Freiburg. The Anglican Church BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF GRACE

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1 The Anglican Church BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF GRACE Freiburg October 2016 A Visit Worth Repeating Sunday 25th brought a change of scenery to the morning worship as I went to Basel for the morning service and then later the sung service of Evensong. The Anglican Church in Freiburg received a two for one deal, in that the Rev. Anne Lowen and the Rev. Mathias Kissel were able to come as officiant and preacher respectively. This short exchange was a wonderful experience for me as I finally got to meet a large number of people who make up the chaplaincy in Basel. The Rev. Russel Hilliard officiated at the morning worship while the church gathered in three different buildings in a Basel neighbourhood. A youth program, a C h a p l a i n s M e s s a g e children s church program and Sunday worship all took place in different locations due to the main church building being under renovation. Despite all the new worship locations the Rev. Hilary Jones was there as chaplain to help guide things along. Hilary also presided at the service of Evensong which was held in one of the smaller chapels of the Basel Münster. As a family we were warmly welcomed and expected. We managed to arrive early to church as we were warned about the Basel Marathon that was taking place at the same time as morning worship. One leg of the overall marathon route was only a stone s throw from the church so this was a helpful tip. People had made extraordinary efforts to come to church as many had to navigate around the race route. This effort was compounded by the fact that many were laden with bags of nonperishable food stuffs for a local agency serving people in need. During my day in Basel I hope that I presented the church there with a hopeful and exciting picture of what God is doing in and around Freiburg. Many people rejoiced in just the ability of trading places for a Sunday as a good way to keep in touch. At the Evensong service many people had an intimate knowledge of the Anglican Church presence in Freiburg, and I was presented with a book about the history of the Anglican Church in Basel at the end of Evensong. It was a wonderful time for me and my family as we were invited to the Minister: Rev. Christopher Parsons Address: Lorettostraße Freiburg Church freiburganglican@gmail.com The Anglican Church in Freiburg (ACF) receives no funding from the Diocese of Europe, nor German Kirchensteuer. We rely solely on contributions from members and friends of the ACF. Bank Details: Anglican Church in Freiburg: Sparkasse Freiburg IBAN: DE BIC: FRSPDE66XXX (Konto Nr.: BLZ: )

2 Services in October: 2 Oct 11:30 All Age Worship 19:30 Taize Service with Holy Communion 9 Oct 11:30 Holy Communion 16 Oct 11:30 Morning Worship 23 Oct 11:00 Joint Service with Petrus-Paulus and Royal Family Baptists 30 Oct 11:30 Holy Communion Activities in October: 4 Oct 18:00 Men s Prayer Meeting 6 Oct 19:30 Roots and Shoots followed by Compline 13 Oct 19:30 Women s Prayer Meeting 11 Oct 19:30 H.O.P.E. 18 Oct 18:00 Men s Prayer Meeting 19:30 Council Meeting 20 Oct 19:30 Roots and Shoots followed by Compline 22 Oct Quiet Day 1 Nov 18:00 Men s Prayer Meeting Groups German/English Conversation Group every Thursday at 17:30. Please contact Rafaela Furtado rfurtado_01@yahoo.com Tuesday morning Women s Bible Study Group every Tuesday at 10:00. North Freiburg home group. Please contact Julia or Malcolm for details. ml.maclaren@web.de Young Adult Group. Meets first and third Fridays in the month, at 7:30. Please contact Debbie at debora.niermann@gmail.com. Men s Prayer Group meets every other Tuesday evening. Please contact Josef Brockmeier: fjbrockmeier@googl .com or / 7417 The Wise Ones Group for those no longer working, meets the last Thursday of the month. See Linda Sloanecker@aol.com or Keith campbellk@t-online.de for details. Singing Group In October our singing group practices will be on the 9th and 16th, at 13:15. A Visit (continued) Basel Zoo before continuing in the evening with the second service. It was doubly wonderful as Mathias was able to give me glowing remarks about his welcome in Freiburg and the amazing diversity we share in our church, as well as the many remarks from those of you who found it helpful to reestablish connections with Anne and her ministry. The continued refrain by all whom I met was, when can we do this again?. The visit has shown me how much the folks in Basel love, pray for and support the people in Freiburg. It was a visit that surely deserves to be repeated. Christopher Harvest Festival As a church we will be celebrating our Harvest Festival on 9 October at 11:30. Please bring non-perishable food items on this day that they may be gathered in our time of worship and blessed so that the food may be a sign of God s blessings to those who will later receive it at the Heilsarmee. I am the True Vine: Quiet Day, 22 October 10:00-16:00 About five years ago I invested in a decent pair of earphones that are of the digital noise cancelling variety. I have found that I use them more for the pure silence than for the actual clarity of the music. I only have to wear them and turn them on to realize just how noisy life can be. The hum of electric lights, the neighbour who is cutting his grass, and the sound of traffic outside the window; either vanish, or become much less intrusive. The same is true about a Quiet Day. One seems to only really come to terms with how busy and how noisy life can be when one intentionally spends time in quiet contemplation and prayer. As a church we are busy with activities and events (which all have their place), but in the rush of plans and preparations it is good to find our quiet centre in God again and again. This year we have a small room in the Maria Lindenberg covenant for a guided quiet day. There is currently room for 15 people, but if the demand is larger, then we can arrange for another opportunity for others to participate in a second quiet day. The theme will be based on John 15:1-17 I am the True Vine, and will cover a Lectio Divina, or Holy Reading style of mediation and prayer. Please contact Christopher if you would like to participate.

