Jerusalem
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Introducing:

Revd. Michael Starr

Michael Starr, priest in charge of Christ the King church Tripoli, died suddenly after saying the morning office on Tuesday 4th November 2008. Michael and Margaret had recently been asked by Bishop Mouneer, to move from St Matthews Addis Ababa, to head the pastoral team in the growing Libyan church. Michael was trained as a Civil Engineer but he and Margaret had always wanted to serve God overseas. They did this in many places, but only exclusively within the church after Michael’s retirement aged 60. Their travels took them to Pakistan, then Hong Kong, where Michael was a lay reader and Sunday School Superintendent at St Andrews Kowloon. In 1975 they moved to Iran where Michael and Margaret served at St Paul’s Tehran with a microcosm of the world’s population. It was back in UK in the parish of All Saints Farringdon that Michael felt called to be ordained. He was always a missionary at heart with a great desire for people to experience joy at the heart of their relationship with God. With all their UK responsibilities covered, including Margaret’s teaching commitment, they headed back to the warmth and vitality of the multi-cultural Anglican Diaspora found all over the world. Ethiopia was hosting many asylum-seeking Sudanese Christians and while they were based at St Matthews Addis others were able to support new churches being set up in the west of the country. Then came the call to Libya from Bishop Mouneer, to respond to the needs of a growing expatriate community in Tripoli. Michael started doing this, happy to work with another very diverse gathering, when the final call came.

Edited by Tim Biles from a memoir written by Michael’s son, Andrew Starr.