Sector Team

Di Miller, Lay Chair

As I write, plans are well underway for a Mission Partnership stand at the Ecumenical Kirchentag in Munich. We are excitedly looking forward to having this opportunity to tell our special story in an European context. It is indeed a unique story and in planning the stand we have found ourselves celebrating how far we have come, as well as reflecting on what we have learnt for the future. In a sense that process of celebrating and reflecting has characterised much of what we have been doing this year.

The Review process has been a key feature of this past year where we have been examining much more closely what we have achieved and the issues we still need to address. On the one hand we have become increasingly aware of the need to live out our “Mission Partnership” name more authentically by enabling mission to have a sharper focus in our life together; while on the other hand, we are continuing to have a sponsoring role in LEPs and Churches Together groupings. Furthermore the requirements of charity law has meant a radical rethink about the areas for which the Mission Partnership has a direct and legal responsibility. Given the changes anticipated in the organisation, there is also a Review into the role of the Ecumenical Moderator and a group has been set up to do this. There have been wide consultations which are still ongoing and it has been wonderful to have had contributions from so many of you. In March there was a good opportunity for members of the Assembly to discuss the key points of the Review and formulate questions like: How will the new Board of Trustees work? And how will the new Co-ordinating Group bring everything together? We are very grateful to those who have worked so hard on the Review, especially to Stephen Norrish.

The Mission Partnership has been busy with many of its Project Groups going from strength to strength. The Leipzig Group is flourishing and in January a party went to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the St Martinkirche, the RC church in Leipzig -Grunau. The Theology Forum organised a successful lecture on Responding to Dawkins given by Professor Alan Sells which was drew a large crowd. Some Projects are newly formed, for example the Homelessness Group which derives support from many agencies. The Soup Run initiative arising from a calling to respond to this need, from within the Woughton LEP in the first instance and now supported generously by Stantonbury LEP, is an example of how local Christian groups have taken on a specific work in this field.

The Mission Partnership has a responsibility for the care and support of the LEPs and Churches Together groups through the Sponsoring and Pastoral Committee. A new Project , the Pastoral Support Group, has been formed to provide particular support and encouragement for stipendiary ministers within LEPs in the first instance and this has been well received.

We are very pleased to remind people about our new web site. It is to be found at www.missionpartnership.talktalk.net and is being continually updated. Our thanks to Geoffrey Miller for his hard work in designing it and keeping it up to date.

During the past year we have welcomed new ministers: Rev Beatrice Quaye at Freeman Methodist in Bletchley and also part of the team at Walton LEP; also Rev Lou Webber the new Baptist minister at Walton LEP and Andrew Gale the new chaplain at Oakhill Secure Unit. We wish them joy in their ministry here in MK . We have also welcomed Rev Brian Howden as the Advisor for Spiritual Direction for the Mission Partnership and look forward to his work with us. As we go to print, we welcome Rev David Bell to the Watling Valley LEP.

We have said farewell to people who are leaving; Rev Carole Hough has left the Hospital Chaplaincy after many years of service and Rev Karen Reeve who joined the Hospital Chaplaincy Team more recently have moved on to other ministries and we thank them for all their work. We were sorry to hear the news that the Holy Family Sisters in Milton Keynes were moving out after long and devoted service. We are sad too that the Holy Child Sisters no longer have a Community in MK and we want to record our enormous thanks to them all.

We had an Ecumenical Confirmation service at Christ the King Church, Kents Hill in November which saw many candidates coming forward to be confirmed in their faith. We wish them joy in their future lives. Another highlight of the autumn was the visit to MK by a group of 13 Swedish Lutheran pastors. They wished to find out more about the practical implications of ecumenical life and to hear about our experiences of fresh expressions of worship and cross-cultural realities. They were particularly interested in new ways of using church buildings and being church eg café style worship. We rejoiced to offer them accommodation for 2 nights and all of us mutually benefited from the exchange of ideas.

This year has also seen the further development of Citizens MK. Many colleagues from around the new city are involved in this community organising agency which draws together faith groups and other interested parties in matters of common concern. Rev Tim Clapton was a key player in the group which did the initial planning and feasibility study and we are delighted that this work has borne such promising fruit. We have been glad to welcome Mousa Baraka as its first Community Organiser.

We record our grateful thanks and appreciation to all the office bearers of the Mission Partnership and most particularly to Mrs Penny Warburton for her hard work running the office and to her assistant, Mrs Chrissie Baldwin.

This past year has shown us that there is plenty of energy for things that fire people’s imagination and new initiatives are being developed. We hope to harness more of that energy in the coming months and by working together in new and different ways, endeavour to promote the Mission strategy and aspiration of the Partnership to build the Kingdom in this place.