KUCHING: The Anglican Church in Sarawak and Brunei, which is known as the Diocese of Kuching, has been asked to pray for Malaysia’s welfare.

The Most Reverend Datuk Bolly Lapok, Anglican Province of South East Asia Archbishop, said at a time when the political situation in the country is tumultuous, the church needs to pray for the peace of the country.

“We want the journey of the church to be praying for the welfare of the nation and to be about what we as the church do at the national or international level,” he stressed during his keynote address at the Diocesan Missions and Evangelism Forum yesterday.

“All corners of the Diocese, from Brunei to Limbang to Kuching, have come together to focus on our mission together in evangelism and why the church is a church. A church is defined by mission ”“ mission is not something that the church does, instead it is what the church exists for,” he said.

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One of our archdeacons said that: ”˜An empty church is like the empty palace of a long-forgotten king and people walk past and say, “The king is dead.”’ That’s why when, for example, St Peter’s, Brighton, which was known as the unofficial cathedral of Brighton, was going to close, we said: ”˜Please don’t close it. Please allow us to go there.’ And thankfully the Bishop of Chichester invited us to send a team there.

What is it that allows these church plants to fly?

I think a lot of people are unchurched, but there are also a lot of people who are ”˜de-churched’. They’ve got a faith of some kind, but they’re looking for a church where they feel at home…There are quite a few people who like to have a relaxed, informal style. They like contemporary worship, a message that hopefully is practical for their life, and somewhere they can receive prayer and community. And it seems that those people are coming back to church.

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On learning of the death of Owen Chadwick, I was moved to tears. Immediately, I jotted down how much we were in his debt as a friend of scholars, mentor to many, pithy and witty writer, faithful priest, brilliant preacher, diligent professor, supervisor and administrator, with a vast hinterland of history and culture.

He was Master of Selwyn College, Cambridge for 27 years from 1956. When I read New Testament studies as a postgraduate there in 1979-1980, he gave me a small, inspiring grant to study the Catholic, Orthodox, and Reformed churches in Yugoslavia during the summer vacation.

I begin by considering his obituaries and his writing of history, and then will remember his own words on secularization and on the role of friendship in scholarship

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Introduction
Finance Statistics 2013 contains information provided by parishes in their annual finance returns.

In the autumn of 2008 the recession hit the economy. For the charitable sector as a whole there was a noticeable decline in income [1]. Parishes were protected during 2009-13 by the dedicated giving of donors, and donor income has increased at the same rate since 2007. However, the increase in donations has not matched the rate of inflation (Tables 3 and 4).

Financial Overview
The past ten years saw income exceed expenditure every year until 2008, with a maximum surplus of £60 million in 2007. This was followed by three years where expenditure was greater than income, with a maximum deficit of £21 million in 2010. Parishes have responded well in curtailing expenditure, with the result that in 2013 there was a surplus of £33 million (Table 1).

Read it all [pdf] and the ever optimistic blurb from the CofE Press Office is here and here [pdf]. CofE Statistics for Mission in 2013 may be found here [pdf]

In a double launch at Moore College in June, Phillip Jensen began a new ministry venture and his friends and colleagues launched a book in his honour.

It is no surprise that Two Ways Ministries, named after the internationally successful gospel tract Two Ways to Live that Mr Jensen authored in 1978, has a dual purpose.

“Its aim is to raise up a new generation of gospel-centred preachers through training ministry workers, and to model preaching in churches and conferences, both local and international,” Mr Jensen said.

The former bishop of Wollongong, Al Stewart, is a preaching consultant in the new ministry.

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On Monday, the 13th of July, a training course for the lay ministers of the various churches of the Diocese started at All Saints Cathedral-Zamalek, and will be running for the next four days. This course comes as a part of our dedication to the training and preparing of leaders in the church.

The four-day training includes the following topics:

Ministry, The Call, History of the Anglican Church, Structure of the Church, Nature of the Church: Catholic and Reformed, Anglican Way of Theology, Anglican Worship, and The Church and Contemporary Issues.

