1st August 2020
Benefice of Farleigh, Candover and Wield
e-mail: davidchattell172@btinternet.com e-mail:- stevemourant@btinternet.com
01256 389474 01256 381217
Living the life...telling the story....visit us at http://www.farleighcandoverandwield.org.uk
Dear Friends,
First, below is an email received on 28 July, from the diocese of Lango, in northern Uganda, a place visited by Stephen and a small team in 2017, and we have been working together to build a Youth Vocations Centre over last three years. This message is most illuminating and I include it with this letter to illustrate something bigger in which we are involved than just our local villages and small congregations. I hope a few of you will be inspired as you read about God’s work in the middle of Africa – if you want to see videos and pictures I am only too happy to share a presentation about my visit in 2017 and how we can do something to help. Money is one way of helping them to complete the buildings!
Second, David and Stephen are both off duty next week – Stephen from 30 July to 14 August, David from 1 August to 8 August, and David will take more time in the early autumn.
So we hope and pray there will not be any pastoral crises – Stephen is contactable for extreme emergencies on e-mail.
There will be ONE online service for 2nd and one for 9th August, and both will be available on the respective Saturday evenings – that is, they will be accessible from that moment to watch. Theme for 2 August, the feeding of the 5,000, link: https://youtu.be/txoFsg3bLOo. A further letter will go out on 8th August to remind you of the 9th Aug’s services.
There are also 10 Children’s Bible Stories uploaded, which have been used in some of the services at the Farleigh end; they are each about 3 minutes long and well-illustrated, 8 done by Natalie Wood, and two by the Nunn family as the children explain the scary storm and the parable of the sower -so do make use of them as well. (Well done Natalie and the Nunns!).
Links are: (Also available from the Resources Tab)
https://youtu.be/2-LmV22bXCE - feeding of the 5,000 children’s bible story
https://youtu.be/HlNJAezccpQ - The Good Shepherd children’s Bible story
https://youtu.be/9uvPhTFSjdA The story of Samson
https://youtu.be/c79sgnR2i3U The soil, seed and sower
https://youtu.be/w6T6D9oxn3w Jonah and the whale
https://youtu.be/p4leQ6pqSmY Daniel in the lions’ den
https://youtu.be/Ai5U1a4l9-M one of Jesus’ parables
https://youtu.be/damPBnrh98k The story of the Lord’s Prayer and the sermon on the Mount
https://youtu.be/JsMcZBna8u4 The Sower, soil and seed by the Nunn family
https://youtu.be/Nt2jdujkV_k The scary storm on the lake by the Nunn family
Live Sunday services continue across the benefice as below:
Sunday 2 August
11.00 Northington Morning Prayer
11.00 Dummer Family Service
Sunday 9 August
11.00 St. Andrew’s Farleigh Wallop Family Morning Prayer
11.00 Bradley Morning Prayer
6.00 Wield Evensong BCP
Sunday 16 August
11.00 Preston Candover Morning Worship
11.00 Cliddesden Family Service
Sunday 23 August
11.00 Brown Candover Morning Worship
11.00 Ellisfield Family Service
Please continue praying for the return to a more normal Sunday service pattern in September: we may need to do a further “risk assessment” as we re-establish Holy Communion in both kinds, and singing hymns inside – we know of other places in the diocese where singing is happening, as what we have been given is “advice” not “mandatory” over what we do. Local situations differ widely, and some allowance for common sense is called for, whilst taking into account fully the concerns of those who are classed “vulnerable” by age or health issues. Don’t forget you can actively join in the weekly prayer times on Wednesday mornings 9.00 to 9.30 a.m. and fellowship group on Wednesday evenings 7.45 to 9.15 p.m. on Zoom – contact peter.c.w.raine@btinternet.com
May God bless you all,
With our prayers and greetings,
David and Stephen
E-mail From the Lango Diocese
28th July 2020
Dear Barbara, Dear Steve
Warm greeting from the Diocese of Lango in Jesus Name. I hope God has kept you safe and the other christians of in Alresford Deanery besides the terrifying shocks of COVID-19. We continue to pray that God watches over you and keep you shielded in the precious blood of his son Jesus christ.
It is over a year since June 7th 2019 when we got updates from each other but I am confident that we have always kept each other at heart and in prayer.
We at the Diocese of Lango are now in the 4th month of Lockdown with all places of worship (Churches) closed and livelihoods of the Christians across the Diocese grossly affected.
Besides the tribulation, God is so faithful and doing wonders in the various fields of health, Education, Mission and other other sectors such as Agriculture that the Diocese is engaged in to ensure that Christians are met at their points of needs; In mission work for example, the Diocese is training missionaries to take the gospel from Lango through southern Sudan through to Egypt, in-fact one missionary is already sent to Southern Sudan by the Diocese of Lango.
God is using the Bishop in an amazing way to do reconciliation of different tribes in Uganda with Jesus Christ as a-pivotal centre of reconciliation, it has become a national ministry with lots of engagements and in doing so, the Diocese has started sponsoring four children from west nile (Kakwa tribe of Idi-Amin Dada), the president who brutalize many Ugandan's including Lango people, this is a demonstration of total forgiveness and it is inspiring many others to forgive.
On Diocese of Lango Youth vocational that your gift has always supported, a number of news are there for you to know and pray about or support in any means you can.
1. I am glad to inform you that the number of vulnerable youth that the Diocese support through the Vocational training institute has grown from 56 in 2018 to 86 in 2019 and eventually 228 this year 2020, we sincerely thank God that we have had more than double increase in number of students within this period of one year i.e. an increase of 142 vulnerable youth to the 86 that we had making us have now 228, we glorify God for this.
2. Last year 2019, our candidates sat Uganda Business and Technical Examination Board (UBITEB) and 93.3% of our candidates (28/30 candidates) passed this national exams making us one of the best vocational institutes in the country, 100% (36/36) of our candidates passed the exams by the Directorate of Industrial Training. we glorify God for this.
3. Improvement in performance at the centre resulted into huge increase in number of students and pressure for additional infrastructure; we were able to construct using locally generated resources one classroom with two office space which is currently stuck at roofing level and two toilet blocks of 5 stance each to try accommodate the ever increasing number of vulnerable youth who want to get skills at this centre.
Prayer Request
The COVID-19 Lock down has come with several challenges which we suppose you are not exceptional from but we should keep each other in prayer.
(a) Here in Uganda, lots of young girls have become pregnant due to this lock down implying that their dreams for further education will be affected, we are trying to follow our students and praying that God should give them the patience to endure the trying moment till the very end, pray with us on this.
(b) We are anticipating a big challenge on sponsorship (Paying fees) as parents have been at home without doing any work and we are praying that God should open a way for us to respond to this challenge effectively so that we don't loose the 228 we currently have at the vocational institute.
(c) Our commitment to respond to the infrastructure challenge especially raising more classrooms and buying tools and equipments from locally raised resources might not be feasible given the weight of this shock, we pray that God shows us the best way to deal with this challenge since we just can't afford to send away these vulnerable children whom God should open their future through Diocese of Lango.
We will continue to update you on other things as we revitalise this collaboration and joint service to the people of God.
Blessings.
Hudson Ogwali (Mr)
Diocesan Administrator / Secretary
Church of Uganda, Diocese of Lango
P.o Box, 06 Lira (U)
"When Jesus says yes............