ALL SAINTS ANGLICAN CHURCH NEWSLETTER JUNE 2015

Our God is amazing and faithful; He challenges us and provides for our needs. This is something I have felt very much over the past few weeks. Sadly, Rev David Ritchie was unable to come here because of health issues but I am pleased to say he is on the mend and will be coming for a couple of Sundays later in the year. Thankfully Rev John Calvert, Fr Paul and Terry enabled us to have services in both locations for three Sundays. After a couple of weeks of searching and emails Rev Rhonwen Washford, a friend of Rev Jackie’s that many of Almancil congregation already know, volunteered to come and take ser- vices for four Sundays …however she has been unable to come yet because her husband was taken ill and admitted to hospital. I wrote the above when I thought Rev Rhon would be here now. Since then I have experienced firsthand how God challenges us and en- courages us to look at our local resources. With Bishop John’s blessing it was necessary for me to lead Morning Prayer at Almancil on Sunday and I want to thank all those who supported me in a variety of different ways. This is apparently something a Warden has to do if there is no one else to take the service. As you can see plans do not always hap- pen as we expect and we don’t know what the next few weeks, months or even years will hold…but our Father God does and we must trust Him and do our best to follow His lead- ing. We need to be faithful in meeting and praying together, worshipping together and encouraging others and most importantly trusting God. STOP PRESS Rev Rhonwen will be arriving this coming Saturday!

Over the summer and into the autumn there will be several locums visiting us who haven’t been to All Saints before as well as our dear friend Rev John Underwood who will be returning for most of August. In July we will be having a visit from Rev Dr Mike Ovey who is the principal of the largest Anglican Theological College in the UK. We are very privileged to have him here and he will be giving at least one talk whilst he is here. He is a very gifted speaker, Fr Paul has heard him speak, and consequently has arranged an opportunity for us all to listen to him on the evening of Monday 20th July. I would encourage everyone from both congregations to come if you possibly can. This is a unique opportunity. Feel free to invite your friends from other churches too….more information below.

Finally, if you would like to come to a typical Church Summer Fair with a variety of stalls, bacon & sausage butties, cream teas and a raffle, and an opportunity to sit and chat with your friends in a relaxing atmosphere… then come to All Saints Summer Fair …this Saturday 20th June, from 12 until 6pm, at my house Casa Margarida between Tunes and Foral, contact me for directions 919464863. All are welcome…so see you there!!

Jenny Wills

Bishop’s Warden

Dates for your diary July 20th ‘20th ‘Who is on the throne?’ Rev Dr Mike Ovey at Fatacil Restaurant at 7 for 7.30pm. Mike is the principle of , one of the leading Anglican Theological colleges in the UK. He has more letters after his name than there is space to reproduce, but having had the pleasure of listening to a lecture by Mike at a Gafcon conference 3 years ago, I can only say, don’t miss the opportunity to hear Mike speak. He will speak on “Who is on the throne” which was the talk I heard in London. It was really down to earth, straightforward and very challenging. See over On the Oak Hill College site it says “Mike believes that the more we know the truth about God, his grace and greatness, the more we love and trust him”. I would give that a big AMEN, and few can explain this so clearly. Mike will speak at our Lagoa fellowship on Monday 20th July which will be held at the FATACIL restaurant. As many of our Lagoa congregation know, they serve an excellent meal at a very low price, about Euros 7.50 all in. Bring your friends, especially if they have questions about Christianity. Everyone is welcome especially our congregation from Almancil. Call Deanna on 916 501 527 to book your place. Paul

Fr Paul writes…….What’s behind those neat white walls?

Nobody can tell for sure how many expatriates live here in the Algarve, but it’s tens of thou- sands.

The sad thing is that many of these people are sad and lonely, perhaps their partners have died, or their dreams of what living in the sun would be like haven’t quite worked out as they expected.

As a Church, we are commanded to reach out to the sad and lonely, not to mention the poor and disadvantaged, widows and orphans. This isn’t always comfortable to think about, and it’s certainly challenging, but who did Jesus reach out to? He didn’t come for the rich and influen- tial who thought they had everything, he came for those who in many cases society had over- looked.

Can we be brave enough to follow His lead and seek out those who need to be loved and cared about? Behind those nice white walls and carefully pruned hedges there is often a great need.

This is what we are all about, we are not a comfortable closed ‘members only’ club, we are the hands and feet of Jesus. And what did Jesus say,? He said, “come to Me”, “follow Me”, and I will bring you comfort.

We have a wonderful message to proclaim, let’s be on the lookout for those who need to know that they are loved and are cared about. Being together and worshiping together on Sundays is wonderful, but there is so much more we need to be doing.

I know it’s a challenge, but I know you can do it because I have seen it done many times in our two Churches already. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you someone in need, and then watch out for that gentle nudge that points you in the direction of a real need.

ASCA Craft Activities

Thank you to all those who have helped with the Craft Sessions at ASCA this past 12 months. It has been a blessing to both the volunteers who have been going to ASCA week by week and also to the elderly folk who have been enjoying the activities. Friendship, happiness and achievement are not constrained by language barriers and it is true to say that ‘a good time has been had by all’. Activities are now finishing until September. If you would like to volunteer to come and help in the autumn please con- tact Christina Tenazinha

June Financial Report

Despite an initial slow response to the Lenten Challenge I am now able to announce that we have raised 1,968 Euros. That’s an amazing amount and yet again I say a big big thank you to everyone who has helped support this fund raising event. We had a really enjoyable time at the home of Michael and Deanna where we shared lunch, music and friendship and raised 196 Euros for the Lenten Challenge and also 59 Euros for Tear Fund – a Christian organisation which supports various projects worldwide. Our next fund raiser is the Summer Fair this coming weekend (20th June) at the home of Jenny and Steve Wills near Tunes. We hope many of you will come along and bring your friends. We have made a small surplus this month which is a blessing but overall we are below our predicted surplus to date, mainly because we unfortunately had to cancel our charity golf day. I am sure though that God will continue to bless us financially as we go through the year and I know that we are more than able to meet our current financial commitments.

Sue Moore - Treasurer

News from Rwanda We are hoping to have a visit from a young man called Manasseh Tuyizere in July. He was in charge of Youth Ministry in Kigali Diocese when Rev Jackie and Jenny Wills were in Rwanda last year. At the present time he is studying for a degree at the All Nations College in the UK. He is hoping that this will be followed by an course and that he will be ordained on his return to Rwanda. He is also a very gifted Worship Leader.

In the last e letter we mentioned about the proposed building of a church in Kanyinya. Since then I have received a letter from Bishop Louis....who is our Rwandan Bishop....about the project. Rev Jackie has been helping with the services there and Jenny and Rev Jackie visited this church when they were there last year. The church serves a very poor area where people are moved to out of the city when they are unable to cope mainly financially. I was impressed with enthusiasm of many new Christians who had come to faith since the church was started in a rented building and now we are more than a year further on. If you would like to know more about the project reply to this email and I will send you a copy of the whole project....but I have included the introduction below. The council discussed this at the meeting and feel as a church we would like to support this project which will definitely make a difference to peoples’ lives in a big way.

We are appealing for someone who might like to invent and organ- ise an All Saints fundraiser to support this worthwhile project. Please think and pray about this.

Bishop Louis’ letter is on the next page and here is a picture of the proposed church building.

All Saints Anglican Church Algarve Apartado 13, 8401-901 Lagoa, Portugal [email protected] www.allsaintsalgarve.org