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Dear brothers and sisters-in-Christ,

Thank you so much for mobilising prayers and strong financial support towards the relief work in Nepal over the last 3 months. You have given the people in one of the worse hit areas a sense of hope in the midst of this very trying time.

I am pleased to inform you that through ACROSS, our partners, and the Deanery of Nepal we have, over the last 3 months, sent 7 medical teams (from ACROSS & St John’s St Margaret’s Church) to Kathmandu and the district of Dhading (Tawal, Choke & Laba village); as well as contributed 2,000 tarpaulins and 1,700 bundles of zinc sheets for temporary shelters for 3,700 families; 500 blankets; 1.5 tonnes of used clothing; water filtration devices and 20 tonnes of rice and food supplies. I wish to also highlight that in the midst of this crisis and relief work, Bishop Rennis travelled to Nepal to ordain 3 local pastors to the Diaconate in Kathmandu.

While it was reported that “Nepal is on the mend” (Straits Times, 25 July 2015), many are in fact still living in temporary shelters and children are attending classes in make shift shelters. This state of living conditions is made even more difficult with the current monsoons which has already caused multiple landslides and flooding. With 530,000 homes and 4,300 schools destroyed in the country, the rebuilding work ahead of us is mammoth. But with God nothing is impossible.

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Bishop Abraham Nhiel is Bishop of Awiel in the Episcopal Church of the Sudan and one of the former ‘lost boys’ of South Sudan. There is more of his story here
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Rev Archie Coates, vicar of St Peter’s, Brighton, describes how a team from HTB rescued the city’s ”˜unofficial cathedral’ in 2005. They now welcome over 1000 people into the church for weekend worship services.

‘St Peter’s is one of Brighton’s iconic buildings, so when it was due to close there was a huge public outcry and 6,500 people signed the petition to keep it open.

The building is incredible, but it’s also a nightmare because it’s crumbling. I remember giving sermons wearing hard hats. We didn’t have any heating for four winters, so people used to come to church in a hat carrying a hot-water bottle.

I think this is a visual aid for the wider work. The local churches all said that when the building looks like it’s closed and dying on its feet, that sends out the message to Brighton that that’s what God is like as well. But equally if you could do the opposite ”“ open it up, fix it up ”“ then that would send out the message: ”˜Wow, the Church is alive and God is on the move.’

When we began, we were about 30, including children: our family and about three other families. If you’re going to attract other people to come, there needs to be a certain group for them to come into, and it’s quite hard to do that with less than 30.

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From The Most Reverend Francisco de Assis da Silva
The Church of Brazil feels strengthened by the fact that here we are also living a broad process of reflection on the search for consensus on this issue. In our country, since 2011, the Supreme Court already recognizes the legality of civil marriage between people of same sex.

Our Province is discussing this matter ”“ under the methodology of Indaba ”“ in all instances of the Church. Our new Prayer Book already contemplates a change of language, stabilishing the gender neutrality that is a significant step of inclusivity. This change do not requires us to celebrate matrimony between people of same sex, but we’re open to the future and new pastoral requirements from our time.

We see with joy changing processes in the churches of Canada and Scotland. We see with joy advances in discussion of the theme in the churches of England, Wales, Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia.

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Kings said he aims to serve rising theologians, including some in the Global South whom God might use as the Augustines of their time, much like the great fifth-century bishop and theologian, Augustine of Hippo.

On a 100-degree day in Salt Lake City, the crowd of 75 at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center got a taste of what a new network of theologians might produce.
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Beyond making peace with persecutors, the Church also has a God-given mission to stand with those who suffer the brunt of unjust systems, both economic and political, said the Most Rev. Francisco De Assis da Silva, Primate of Brazil.

