THE E UROP E AN A NGLICAN E UROP E I N C RISIS A C HRISTIAN P E RSP E CTIV E W H E R E W E C AM E F ROM C HURCH G RO W TH I N F RANC E C HURCH O F T H E F UTUR E F OCUS O N Y OUTH R E AD E RS A T T H E R E AD Y F IRST C ON fe R E NC E P LANN E D R E VAMPING T H E W E B D IOC E SAN S IT E R E C E IV E S A M AK E OV E R europe.anglican.org No.53 SPRING 2012 2 PASSING ON THE TASK OF MISSION THE E UROP E AN A NGLICA N The Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe The Rt Revd Geoffrey Rowell Bishop’s Lodge, Church Road, Worth, Crawley RH10 7RT Tel: +44 (0) 1293 883051 Fax: +44 (0) 1293 884479 Email: [email protected] The Suffragan Bishop in Europe The Rt Revd David Hamid Postal address: Diocesan Office Tel: +44 (0) 207 898 1160 Email: [email protected] The Diocesan Office 14 Tufton Street, London, SW1P 3QZ Tel: +44 (0) 207 898 1155 Fax: +44 (0) 207 898 1166 Email: [email protected] Diocesan Secretary Mr Adrian Mumford H ANDING OV E R Assistant Diocesan Secretary Mrs Jeanne French Finance Officer Mr Nick Wraight TH E B ATON Diocesan Website www.europe.anglican.org As Copy for this edition of The European to follow their own call to service. Anglican is being completed life in the I tell people truthfully that I am looking Editor and Diocesan Communications Officer editorial household is manic and showing forward to paying more attention to the The Revd. Paul Needle signs of mixed emotions. After five years at “other job” with Diocesan Communications. Postal address: Diocesan Office the “sharp end” of church life in the diocese Although letting go of responsibilities Email: retirement from the duties of Priest-in- doesn’t come easily it is thrilling to see [email protected] Charge looms large. others take on the tasks. And there is never Tel: 0034 662 482 944 In the final weeks there is a great sense a better time for this than Easter when we Friends of the Diocese of all the things that could have been walk the way of the Cross with Our Lord and Secretary: Rev Canon Arthur Siddall done and somehow weren’t. Duties are see what He did to prepare us to carry on Email: [email protected] being shared around church officers and His work. members of the congregation are taking Handing over the baton and sharing Design them on with a sense of expectation, so the responsibilities is how churches have Adept Design, Norwich much so that a Churchwarden commented grown over the years from small house Printer “You see, you should have done this groups to vast chaplaincies covering huge Swallowtail Print, Norwich earlier!” areas, as we report from France on page 6. Distribution Many of the details affecting life and As we walk together the Way of the Cross CoDEStorm plc worship in our very young church are being we celebrate the richness and diversity of re-examined. Will we still sing the Gloria in church life around Europe and celebrate excelsis? Who will get the Bible Reading His risen Easter life which Front cover picture: notes in future? Can each of our three empowers us all in our The way of the cross. This series congregations choose their own hymns? ministeries. of “Stations of the Cross” stand on What services can we have, during an top of a Spanish mountain and lead to the huge stone cross overlooking interregnum over Holy Week and Easter? P AUL N EEDLE the town of Vinaros. They provide Three new Worship Leaders have been E DITOR , the focus for a typical Good Friday authorized and prepared to share the work TH E E UROP E AN pilgrimage and meditation. A NGLICAN Picture by Stephen Nicholls. of ministry and they are nervous but eager THE JOY OF YOUTH WORK 3 YOUTH AT W ORK AND MAKING TH E IR M ARK Because of the vast size S T M ICHA E L’S , PARIS of the Diocese in Europe we do not have, unlike When I arrived I was told I would be battling with sporadic and unpredictable youth attendance, but that this would balance well against the more regular numbers seen at our most of the 43 mainland 18-30s group. Actually the opposite has happened, and our youth and children’s ministry English dioceses, an officer here at Saint Michael’s has seen real spiritual growth and blessing from the Lord. or department committed Our 11-16s have been keeping a prayer diary, and for the first time a couple of weeks ago we took a look back through it and were excited to see how God really had been to Youth Work. It is hearing and answering our prayers! Granted many of these prayers were aimed at exams therefore pleasing to report and tests at school, but it was noted that no one had been expelled due to poor class the results of a survey by performance yet! There has been a real buzz around the room where we meet since Claire, our Archdeacon John de Wit volunteer coordinator of the 3-11 year olds, arrived. This is real testament to the work into the range of ministry that she and the other leaders put into sharing God’s word with the members – and not among 14 to 25 year olds just down to the good biscuit selection on offer. From our chaotically entertaining Christmas production to forming across Europe. It included a band to play music in our all-age service there has been a heightened the following facts from involvement of our youth and children in services. It has been fantastic our churches:- to see them feeling so much more part of our Church family as a result and it certainly makes our all-age services a whole lot of fun! • Brussels youth ministry has A RCHIE B AG N ALL , M I N ISTRY A SSISTA N T well over 30 young people involved – 17 of them are in the African step dancing S T A NDR ew ’S Z URICH group, The Ambassadors. Currently, we have eighteen young people in our group, four of whom have joined • In the Eastern archdeaconry since last Autumn. Most are Swiss, although some have recently moved from other Moscow is the only countries and the meetings are conducted in English. The group meets twice a month at chaplaincy with youth work church with occasional outside events. I believe these outings are important to give the at present youth a time to relax and bond outside of the normal structure of meetings. It is also a • 6 out of the 10 chaplaincies good opportunity to meet with other churches in our community. In March, we joined in Switzerland boast an another youth group from the Augustinerkirche in Zurich to go tobogganing. active youth ministry Four other adults share the responsibility of the Youth Group and help set up for meetings, organize the kids, lead small group discussions – they even wash dishes. But • Vevey’s Sunday morning most importantly, they generate ideas – anything from what to serve the kids for dinner discipleship has between to long-term goals and plans. Their aid and insight is invaluable to the Youth Group. 25-30 teens some of whom In the future, we hope to meet more frequently and to organize larger events for were involved in a great the youth, within the nearby community or with other churches in the Diocese. One service project experience in specific idea we’ve been working on is to develop an independent programme for Albania last year. youth attending our annual church retreat. That way they can enjoy the event through activities and discussions that have been catered to them. A M Y C OLE , YOUTH L EADER 4 CRISIS IN EUROPE? THE VIEW FROM BRUSSELS CRISIS, WHAT CRISIS ? “O UR MAN IN B RUSS E LS ” LI F TS TH E LID During the February sessions of General Synod in London a reception, provided by the Friends of the Diocese, welcomed synod members who met diocesan staff and bishops. They heard Canon Dr Gary Wilton, Archbishop’s Representative to the European Union Institutions, offering a Christian perspective on the current “European Crisis”. In January 1979 James Callaghan discovery of co-responsibility: Europe in the debt crisis’. flew back from Guadalupe in the He focused on two key words: interdependence and co- midst of the ‘winter of discontent’. responsibility. He argued that the euro crisis had been There was widespread industrial a powerful reminder to the nation states of Europe – of unrest. Rubbish was building their economic and political interdependence. There are up on the streets. And he was clear echoes here of the post World War 2 economic and supposed to have uttered the political devastation that led to the birth of the EU. In 2012 famous words ‘What Crisis?’ the nation states of Europe don’t need to work together to Twenty three years later Europe is in Crisis. But we need to save peace – they need to work together to save prosperity. ask which crisis? Economic, Social and Political crises don’t When times are easy, human beings and nation states just happen.