FRIENDS OF THE ANGLICAN PROVINCE OF ALEXANDRIA Registered Charity No.1181201 - formerly the Egypt Diocesan Association Supporting Churches in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti FAPA Newsletter - September 2020 Dear members and friends of FAPA, The name may have changed, but not our mission – to support (befriend) the clergy, churches and ministries in the former Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa, recently transformed into the Province of Alexandria. It will take some time for the Primate to make the necessary organisational changes and establish the four new Dioceses: Egypt, North Africa, the Horn of Africa and Gambella. What I can say is that Bishop Mouneer, now an Archbishop, has agreed to stay in post for a 12 month period to assist the transition before handing over to Bishop Samy Fawzy. The administrative changes required by our transition from EDA to FAPA are being progressed. The changes to our Constitution have been agreed by the Charity Commission and our new title registered with our Bank. I am pleased to confirm that members do not have to alter their Standing Order or Gift Aid Forms, but correspondence and new cheques etc. should now be addressed to FAPA, not EDA. We are in the process of designing a new web site and in due course we will have a new domain and email addresses. This is going to take some time, not least because our Secretary is managing this task with help from a working mum (his daughter) undertaking the work voluntarily! Oh, and new logo is also being commissioned ….. yes, Doug, it is a necessity! We plan to ‘relaunch’ FAPA with a recruiting drive for new members later this year- but please do start thinking, now, about individuals and indeed churches who you might introduce to FAPA. The EDA website continues to be a splendid source of information - FAPA Membership Application forms etc. can be obtained by emailing [email protected] - and I can also email the EDA Power Point presentation. Finally, a plea for funds… have you paid your annual Membership Subscription? Can you possibly increase it this year? Judith, our Treasurer would love to hear from you! [email protected] We welcome the Right Revd Dr Michael Ipgrave OBE, the Bishop of Lichfield, who has agreed to be our new Patron, Archbishop Sentamu having retired. Bishop Michael grew up in a small village in Northamptonshire. He studied mathematics at Oriel College, Oxford, and trained for the ministry at Ripon College Cuddesdon, Oxford after a year spent working in a factory in Birmingham. He was ordained Deacon in 1982 and Priest in 1983 in the Dicoese of Peterborough. After more than 20 years ministry in Leicestershire and Japan, he became Archdeacon of Southwark in 2004. He was also Canon Missioner at Southwark Cathedral from 2010 to 2012 and was Chair of the Southwark and London Diocesan Housing Association, and Anglican Borough Dean of Southwark. Prior to this he had been Inter Faith Relations Adviser to the Archbishops’ Council and Secretary of the Churches’ Commission on Inter Faith Relations. Bishop Michael was awarded the OBE in the new year’s honours list in 2011 for services to inter-faith relations in London. From 2012 to 2016 he was Area Bishop of Woolwich, in the Diocese of Southwark. He chairs the Council of Christians and Jews, and is Co-Chair of the Anglican-Lutheran Society and of the Church of England’s Mission Theology Advisory Group. Bishop Michael has written extensively on inter-faith issues and on questions of religion and human rights. He has edited 6 volumes on Christian-Muslim relations, is the author of Trinity and Inter Faith Dialogue (Peter Lang, 2003), and has contributed about 30 journal articles and book chapters. He is married to Dr Julia Ipgrave, and they have 3 grown up sons. We are also pleased to announce that Archbishop Mouneer will become Co-Patron on his retirement as Bishop of Egypt. Why Become a Province? In June last year Bishop Mouneer published an excellent illustrated report entitled ‘Sowing and Reaping’ which answers this question - it can now be down loaded from the Diocese of Egypt website – www.dioceseofegypt.org It is an exciting read and I commend it to you. We learn that the Diocese of Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa has rapidly grown in an unexpected way, especially in Egypt and the Horn of Africa. The number of churches in Ethiopia has grown from seven in 2000 to over 140! In the Diocese as a whole, the approximate number of Anglicans in 1976 was 2000 – today there are over 15,000 worshipping in 172 congregations (up from 18) The current number of ordained clergy is 61 – a tenfold increase since 1976. This growth in the Diocese over the last decade, in particular, is a