“The charisma is to be beside, aside, or on the side of the people who are suffering too much from unjust structures in politics and in economics,” Archbishop da Silva said. He said a theology of liberation has weakened over time in Latin America as a more conservative, confessional theology gained traction in recent decades. But the time is right for another shift in theological discourse, in his view.

“We have a unique opportunity to change from a confessional position to a more engaged, a more incarnational, theological reflection,” da Silva said.

For his part, Kings said the Anglican Communion’s calling “is to be Catholic, evangelical, and ecumenical.” In practice, that involves the disciplines of meeting together as Anglicans. It also involves remembering how the Church, like the Trinity, is inherently interconnected.

Bishop Kings quoted from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s foreword to Living Reconciliation: “I am eager to encourage each of us to take full account of the way in which decisions of one province echo around the world. The impact of their echoes is something to which we must listen in the course of our decision-making, if we are not to narrow our horizons and reject the breadth of our global family.”

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A vicar who went on the run to Germany just before he was convicted of stealing thousands of pounds has been jailed for two years and eight months.

Simon Reynolds, 50, took more than £16,500 handed over to All Saints Church in Darton, Barnsley, for weddings, funerals and churchyard memorials.

Reynolds left Sheffield Crown Court on Thursday lunchtime after the jury went out to consider its verdicts on four counts of theft against him.

He never returned and a Europe-wide search began, with police involving Interpol and senior clergy appealing for the vicar to come back.

Alasdair Cambell, defending, told the judge that his client first went to his Sheffield hotel before travelling to Manchester Airport.

The barrister said Reynolds then meant to go Dublin but, in a state of stress, booked a flight to Dusseldorf instead, where he stayed with a friend.

Mr Campbell said this friend drove him back to his home in Farnham in Surrey, and the defendant then made his way to meet police in Sheffield.

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[BUMPED for topical reasons]

Rev. Colin Coward, director of Changing Attitude reports on his conversations with David Porter – from ‘A Conversation with Colin Coward 18th April 2015’ at St Brides, Liverpool

OK, so that’s what we are stuck with, the Shared Conversations. And I have been arguing amongst the LGBTI Anglican coalition, that we should not simply tolerate what we are being offered, which effectively is a two year delay.

I know from the conversations that we had with David Porter at Lambeth Palace that there is, for him at least, a clear intention that there will be a proper, motioned, discussion at General Synod in February 2017, with the intention of legislating for some kind of change in Church of England practice towards LGBTI people. But it’s going to be what they think they can get away with without upsetting the conservatives too much. So my guess is that it is going to be approval for the blessing of relationships in church, it certainly won’t be for recognising marriage. It certainly will not be for changing the quadruple lock and moving towards allowing equal marriages to take place in Church of England buildings.

Listen to it all below – quote is from 11 mins 20 seconds in.

The previous report from January 23rd, 2015 on a meeting with David Porter is here

Heritage advocates are furious approval has been given to demolish one of the last remaining buildings in Christchurch designed by renowned early 20th century architect Cecil Wood.

The Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) has granted a request for a section 38 demolition notice on the historic Bishop’s Residence, known as Bishopscourt, within the Bishopspark Retirement Village in Park Tce, opposite Hagley Park.

The authority has declined a request for a demolition order on the neighbouring chapel though.

Bishopscourt was designed by Wood and built in 1926 as the residence of the city’s Anglican bishop. It is owned by Anglican Care – an arm of the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch. It has the highest heritage rating possible in New Zealand with both a Heritage New Zealand category one and a Christchurch City Council group one classification.

“It’s a masterpiece of 1920s colonial Georgian style domestic architecture. It is considered to be Wood’s most important work of domestic architecture and is thought by many to be one of New Zealand’s finest colonial Georgian style domestic designs,” Historic Places Canterbury (HPC) deputy chairman Ross Gray said.

It was shocking and disappointing that Cera had given the demolition order as it was not a dangerous building nor was it holding up the timely and expeditious recovery of the city.

