At last I can reveal some news about our future plans.
Well sort of.
In one of my last posts I mentioned that I was heading back to the UK for a few weeks. What I didn’t mention was that the reason behind the visit was for some job interviews. CMS (our mission agency) work according to 3 year cycles. Typically you will stay in a post for 3 years, head back to the UK for 6 months, and then either return to the same country and carry on, move somewhere else overseas, or leave CMS service. Our 3 years come to a close in the middle of this year, and so we have been praying hard, talking with friends, church members and colleagues, and thinking about the future. For a variety of reasons we felt that the time was right for us to head back to the UK this year, and so I began to look for jobs, and we began to make arrangements for the work here to be handed over to Filipino nationals.
With some trepidation I headed back to the UK for interviews. Altogether I had 5 lined up at different churches around the country (although with 2 weeks to go before I flew only one was definitely confirmed). As it happened things went really well at the first church, and I was delighted to be offered the job of Priest in Charge (for the uninitiated that’s basically a vicar but not called that due to technicalities in the way the post is being appointed) of a church. I can’t say too much about it at the moment as the official announcements have to be made by the Diocese concerned, but the paperwork is done and we are beginning to make all the necessary arrangements to return to the UK. For my part, as soon as I visited the parish I was struck by the warmth and enthusiasm of the church members, the area the church is based in is thriving, and for us as a family it feels like a great fit.
In terms of the ministry in the Philippines, we are still fully engaged here. Pastor Glemar has done a sterling job in my absence at Kalubian. He has now taken over the leadership of the ministry there and is leading Bible studies and worship services. The church members no longer have to put up with my excruciating Cebuano and the need for an interpreter. When I visited this week, Glemar had finished his Bible study and was chatting to the villagers, it was great to hear them referring to him as ‘our pastor’. The social programs will also continue under his leadership, in time becoming integrated into the outreach and school sponsorship programs run by the Christian and Missionary Alliance of which he is a minister.
In Cebu it is not clear what the future holds for St Johns and St James. These are technically classed as missions of the Episcopal Church and so are under the supervision and direction of the Episcopal Church. There is some discussion between the diocese, the national office and the church council here as to the best way forward. Fr Labasan my co-worker in Talisay will soon be leaving also, and so one option is to replace both of us with a single Filipino priest, and combine the churches into a single parish, and that is actively being considered.
For us, this is a strange time, especially in this season of Lent. Death and Resurrection, endings and beginnings, goodbyes and new relationships – suddenly everything has a new significance and poignancy.
Do pray for us as we make the arrangements to return to the UK, to handover one ministry and take up another, to say goodbye to friends and fellow believers we have become close too, and prepare ourselves for new relationships and a new ministry in a city we have never lived in before. Though at least this time we will speak the language!
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