Page 4 - Moravian Messenger June 2019

Irish Council of Churches
The Irish Council of Churches held its Annual General Meeting on 4th April at Lurgan. The Moravian Church was represented by Br Jared Stephens and Sr Sarah Groves from the Irish District and Br Philip Cooper, our Ecumenical Officer.
The Moravian Church has a proud record of ecumenical involvement in Ireland as a founder member of the ICC and of Christian Aid Ireland. The Irish Council of Churches brings together most Protestant denominations across Ireland so they can confer and work together and consult with the Catholic Church through the Inter Church Meeting. At this year's ICC AGM there was the business of reports and accounts.' The key note address was given by Professor John Barry of Queen's University, Belfast. He spoke passionately about the need for urgent action to address the issue of climate change. His focus was not so much on changing technologies as on the positive benefits of living more simply in communities that focused on mutual support. He particularly praised the example of the
Swedish school girl Greta Thunberg and pointed out that we are robbing our children and grandchildren of their future.
Moravian's are deeply embedded in the life of the ICC with Br Mark Kernohan, Chair of the Irish District attending all the regular executive meetings and also serving on the committee that has looked at the treatment of victims of 'The Troubles', and talks trying to get Stormont, our Legislative Assembly, functioning again. Sr Janet Wray from Gracehill has served on the working party looking at homelessness; Janet is the CEO of Housing Rights in Northern Ireland. Br Livingstone Thompson has served for the past three years on the European Affairs Committee and over Easter my April editorial for the Moravian Messenger was published on the ICC blog.
It is wonderful that, as a small church, we can contribute so much to the wider Christian work in Ireland, north and south.
Unity Youth Committee in Tanzania
their original buildings and so we were also lucky to be shown the developments they were making building new churches.
Sunday was our last day in Tabora and so we were welcomed into the church to share in their service. The church was packed full of people and the service was a collection of traditional hymns, readings, etc. plus dancing groups and choirs. Dr Bøytler gave the sermon in Swahili (he spent a few years here and so is fluent in the language). Georgie and I took the opportunity to sit amongst the congregation and take in a different view of proceedings. Following the service we were taken to Sikonge, which was our next stopover, and given a tour of the Moravian hospital, the Bible College and some historical sights.
Monday was an early start at 5am as we began the next leg of our trip to Mbeya. This drive would take 12 hours along bumpy, unpathed roads. Although dark at first, the sun soon rose giving us views of the expansive Tanzanian countryside and a very surprise sight of a group of giraffes crossing the road in front of us. Every so often we would make our way through a town full of people going about their daily lives, living and working in small businesses and shops. Signs of their community lives clearly evident from where we sat in the car as well as some quick glimpses of the Lamb and Flag here
Sr Sarah Groves
Minister at Gracehill Congregation
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and there ...
Mbeya is another large city although much cooler than Dar es Salaam. We were taken to the Bible School to meet with some local youth church members. During food and fellowship we had the chance to chat to them about life in the church, what they do as youth and what they are looking to do in the future. It also gave us our first real chance as a committee to introduce ourselves and what we were planning to do. After thanks and prayers we departed back to our hotel for some rest ahead of our final big day.
Our last day saw us touring the mission station in Rungwe. One of the oldest stations here; they hold an impressive collection of photographs and documents from the history of the area. The scenery and atmosphere are fascinating - it must be quite a wonderful
place to live. As we are given the tour we meet one of the women's groups who are busy tending to the gardens and greet us heartily. The tour continues from here further up the road where the church is renting out its acres of land to a separately established company. The company, using mostly man-power, grows, cultivates and produces avocados on a huge scale; not only for local markets but also for export worldwide. It's inspiring to witness the church making full use of its assets coupled with a close connection to their values and ethos.
If you are interested in youth work and news that is happening around the Unity or wish to know more about the Unity Youth Committee and any events that are being planned; head over to the Facebook page: facebook.com/worldwidemcyouth
Br Phill Battelle
Ockbrook
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© Br Phill Battelle