Read it all and there is a video report here

By Lucinda Borkett-Jones Christian Today Features Editor Published 23 March 2015
A Christian street preacher was today found guilty of using “threatening” language by quoting the Bible when speaking about homosexuality on the streets of Taunton in June last year.

Former paratrooper Mike Overd was convicted under section 5 of the Public Order Act, which concerns causing harassment, alarm or distress by using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour.

The judge at Bristol Crown Court told him that he should not have used the particular verse in the Bible ”“ Leviticus 20:13 ”“ because it uses the word “abomination”. The judge suggested that there were other verses he could have chosen if he wanted to talk about what the Bible says about homosexuality.

Libby Towell, spokesperson for the Christian Legal Centre, who represented Overd, said: “The judge is effectively censoring the Bible and saying that certain verses aren’t fit for public consumption.”

Overd was given a fine of £200, and told to pay £1,200 in costs and compensation. This included a sum for the emotional harm caused to the homosexual man, who is also a Christian, to whom he was speaking when he quoted Leviticus.

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A Church of England rector who went on the run as he was convicted of pocketing thousands of pounds of fees from funerals and weddings is now feared to have skipped the country, police have revealed.

Interpol is now assisting in the search for the Rev Simon Reynolds, the Rector of Farnham in Surrey amid signs that he has made his way to continental Europe.

South Yorkshire Police made the disclosure as the Bishop of Wakefield, the Rt Rev Tony Robinson, made a personal plea to the cleric to hand himself in, amid fears for his safety.

“Never forget we are praying for you,” the bishop, who has known Mr Reynold for several years, told him.

The 49-year-old, who previously helped oversee music and worship at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, walked out of Sheffield Crown Court – where he was on trial for theft from his former Yorkshire parish – during the lunch break on Thursday and did not return.

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The latest attempt to change the law on assisted dying, which is to be debated by MPs in a Second Reading in September, has faced opposition from critics from the Church of England and elsewhere.

The Private Member’s Bill, if passed, would enable terminally ill adults who are “voluntary, clear, settled, and informed” to end their life with medically supervised assistance.

In a blog post, “Caring for the vulnerable in a compassionate society”, published on the Church of England website on Wednesday, the Revd Dr Brendan McCarthy, the Church’s national adviser on medical ethics, said that the Assisted Dying Bill “has the potential to damage both the well-being of individuals and the nature and shape of our society”.

“Every person’s life is of immeasurable value and ought to be affirmed, respected and cherished by society . . . even when some people no longer view their own lives as being of any further value. . .

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The Anglican Church in Trinidad and Tobago continues to face declining numbers both in members and clergy, Rev Canon Steve West has said.

West was at the time addressing a packed congregation at the ordination ceremony of 15 persons to the Diaconate (the Holy Order of Deacon, at the Cathedral of the Trinity Cathedral, Abercromby Street, Port of Spain, on Wednesday.

“The Anglican Church and the dioceses of Trinidad and Tobago is facing a dwindling membership: we have many people who say they are Anglicans but on Sunday morning they are not worshipping in church with us, and we have a severe shortage of clergy. We have parishes without parish priests,” West said.

Some of the interventions in response to declining membership have included a supplementary ministry programme, a diocesan strategic plan and in more recent times the capacity building project and capacity building report. Other solutions include an annual bible convention, youths interacting with the bishop and Lenten and advent caravans and diocesan bible study.

“This is a memorable and historical day in the dioceses of Trinidad and Tobago. Never before have we had an ordination of 15 persons. Never before has the church given such a bold response to the crisis of the shortage of clergy. Never before has a Bishop taken such a bold step to accept the ministry of 15 persons of varied backgrounds who together have over 250 years of ministry in the church.

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We have just published a collection of experiences from across the Diocese.

This publication, Buildings on Sure Foundations, tells stories of how buildings that lay locked and empty have been reopened through a commitment of time, money and energy from those who longed to see them filled by new worshipping communities.

It also records simple things: an open door, a new way of using a space, a new welcome to the community.

