Newsletter 5
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Church of South India Please visit our website: August 2008 www.csijaffnadiocese.com 1 Newsletter In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others Romans 12:5 Warm Welcome Awaits Bishop Daniel Thiagarajah in Australia Uniting Church Festival of Lights Melbourne he Creative Minis- socially-challenged places like Ttries Network of the ver since this invitation Sathiyapuram and Sandilipay Uniting Church of Aus- to Australia came to be where she is held with great E affection. In her own church in tralia has invited Bishop known Bishop Thiagarajah and his diocesan staff have been Melbourne she is also working Daniel Thiagarajah to inundated with invitations to with people from some of the participate in the An- various Pacific Islands as an extension nual St George’s Unit- church- of their ministry. ing Church Festival of es in n informal fellowship Lights Sunday Novem- Aus- Apublic lunch in Melbourne tralia is also being organized for ber 23,2008 and associated where Bishop Thiagarajah so that as events organized by the church former many people as possible from and their network in the State JDCSI the JDCSI and Jaffna College of Victoria. The invitation has mem- alumni will be able to meet from the Director of the Crea- bers the bishop. Bishop Thiagarajah tive Ministries Network John wor- is also the General Secretary Bottomley and the Rev Angela ship. of the Jaffna College Board Tampiyappa who was the first They have expressed a desire of Directors. Cities like Perth, Sri Lankan fully ordained lady to play a role in the life of Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne, minister while she served the their own home churches and Sydney, Newcastle and Can- Jaffna Diocese of the Church of their folks there. They see the berra are the new homes of South India. She is the min- emergence of a new beginning several families from the vari- Jaffna Diocese ister in charge of St George’s for the JDCSI which would be ous parishes of the JDCSI and Church of the Uniting Church meaningful to the entire com- the potential to help their folks of Australia. munity especially in rehabilita- in Sri Lanka are tremendous n the letter of invitation tion work which is urgent and especially since the JDCSI is IDirector John Bottomley tapping the resources for rapid determined to spearhead such stated how delighted they development of the respective a programme. were to be supporting the visit parishes. of Bishop Thiagarajah and were he Rev Angela Tampiyappa very much looking forward to Twhile serving in Jaffna did engaging with the JDCSI as yeoman work in the church es- partners in Christ’s ministry of pecially in such neglected and healing, justice and peace. ý Please consider the environment before you print this e-Newsletter Church of South India August 2008 2 Newsletter Delft Church .......focus of the Month JDCSI launches six grass roots projects in Delft he Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South aving assessed the situation in Delft from TIndia (JDCSI) has a long and historic associa- Hrecent reports and also observed the needs tion with the people of the Island of Delft, the of the people of Delft first hand, Bishop Dan- biggest of the seven islands that dot the north iel Thiagarajah announced how the JDCSI has and north-western waters off the Peninsula decided to meet these challenges in its drive to of Jaffna. The home of one of the twenty one create a new growth towards progress by tap- original churches of this diocese and the only ping our resources and potentials at the grass Sri Lankan home of what has become known roots, and across all the socio-cultural divisions as the Delft ponies, this island used to be self- that have plagued our community. He stressed sufficient in essential food needs. People of Delft that we are all one family whoever and whatever cultivated cereals such as the highly nutritious we are and the JDCSI is committed to creating kurakkan along with varagu, samy and mondy a new society that abhors divisions of any kind despite its dry zone conditions and fresh milk that exploits each other. was plenty and as for fish, there never was ever n the spirit of the mission to Delft, six projects a short supply. Ihave been launched on the island by the JDCSI including two day care centres that will meet he island was recently visited by the Bishop the needs of 160 children, a computer training Tin Jaffna, the Rt Rev Dr Daniel Thiagarajah centre as well a vocational training centre and and his team despite highly restricted move- free evening classes to help children with their ments in this region and the dangers that are Ordinary and Advanced Level needs. Apart from current to meet the people of his church and