book Review

Obituaries

What a joy to sit and watch what the Holy Spirit does in the life of the Diocese. I can tell that it is a very exciting journey in which the roads are sometimes smooth and sometimes rough. In both cases, it is a privilege to follow Jesus.

We had a wonderful Synod in which members of six new congregations joined us. The Sudanese participation increased fourfold. We also had the first Eritrean member from Asmara.

Ordinations and new lay ministers

It was a joy to license six new diocesan lay ministers who are very capable and love the Lord. They are Bahig Ramzy, Mark Bennett, Awny Ghais, Samuel Henry, Saleem Faoud and Ashraf Wahba.

In a very joyful service at St. Mark’s, Alexandria Emil Nabih was ordained Deacon. He pastors the new congregation at Ras el Soda, Alexandria. Here in Cairo, Maken Zecharia was ordained Priest. He serves at the Church of Epiphany in Port Said. Most of the clergy who attended the Clergy Conference were there at Maken’s ordination together with members of his and Alice’s family.

Church growth in Alexandria

On my last visit, I was thrilled to see St Mark’s bustling with activity. Egyptians, expatriates and Sudanese congregations now use it heavily. It was a joy to install the Revd Dr Samy Fawzy as Vicar of St. Mark’s as well as All Saints’ and the Revd Joseph Ayok and Revd William Hepper as Associate Priests in April. I am encouraged to see the growth and the outreach of our Church in Alexandria.

Asmara outreach to deaf and blind

St George’s Church, Asmara is growing under the leadership of Revd Nelson and his wife Sudha. They now have to have two services on Sunday. Eritrean young people attend the evening one. This was a dream to reach out to the local people so that one day they can take the responsibility. While there I licensed three new lay ministers Ambrose P. Udayachand, Crimson Jebakumar and Pamela Akihiro.

The ministry of the church to some blind young people is good, and also to the deaf community, who have their own service at the time of the Sunday morning worship.

It was a pleasure to appoint the Revd Andrew Proud as an Assistant for me for the Horn of Africa. This will help Andrew as he travels to Djibouti, Somalia and Gambella.

Farewells

We were all sorry to say goodbye to the Revd Barry and Iris George, after two wonderful years of service in St. John The Baptist, Maadi, where there is unity, love and eagerness to reach out to the community. At their farewell party many shared how lives were transformed through their ministry. We pray that the Lord will give them happy but active retirement.

Sarah Couper served here for 9 months and helped establish a beautiful handcraft shop, with exhibits from the different institutions. She was very impressive and committed to the job.

John and Meryl McEwen were here for over three years. Meryl was the facilitator of the Sudanese Children’s School in the Cathedral compound as well as producing the diocesan newsletter, while John was the Chief Engineer of Nestle in the region. They gave themselves to the ministry here.

Dr. Keith and his wife Dr. Lai and their children served here for more than three years at the Joint Refugee Ministry clinic. They worked very hard at this job, as well as ministry in the Cathedral, including the Children’s Work, ALPHA and Marriage Courses. Keith’s vision from the beginning was to find a national to take over from him. What a mature attitude.

Helen Fraser was my personal assistant, and made the work atmosphere joyful and relaxed. I appreciated her desire to mix with all the people, Sudanese, Egyptian and expatriates. Although she offered a lot, she came with the attitude of a learner. She is now considering long-term missionary work, perhaps here in Egypt. We pray that the Lord will guide her.

Welcome and movements

We welcome the Revd Paul-Gordon Chandler and his wife, Lynne, and their children. They had a strong call to come and serve the Lord here in Egypt, which led Paul-Gordon to leave his prestigious position as President of Partner International to start his ministry in St. John The Baptist, Maadi. I was impressed by their vision to transform the church from being a place for services to a ministry centre to the whole community.

The Revd Dr Hamdy Mehany returned from Tripoli, Libya after spending almost a year there. He will be responsible for the spiritual ministry at Ain Shams Social Centre. The Revd Samuel Henry with his wife Honey will replace Dr Hamdy.

Dr Michael Green leads Red Sea conference

We had a wonderful time at the Clergy and Family Conference at the Red Sea, 117 of us. For the first time, laity attended also. Dr Michael Green and Rosemary from Wycliffe Bible College were a blessing and joy as they communicated God’s message to us about being a ‘Missionary Diocese’.

Mouneer