“I was glad when they said to me, ”˜let us go to the house of the Lord!’”
Psalm 122:1

We hope to recount all these in more detail through Capital Vision 2020: the tale of one hundred new and renewed worshipping communities, and church buildings opened up to the communities around them; stories of possibilities in new and old places.

London’s churches are as varied and colourful as London’s communities. They are places where different strands come together, both temporal and eternal: places of quiet and prayer in a busy city; places of history and beauty; places of celebration and mourning; places of splendid ceremony and ministering to the poor.

Churches are also places where international visitors of all faiths and none can connect with God.

They are buildings on sure foundations, built with Jesus Christ as the cornerstone.

Read it all and you can read Buildings on Sure Foundations [pdf]

President Muhammadu Buhari has rejected the gay marriage offer by the United States of America, stating that sodomy is against the law of Nigeria and abhorrent to our culture.

The spokesperson of the president, Femi Adesina said that the issue of gay marriage was discussed during Buhari meeting in the US but he rejected the offer.

“The issue of gay marriage came up here yesterday. PMB was point blank. Sodomy is against the law in Nigeria, and abhorrent to our culture,” he posted on his Twitter handle.

Recalled that Nigerians have expressed fear that Obama might pressurized Buhari to sanction gay marriage in Nigeria in order to get the support of the United States.

Civil Society Organisations, also urged Buhari not to listen to the US government on issues of Gay rights, so as to protect the laws and values of Nigeria.

Read it all and there is another report from the Daily Trust in Abuja here

The Bishop of the Diocese of Evo, Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion), Rt. Rev. Innocent Ordu, has restated that the Church of Nigeria condemns same sex marriage, homosexuality and lesbianism.

He also said the Church of Nigeria has an “impaired relationship” with churches in Western countries that have lent their support to same sex marriage and other vices condemned by the bible.

Ordu spoke in Port Harcourt yesterday at a press briefing to herald the third session of the third synod of the diocese scheduled for July 29 to August 2 at the Chapel of Grace and Knowledge, Archdeacon Crowther Memorial Girls’ School (ACMGS), Elelenwo.
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a few years ago, we discovered that some sections of the church, particularly, in the Western world began to toy with some sensitive aspects as regard the spirituality and doctrine of the church; and the Church of Nigeria, you know, took their position on those issues, particularly the issue of human sexuality.

“Even apart from the stand-point of the scripture, on the strength of culture, we are first and foremost Africans, Nigerians and we come from different cultures, traditions. There are certain things that even our cultures abhor. Our firm position on those things is strengthened much more by the position of the scripture that they are evil. So, we cannot on one hand be preaching against other evils of society, of the average community and we are upholding another evil because of a distorted position or understanding of some persons.

“So, the position of the Anglican Church, for instance, on this matter of homosexuality, lesbianism and the rest of them is that it is against scripture and any arm or part of the church worldwide that advocates it, is breaching the provisions and tenets of the scripture and we cannot be in any form of relationship with such an arm of the body of Christ until proper positions are taken or reversed by those who advocate such.

“The Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion) has what we locally here, back home in Nigeria, define as ”˜an impaired relationship’ with any other province, that is a National Church or part of the Anglican world that supports or advocates or champions this evil that the scriptures condemn, which now they said men are free to marry fellow men; women are free to marry fellow women and all that. We are saying God abhors it; please, change your posture on this and come back to the original biblical position of God on these issues; and if you are not ready to do that, we too cannot be in communion with you. That is the position of the church.”

On the fate of the Archbishop of Kaduna, Most Rev. Josiah Idowu-Fearon, who took appointment as Secretary General of the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), Ordu said the archbishop did not consult the primate of the church before taking up the position.

“The position of the Primate is that since a good number of those who are part of the ACC are in support of the gay rights movement and all that, a Nigerian Bishop, knowing the position of the national church here, ought not to accept a position in that body, because doing so will mean that we have all keyed into whatever negative posture these other ones are holding,” he said.