cause for great joy. The formation of a new Province is indeed justified – Praise the Lord! New Trustee We were delighted to welcome Helen Fraser, elected as a new Trustee at our virtual AGM in June. Helen informed us that ‘after over a decade in business development in industry, I sensed a calling to the Middle East, and in 2003 moved to Egypt and lived in Cairo, serving the Anglican Province of Alexandria under the auspices of the Church Mission Society. Initially, as PA to Bishop Mouneer Anis, and then as the Development Officer for the Alexandria School of Theology, and latterly as the Funding Training Manager for EpiscoCare. Earlier this year, I moved back to England, and was thrilled to be asked to serve as a trustee of FAPA, and continue to support the Province in this capacity.’ Helen has News from the Alexandria School of Theology Recently staff and faculty convened at Villa Paty near Alexandria, a much loved venue for conferences, to plan for the sixteenth academic year amidst the pandemic - another challenging set of circumstances, given a few years back AST chartered a path through the revolution, commonly known as the Arab Spring or now Autumn. In spite of Covid restrictions, AST has received around fifty applications from prospective students to study on the Bachelor in Theology (BTh) Programme at one of the three campuses in Egypt, and are currently being interviewed by faculty. The classes are due to commence on 17th September in Alexandria, 24th in Cairo and 8th October in Menya. AST has welcomed three new members of staff to assist with administration and fundraising. For AST, like other academic institutions around the world, Covid-19 has impacted the delivery of courses, including the re-scheduling of the next MA module to be taught by the Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary (Rapid Springs, Colorado), as well as the timing of the next phase of ‘on-campus’ PhD studies for some AST faculty. Shady Anis, the academic coordinator, and his family will be moving to Cambridge this autumn, to commence his PhD studies researching, “Thomas Cranmer’s doctrine of Covenant”. AST will be celebrating the graduation of twenty students with a BTh at a service in All Saints Cathedral on 26th September, and are delighted that ten students graduated from the Nuba Bible Institute Cairo last month. Five of whom will be returning to Sudan. Michael, Hon Secretary [email protected] By Bishop Bill The Church of Ethiopia During the coronavirus-related “lockdown” of earlier this year, I read a fascinating book – The Orthodox Church of Ethiopia: a History by John Binns. Canon John is Visiting Professor at the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge. For many years he was parish priest of Great St Mary’s, the University Church, Cambridge, which is where I met him in May, 2016 when I delivered that term’s university sermon. Whilst serving as Area Bishop for North Africa prior to retirement, I greatly appreciated the collegiality of Bishops Andrew Proud and Grant leMarquand and their energy and vision for the growth of the Anglican expression of church in Ethiopia, especially in the Gambella region. Between the departure of Bishop Andrew and the arrival of Bishop Grant, Bishop Mouneer asked Hilary and me to pay a pastoral visit to Addis Ababa and Gambella. This we did in September 2011, and what an eye-opening visit it was! Apart from performing over 150 confirmations in two churches on one day, it was amazing to witness the strategic ministry functioning at St Matthew’s, Addis Ababa, the development of the Anglican Centre in Gambella town and some of the evangelistic and relief work plus theological training going on amongst refugee communities on the border with Sudan. That trip brings to mind the number of colleagues, personally known to us, who have served at some stage at St Matthew’s, Addis Ababa. I recall the regular visits of Rev Charles Sherlock and Fr Colin Battell OSB to diocesan synods during the years 1981-1986 when I was serving my title at All Saints’ Cathedral, Cairo. In more recent years, Rev Roger Kay and his wife Lynn, Rosemary Burke and representatives of the churches in Gambella like Rev Jeremiah Paul and others, have shared in gatherings in Egypt that we also attended from Tunis. Over recent years, the EDA/FAPA has been kept well-informed by members and visiting speakers from that area of the diocese. For someone, then, with a great respect for clergy and others whom I know who have worked in, or been associated with, various aspects of recent life in Ethiopia, John Binns’ book is exactly what I needed to read. He offers an engaging introduction to the history of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tawehedo Church.