Bishop Harold announced as new Vice-President of Tearfund
The Right Revd Harold Miller is announced as a new Vice-President of Tearfund. In his role Bishop Harold will work alongside a number of key church leaders and Christians in the public eye to support Tearfund, the leading Christian relief and development agency. Other Tearfund Vice-Presidents include Lord and Lady Carey and John and Anne Coles, leaders of New Wine.
This November Bishop Harold will travel with Tearfund to Cambodia, to see first hand the life-changing work of the local church in one of the poorest places in the world.
"I have always been passionate about Tearfund, supporting them since the beginning in the 1960s. I am thrilled to now support them as a Vice-President as I share their thinking that the local church has a vital role in tackling poverty and injustice", says Bishop Harold. “As Vice-President I aim to raise awareness of Tearfund's work and mobilise the Church and Christians across Ireland to transform communities locally and globally.”
“Tearfund’s vision is to see 50 million people released from material and spiritual poverty through a worldwide network of 100,000 local churches. Over the years Harold has helped us outwork this vision as a member of our National Advisory Committee in Northern Ireland. We are delighted that his support will continue in his new role as a Vice-President,’ says Tim Magowan, Northern Ireland Director, Tearfund.
Bishop Harold will travel to Cambodia with Rev. Jono Pierce, Rector of St Finnian’s Parish Church, Belfast and Secretary of The Bishops’ Appeal. They will visit the Cambodia Hope Organisation (CHO) which works with poor communities in the border town of Poipet to improve their quality of life physically and spiritually, particularly looking after children who are at risk from trafficking or whose parents have HIV or lack money to provide food and education.
He will be meeting people like Socheath, aged 17, who lost her father to long term sickness two years ago which left her, her mother and two sisters in a bleak situation. Through receiving a year’s training and a loan from CHO, Socheath has been able to start her own business sewing cloths and has even spread the skills to her community.
She now has enough money to support her family, send her sisters to school and her mother and other relatives work with her. She says “I have a new small business; I have a new hope in the future.”
Bishop Harold invites Church of Ireland members to consider joining him on his trip to Cambodia or use the Tearfund Harvest resource, One Family to inspire congregations with the amazing stories of Cambodian churches transforming their communities.
The new list of Tearfund’s President and Vice-Presidents is:
President
• Renowned academic and theologian Dr Elaine Storkey remains President of Tearfund
Vice-Presidents
• Lord Carey, former Archbishop of Canterbury
• Lady Carey
• Roger Forster, founder of the Ichthus fellowship
• John Coles, New Wine
• Anne Coles, New Wine
• Mike Pilavachi, Soul Survivor
• Katei Kirby, minister in Wesleyan Holiness Church
• Steve Clifford, Evangelical Alliance
• Elfed Godding, Evangelical Alliance Wales
• Right Revd Harold Miller, Bishop in the Church of Ireland
• Celia Apeagyei-Collins, The Rehoboth Foundation
• Nicky Gumbel, Alpha
• Siew-Huat Ong, Chinese Church
For more information and resources, visit Tearfund's website or contact the Tearfund NI office on 028 90 682828 or Tearfund Ireland office on (0)1 878 3200.