He added that while the church was not happy that the archbishop took up the appointment, he was not aware if he would be sanctioned.

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The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, welcomed the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) to Lambeth Palace today for a morning of prayer and conversation.

Archbishop Justin met with Pastor Enoch Adeboye, who is visiting from Nigeria, and his delegation, including Pastor Agu Irukwu, Chief Overseer of the RCCG in the UK.

They discussed possibilities for further collaboration between the Anglican and RCCG churches and communions, nationally and internationally…

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MUTOKO ”“ A pastor allegedly went berserk last week, vandalizing church property belonging to Mutoko Centre Anglican Church of the Province of Central Africa.

Apostle Tirivangani Gunduza is reported to have pulled the roof off the Anglican church after he had been served with an eviction order by a messenger of court.

Gunduza who belongs to the ex-communicated Anglican Church leader, Nolbert Kunonga’s faction is said to have failed to stomach the eviction news hence he vandalized property at the church.

“Gunduza was appointed pastor by Kunonga although he had not gone through any training to lead the church.

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Ten years after its founding, the Anglican Alexandria School of Theology (AST) celebrated its first graduating class to receive the degree of Masters of Arts in Theology, at Saturday the 18th of July at Alexandria. The grandaunts were: four students joined commencement exercises with 27 others who received a Bachelors in Theology, plus one who completed a two-year diploma program.

Dean. Samy Fawzy, principle of AST, congratulated the graduates for their efforts over the past four years, despite the difficulties Egypt has experienced. Rev. Atif Mehany, dean of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, urged them further in his commencement address to overcome the challenges following the Arab Spring and fulfill their responsibilities to serve both church and society.

Dean. Fawzy conferred the degrees with Bishop. Grant LeMarqand, vice-chairman of the board of AST, and Archbishop. Mouneer Hanna Anis, chairman of the board of AST, Archbishop of Egypt, North Africa, and the Horn of Africa, and president bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East. They were joined by Bishop. Peter Tasker, representing the archbishop of Sydney and AST partner institution Moore College in Australia.

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There is evidence that some conservative and open evangelicals are finding common ground in engaging with church and culture around issues of sexuality.
..Gerald Bray, author of many books and visiting Professor at an American University, writes in the journal Churchman, of which he is Editor: “so warped has discussion of homosexuality become that speaking”¦truth has become risky”. Bray speaks of “the Lie” of “the gay agenda” which stifles free speech and creates fear ”“ he gives Dolce and Gabbana and Ashers Bakery as examples. Bray says that “the Lie is at work again” in the Pilling Report and the setting up of the Shared Conversations:

“at the heart of the Lie is the assertion that the unbridgeable chasm between those who advocate same sex marriage and those opposed to it can be overcome by a supposedly common dedication to ”˜mission’”¦the Christian church has to surrender to the world in order to reach it, which is exactly the opposite of what the New Testament teaches us.”

Bray concludes soberly: “will we accept public ridicule because we are standing up for truth? Are we so afraid of disestablishment that we will compromise the Gospel in order to preserve our increasingly imaginary secular privileges?”
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Reform have issued robust Statements expressing dismay at the Gay Pride march at York Minster and the decision of TEC to prepare for celebrating same sex marriages in its liturgies.

One might expect conservative evangelicals to say this kind of thing but in fact in many circles there has been a reluctance to address these issues publicly. So it is encouraging to see evidence of a move away from the pietism which holds that issues of sex are an internal, pastoral matter, that Christians should not seek a return to “Christendom” which is implied by any critique of the culture, and that all attempts at mission must be preceded by grovelling apologies for “homophobia”.

Within the more “centrist” sections of evangelical Anglicanism there seems to be increasing frustration with revisionism, and the failure of orthodox Bishops to publicly hold the line on orthodox doctrine and ethics…

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”˜From my seventh till my twelfth year I sang in the church choir. I knew God existed, but I had no idea you could have a personal relationship with him. After high school I had a gap year in the army: I was miles away from God there. Then I went to Oxford to read law and I got to know some committed Christians. I started reading the gospels again and the Jesus I met in the gospels matched the Jesus I saw in the lives of those Christians.

