Diocese of Down & Dromore

Partners in Mission, SAMS Ireland, ask for prayer for our link diocese of Northern Argentina which takes in seven fedral states in the northwestern region of the country and has an active church membership of around 3,500 people.

Pray for Suffragan Bishop Nick Drayson and Catherine as they travel to the native communities, and for ease and ability in learning Wichi, the majority language in the Chaco churches. Pray for transparency and growing trust among church leaders.

Pray for the Toba churches, pastors and deacons and for pastor Kichi, Toba representative on the Diocesan Council. Thank God for the completion of the Toba translation of the New Testament.

ASOCIANA is an acronym in Spanish for 'Social support of the Anglican Church in N. Argentina’ for indigenous peoples in the Chaco. Pray for coordinator Ana Alvarez, Claudia Lungu and team as they advise communities claiming land rights and help people obtain better health care.

Pray for Chris and Helena Wallis, for progress in literacy for Chaco communities and encouragement in teaching their children. Pray for Alec and Ivon Deane helping people produce woodcarvings for Siwok Crafts and also to use drip-feed irrigation to grow vegetables in an area with limited rainfall.

Bishop Nick and Catherine write:

Dear Down & Dromore

Thank you so much for your prayers for us and those we work with. We have been very aware of this support as we continue to travel all over this huge diocese and try to get to grips with the different aspects of the job, not least trying to understand the way the church works in this culture. We have now done over 20 trips and visited almost 60 communities (not yet half the total).

We have pretty much survived the heat, which is now giving way to some cooler weather. What little rain there has been has disrupted some of our journeys, but the flooding which has affected several communities could have been much worse. There are still some communities which can only be reached by boat (see the account of our Easter conference www.ampey.wordpress.com) but the worst damage was caused by an apparently unrelated whirlwind, which blew the roof off a church! Needless to say the bishop is the first port of call for help with repairs to buildings, transport, Sunday school, training courses, tape-recorders, glasses, relationships etc (I must check the archdeacons' job-description). Other whirlwinds also occasionally blow through in the form of churches splitting, other denominations causing confusion, or a sharp polarisation between those who like to dance and those who don’t! There is still much confusion over the way pastoral work is done, and often it is very "political" - there is need for wisdom and hopefully the opportunity for change as we look back on almost 100 years of missionary work here, and build on it for a future in which the Indian church will have to become in some way autonomous.

On a much bigger scale the church is about to hand over our last piece of “forest” land (purchased for this purpose) to three Indian communities who now live on it. Whilst this is the right thing to do, it will no doubt provoke a negative response in some quarters (especially those who wanted to keep exploiting the forest for their own ends). The struggles continue over land-rights, and we are looking at the possibilities of doing more in the area of conservation, whilst at the same time trying to accompany the process of redistributing land to both Indians and white settlers.

It has been difficult to give the necessary time and focus to language learning amidst the demands of churches and villages, but we did manage several days just “living” in a small community called San Martin.  Catherine is often approached about questions to do with women and children, (the people are certain the bishop’s wife should sort most everything else that the bishop doesn’t) but does feel very challenged about whether to try and facilitate some sort of ministry in this area, linking together family concerns about health and nutrition with other needs such as literacy and Sunday school.  It is sad to think that  the Indians have already received so much help in these areas over the years, but seem reluctant to take the responsibility themselves.........the culture is very complicated and at times mitigates against progress and autonomy. She is also disappointed not to have progressed more with language, as it is hard to communicate at all with the women, but she has been fully occupied in other areas, not least trying in keeping us both fed and clothed – and unpacking between trips!

Here in Juarez it is not only the Indians who have churches and conflicts. The “criollos” (white settlers) have several congregations, and we have been quite involved with our local one. Following Catherine helping a group of young people to get to a summer camp, we have been invited to run a youth Alpha course later in the year. The preparation has already started, and we are thrilled that this course is already being widely used in Latin America.

Prayer topics:

• How to “lead in mission” in this environment

• For insight into both the culture and the church

• Language learning  and making friends

• For an ongoing and just solution to land issues

• Final stages of the Toba translation of the NT

• Safety in travel, both here and in UK when we visit family and churches

• “Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith”

Every blessing,Nick and Catherine

Saying of the month: “Kings may have power but they can move less than pawns”.