The Anglican Parish of St Laurence in Lanzarote. Parish Profile. Our Presence on the Island St Laurence is an active Anglican Parish in Lanzarote, spread across three distinct areas of this beautiful holiday island, which has been declared a World Biosphere Reserve. Each area incorporates, or is close to, one of the three main tourist centres of Costa Teguise, Puerto del Carmen, and Playa Blanca. There is no Anglican Church building. Our services are held in the Roman Catholic churches in those towns. Our only building on the island is the Chaplaincy house in Puerto del Carmen. Playa Blanca Puerto del Carmen Nazaret Communion services are held each Sunday at Puerto del Carmen at 12.30 pm, and at Playa Blanca at 5.00 pm. On the first and third Sunday of each month, a communion service is held at 10.00 am in the small village church of Nazaret. Apart from two ecumenical services each year, services for special festivals, for wedding blessings and for funerals, there are no mid-week services. Our chaplain undertakes some 40 wedding blessings each year. Last year (2015) there were 10 funerals and 2 baptisms. Pastoral activities on the island, include hospital visits and home communions. There are British schools on the island but, despite overtures from previous Chaplains, contact has not been encouraged, mainly due to the mixtures of denominations and nationalities. During the interregnum, many aspects of the Parish’s ministry have continued, including monthly fellowship lunches, fund-raising events, and some publicity activities. Occasions when we can meet together as a Parish are important to foster a sense of unity between the three congregations. There is an active branch of the Mothers Union which is very supportive of our Parish. Our website, which is maintained and up-dated by our Reader, is lanzarotechurch.com Requiem mass in PdC Part of our team Nativity play at Christmas Our Teams and Our Congregations. The Chaplaincy team consists of the Priest-in-charge and two Congregational Worship Leaders who serve at each of the services on a rota basis. In each of our three regions, there is a team of volunteers who act as sacristans, welcomers and sidespersons. The PCC consists of the Lay Vice President, the Parish Secretary, the two Churchwardens, and seven other members. Since the departure (and very recent death) of our long-serving Treasurer, that function is now undertaken by an external accountant who has long experience of the Parish. There are currently 41 names on the electoral role. The congregations at Puerto del Carmen and Playa Blanca comprise local residents (predominantly British, but also Irish, Spanish and other Europeans), those who spend the Autumn and Winter months on the island (known as Swallows), and holidaymakers. Each congregation can be relatively small (less than 30) in the Summer months, but increasing to anything between 50 and 80 at other times of the year, and to over 100 at Christmas and Easter.. The congregation at Nazaret is relatively stable throughout the year at 15 to 20, and has a small active Sunday School. Our Challenges In recent years, the core membership of the Parish has significantly diminished, partly due to age, mortality, and repatriation during the recession. There is thus a great need to attract more of the local residents, particularly younger residents, into the membership of the Parish, in order to build up our team of volunteers in all aspects of Parish life. To this end, the addition of family services or other non- Communion services, possibly mid-week, may be an option. Since 1986, when our inaugural Holy Eucharist was conducted on Easter Sunday, our Sunday services in the north of the island were held firstly in Teguise, the former capital of the island, which is host to a huge Sunday market, then in Costa Teguise, one of the three main tourist centres but which has no church, and now in Nazaret. A major consideration for the new Chaplain and Council will be whether this service should be transferred back to Teguise, as the church at Nazaret is very small and limited in facilities, particularly to accommodate the Sunday School as the children grow, and to attract to that congregation some of the many visitors to the Sunday market. During the interregnum some of the former activities of the Parish have lapsed. These include bible study, some fund-raising events, the distribution in some areas of publicity materials to hotels, complexes and other outlets and the organisation of our regular visitors into a ‘Friends of St Laurence’. These now need new leadership and energy to ensure their continuity. Our Neighbours We enjoy an excellent relationship with the local representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, as well as with the Norwegian and German Lutheran Churches. At least twice a year, during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and on Good Friday, there are ecumenical services attended by all four denominations, and conducted in Spanish, English, German and Norwegian. Meetings are held two or three times a year with the Anglican priests-in-charge in the other Canary Islands for mutual support and to prevent any sense of isolation. There is also an annual Archdeaconry synod, running over 4 days, bringing together clergy and lay representatives from the parishes across Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, North Africa and Andorra. In 2003 the parish helped to start regular Sunday services in Corralejo on the neighbouring island of Fuerteventura. The congregation there have now appointed their own priest. Living in Lanzarote Lanzarote offers an enviable lifestyle. Daytime temperatures rarely drop below 21 degrees or peak above 29 degrees. The sea stays warm from April to December. Being a major holiday island, every form of water sports is available from the beaches in the tourist centres, and many of the hotels will hire out tennis courts or allow regulars to use their swimming pools. The unspoilt Papagayo beaches are a protected nature reserve, as is the Timanfaya National Park where it is possible to visit safely the one existing active volcano on the island. There are designated walking trails through areas of unique natural beauty in many parts of the island. Cycling is a major pastime for both professionals and amateurs, culminating in the Lanzarote Ironman Triathlon at the end of May each year. Wine fields in La Geria High quality restaurants offering a variety of different cuisines abound all over the island, freshly caught seafood being the jewel in the gastronomic crown. The supermarkets now operate at a high level of sophistication, and cater for the British residents and visitors with a wide range of branded foodstuffs imported from the UK. There is a small British supermarket in Tias, and a recently opened branch of ‘Overseas’ in Playa Honda stocked with Waitrose and Iceland products. Lanzarote is a fairly small island, approximately 60 by 20 kilometres in size, with an excellent road system allowing one to drive comfortably from end to end in under an hour and a half. Traffic congestion is a rarity. Outside the three tourist centres, it has a tranquil environment, with an active and friendly local population with a strong religious culture and deep respect for the church. Cultural activities are frequent but these are mainly traditional Spanish forms of music, song and art, often relating to religious celebrations. Classical piano concerts are held four or five times a year at the Camel House in Macher. The resident British population numbers about 8000 centred in Puerto del Carmen, Macher and Tias, with smaller communities in the Costa Teguise, Tahiche, Nazaret and Playa Blanca areas. These residents are broadly divided between pensioners and those who have come to work in tourism and certain commercial activities. Over one million British tourists visited Lanzarote in 2015. The island has a good health care system with GP appointments readily available by internet or telephone, and emergency treatment services 24/7 at the general hospital and some clinics. The nearest British consulate is in Las Palmas in Gran Canaria. An Honorary Consul, who is one of the Wedding Blessing Organisers, is based on the island, and maintains liaison with the Chaplain on prison visiting etc. For the record: Lanzarote is the easternmost of the autonomous Canary islands. It is a sub-tropical, volcanic island, lying some 125 kilometres from the west coast of Africa. UNESCO has declared the island a World Biosphere Reserve. The capital and commercial centre is Arrecife in the south east, served by the airport to the west and the main shipping port to the east. The primary industry of the island is now tourism, with farming and fishing both in decline. Fruitful landscapes around Yaiza Papagayo Beach in Playa Blanca Road to Famara Village of Tias from above at sunset .