Someone asked me along to an outreach service and there, on Sunday evening January 20th, 1974, I committed my life to the Lord. On Wednesday after that I met my future wife, and on Friday I attended a missionary prayer group of Operation Mobilisation. That was not just your average week!

In April, Alison and I started going out. At her parents’ house, I encountered books, music and arts, which I had not grown up with. A whole world opened itself up for me to do with faith and culture. I thought: do I really want to be a lawyer? I went for theology. My Dad was furious. After two weeks, he gave up his resistance and said: “Give me something to read then.’’ I gave him the New Testament in the Good News version. He went away with my Mum for a week and read the whole thing. My mother, who had chronic colitis, had been healed by prayer shortly beforehand in a Charismatic Church, nearby. And my Dad saw me change. Through all these ways God was speaking to him. In November he came to church and when the vicar made the altar call, he went up to give himself to Jesus. A week later my sister did the same. So God drew the whole family to himself in one year.’

Read it all from here originally and and there is a translation into Spanish here

The Diocese of Egypt Hosts Iftar (break of the fast of Ramadan) for Muslim and Christian Leaders, at Laylat al-Qadr.
The invincible Egypt

The Most Rev. Mouneer Hanna Anis, bishop of the diocese and primate of the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East, hosted an iftar, yesterday the 13th of July, at All Saints Cathedral, attended by Dr Ali Gomaa, the previous Grand Mufti, Dr. Mahmoud Hamdi Zaqzouq, the former Minister of Religious Endowments, Dr Hany Helal, the former Minister of Education.

More than 100 people attended the Iftar, including a number of Muslim and Christian clerics, politicians, ambassadors of the U.K., Netherlands, and Ireland, and journalists. The artist Madeleine Tabar, and the Lebanese singer Rula Zaki were keen to attend the ceremony, and Rula sang some beautiful national songs.

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The Anglican Diocese of Auckland plans to sell two Mid North churches, in response to what it says are declining congregations and rising costs, but some at least are not prepared to let them go quietly.

A deputation, none of whom wished to be identified, representing St Catherine’s at Okaihau and St Stephen the Martyr’s in Kaikohe, told the Northland Age last week that they would fight the decision, and hoped that the two communities would rise up in their defence.

A report from Assistant Bishop of Auckland the Rt Rev Jim White, based on a draft that he said had been circulated to the Waimate North community earlier in the year, was accepted and approved by the Diocesan Council on May 28.
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Critics of that decision, which they said was based purely on a highly offensive business model, pointed to the history behind the two churches, particularly St Catherine’s, the fact that they had been built for and by their communities, that they continued to be maintained by the communities at no cost to the diocese, and the distasteful realities of selling them, complete with their graveyards, for some other purpose or development.

St Catherine’s was completed in 1875. It was built, for the use of all denominations, on land gifted by Captain Henry Burleigh, using totara he also donated, that was pit-sawn by local settlers. It was erected by one Robert Neilson.

The church and its graveyard had been maintained and cared for by Okaihau families ever since.

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The vicar who is the star of a reality television show in which couples are married as soon as they meet has been criticised for allowing his clerical collar to give respectability to a “seedy” experiment.

The Rev Nick Devenish is one of five experts who selected six strangers to tie the knot in the Channel 4 show Married at First Sight.

The team vicar at the Church of St Mary & St Michael in Cartmel, Cumbria, analysed the participants’ understanding of marriage, what they wanted from their union and how well they understood the seriousness and commitment required. He was part of a panel of experts alongside a sex therapist, a psychologist and two anthropologists.

The Bishop of Manchester, the Rt Rev David Walker, accused the show of “inappropriate and rather seedy behaviour” and has said that a Church of England vicar should not have been involved.

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