Posted Friday 1 May 2009
About 50 folk with an interest in international companion links gathered in Glasgow for a day conference, Companions Together, on 21 March.
They came from all over Scotland to the Albany Centre in Glasgow’s West End, and the centre did us proud, writes Anne Pankhurst. It is a newly refurbished primary school, with the advantages of spacious rooms, modern equipment and off-street parking.
The conference context was set by the growing number of companion links between the worldwide church and the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Among those present – and enjoying each other’s stories – were people who have visited Rwanda, Ghana, Swaziland, Zanzibar and South Africa as part of their diocesan or church links. Others, including a youth group, will be on their way soon to experience what it is to be an Anglican in other contexts.
The speakers gave us much food for thought.
Bishop Idris took us on a tour of the Old and New Testaments, from Moses to Barnabas, to show that building relationships with people is essential both to our understanding of our faith and our human wellbeing.
A different aspect was shared by Canon Edgar Ruddock, international relations director of USPG. With stunning pictures, he gave us the taste of the global–local interface that is the core of modern holistic mission. In this world of increasing instability, threats to the environment and financial insecurity, mission means building up the church across the world, caring for physical and spiritual health, education and development, justice and reconciliation.
Stephen Lyon, who has worked for eight years as partnership secretary in the Anglican Communion, built on all of this with a reflection on the bases for practical action in Companionships. Creating and maintaining a good link means strategic, intentional, honest, humble, holistic and, above all, joyful sharing. The challenge and the checklist are set by the Five Marks of Mission.
The conference concluded with presentations by Revd Canon Duncan McCosh on the Millennium Development Goals, by the Mothers’ Union on its work across the Anglican Communion, and by St Andrew’s Milngavie with Pastor Elson Mageza from our Companion Diocese of Byumba.
Dr Pankhurst convenes the international committee of Edinburgh Diocese.
Category: Companion Dioceses Action Network