these, there will be English classes for every also to assess and understand their needs and Delftian and this will also be provided without create possible new opportunities for their charging any fees. development. n a stirring exchange of ideas he emphasized Ithe role of education when he observed edu- cation for development is underlined by the fact that it creates new persons who are capable of doing new things and this will be the highroad for progress as we chalk out a future for our- selves. hile prayer connects us all as one intimate Wfamily and a rich source of strength and inspiration, we must also become linked to the whole world which today has assumed the na- ture of one global human community wherever we make our home. In this world, English has become the major key to our unity and compu- ter the necessary vehicle to help strengthen our links, share our culture and seek new dimen- sions for worldwide progress. Jaffna Diocese ý Please consider the environment before you print this e-Newsletter Church of South India August 2008 3 Newsletter Powerful Partnership with Korean Church KORIND MISSION Dr Lee II Ho, the founder of the KORIND Mission uring the first and second weeks of August Dtwo pastoral teams, one from Korea and the other from India appropriately called the KORIND Pastors’ Visit interacted with the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India (JDCSI) in four important events. They were Consultation for Pastors and Lay Leaders, Visit to the Hill Country to observe the ministry of the JDCSI there, Laying of the founda- tion of the new church centres, and finally s special worship service in Colombo where ordinations of priests and commissioning of evangelists took place. This was followed by an official discussion by the KORIND mission with Bishop Daniel Thiagarajah and lay leaders of the diocese about future plans. he Korean team was comprised of the Rev Dr TLee II Ho, Mrs Lee II Ho and the Rev Dr Kim Kyong Kon. The Indian team was represented by the Rev B D Prasad Rao, Mrs Lily Prasad and Messrs Mission and Evangelism N Rajasingh and Silvanes. n Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th August, Oa Consultation cum Seminar on Mission and Evangelism for Pastors and Lay Leaders was held at the JDCSI Church House Auditorium, 39 Fussels Jaffna Diocese Lane, Wellawatte, Colombo. he first day’s session at which fifty presbyters, Tdeacons, evangelists and lay leaders partici- pated, the opening devotion and chairperson’s address was given by the Rt Rev Dr Daniel S Thia- garajah. A former Executive Secretary of Mission and Evangelism of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), he based his stirring talk on the Gospel of St Mathew and observed that unlike the other Gos- pels, his is essentially a missionary text. ý Please consider the environment before you print this e-Newsletter Church of South India August 2008 4 Newsletter KORIND MISSION n this, Mathew had set out to provide guidance Ito a community in crisis and on how it should understand its calling and mission. According to Mathew’s “Great Commission” Bishop Thiagarajah said it is not possible to make disciples without telling them to practice God’s call of justice for the poor (orthopraxis). The love commandment, which is the basis for the church’s involvement is an integral part of the mission commandment. Hence to become a disciple means a decisive and irrevocable turning toward both God and neigh- bour. r Lee II Ho, the founder of the KORIND Mis- Dsion gave three lectures on “How to become a healthy church?, Pastoral effectiveness and How to grow as a high impact church.” Making his observations on the traditional models of the church, he said the present day church fails miser- ably when it simply focuses on church growth without becoming a healthy and meaningful church to the community it serves. He staked out five principles and purposes (not methods) from the core of the Bible to explain the secret of the health of the church viz. Worship (Love your God), Ministry (Love your neighbour), holistic mission, baptizing and making disciples. he Rev Dr Lee II Ho said that a pastor should Tdream the purposes and make them come alive, that is visioning and making them a reality. He summed up his talk by saying that the church will always grow when it is mindful of its ability and become a healthy church and that church will always bear fruits. Mission and Evangelism Jaffna Diocese ý Please consider the environment before you print this e-Newsletter Church of South India August 2008 5 Newsletter Renaissance in Jaffna Diocese We are emboldened by the spirit of renaissance nto every nation and people there comes an Uopportunity to recast their nets after mend- ing or renewing them to seek new ideals and goals.