3 JOINT SERVICE of the Churches in the Intercultural Church Centre October 23rd with celebrations afterwards: Dear ACF, Thank you so much for choosing to support me on my journey with Youth With A Mission! Your support over the past year and a half has been such a blessing and an encouragement to me. This journey would not have been possible without you all. I have now completed 2 schools with Youth With A Mission, and I feel led to join the organization as a full time staff member. My staff-application has been accepted, and I am so excited to be joining the organization in Orlando this September! I am very honored to have been asked by Youth With A Mission Orlando to work with the students of the Fall Discipleship Training School that begins this September. As part of this role, I will be a big brother to the students who will be completing the same school I completed in Spring I will lead small groups, Bible studies, one-on-one meetings with students, as well as being always available to them to answer questions and to minister to them. I have also been asked to co-lead a mission trip with the same students, which will leave early I initially believed this trip was to be to South Africa, however, I have now been informed that this trip will be to Europe to work with refugees. We are still praying about the exact locations, but Germany and Italy seem to have been highlighted to us so far. I have also been asked by Youth With A Mission Orlando to serve in the Sports and Fitness department. This department helps to widen the audience of the organization, by appealing to people who may not be otherwise drawn to complete a missionary training school. It also seeks to use sports and fitness as a ministry tool to communicate the Gospel across language barriers. I am also hoping to be involved in the justice department in Orlando. The justice department seeks to bring justice into global issues including human trafficking, poverty and children at risk. I am particularly looking forward to getting involved in the efforts to help provide clean water to areas in need. I am so excited to step into a role of full-time ministry. God has healed and restored my heart, and I cannot wait to be a part of His work in redeeming our world! Youth With A Mission is a non-profit organization, which operates only from donations and gifts. Staff members are not paid, but instead are required to have a team of supporters, who support them both financially and in prayer. I am so thankful for the individuals who have pledged to support me monthly on my journey with YWAM. Without the support of the Body of Christ, I would simply not be able to step into this exciting new season. I am currently still in need of monthly supporters to reach my budgeted need for serving in Orlando, so I would like to ask you to please prayerfully consider supporting me on a monthly basis. If you would like to partner with me, please send me an on cuthbea327@gmail.com and I will send you the relevant information that you will need to support me. I would also very much like to build a relationship with you, as together we sow into God s Kingdom. Thank you so much ACF for your support, I am so thankful for your many kindnesses to me! I look forward to sharing with you all testimonies of God s love being shared with the world! You are just as much a part of this adventure as I am! Alistair The day will begin with a Service held by Christopher, Markus Franke, Sylvester PeprahKwakye and Tim van den Griend at 11:00. A shared lunch with finger food will follow. In the afternoon a children s program and a Joint Singing are planned. Please support us with food (savoury or sweet) and participating. It will be a good occasion to meet our fellow Christians and to worship together and not only share a building. If you have any questions please contact Almut, Christopher or Margaret. H.O.P.E. Tip Turn off your electronics when not in use. A computer left on for 24 hours can use a lot of electricity up to 1000 kilowatts. And even when your TV or computer is off, it is still using power. Either unplug all your electronic devices or use a power strip and flip the switch when you're done.

4 Kid s Church news: The Kid s church team has exciting news. We are trying out a new curriculum this fall called Godly Play. Godly Play is one of several variations of the Montessori tradition of religious education and has been developed in the United States by Dr Jerome Berryman. Godly Play is a method of Christian education and spiritual direction for children. The goal of Godly Play is to teach children the art of using religious language parables, sacred stories and liturgical action to help them become more fully aware of the mystery of God s presence in their lives. Godly Play is an effort to focus clearly and deeply on the child s spirituality. With Godly Play, we tell Bible stories to children to encourage them to enter into the stories and relate them to their personal experience and to wonder about their meaning. One of the goals of Godly Play is to create a safe space for children, a place where their ideas, opinions and gifts are deeply respected. In Godly Play, we focus on our relationships with God and the depths of relationships in the community of children. The Godly Play circle is built by welcoming each child, one at a time. They wait outside and the doorkeeper welcomes them into the room. All children are welcome to join we just ask that under 3 year olds are accompanied by a caregiver. When you see the Kid s Church doors already closed at arrival on a Sunday please take your children into the service with you. We ask that others not come into the room during the class because we want the Godly Play room to be a special place for the community of children. Even teachers keep their profile low during a Godly Play session! Thank you. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the program or like to help out at kid s church please feel free to contact anke.rohleder@gmail.com The Pilgrimage is finished, but the pilgrimage continues. The Pilgrimage is finished, but the pilgrimage continues. Sabine and I had a fabulous Pilgrimage to Devon and Somerset, following in the footsteps of St. Boniface. He was a missionary, in the 8th century, who brought Christianity to the peoples of this part of Europe, now known as Germany. He is sometimes called the Apostle to the Germans because of his long and dedicated service to the peoples of this area, who had not yet heard the Good News of Jesus Christ. He founded several monasteries and was Bishop in Mainz and Utrecht. Boniface came from a small town near Exeter, Crediton. The founders of our Church in Freiburg dedicated the Church to St. Boniface (even though St. Michael is the Patron Saint of Germany) and St. George as you can see in our altar bible. He ran a good race and finished well, as a martyr, murdered by some nasty Frisians who didn t want Good News he brought to them. His body was carried back to Fulda by his fellow monks, where he is buried in a great shrine church well worth visiting. The Pilgrimage was a great success, a spiritual time of learning, prayer and experience. This year we were just 7 pilgrims on our journey but, as we all know well, success is not based on numbers. It was just the right sized group for our purposes. We visited a number of important and often holy sites: Exeter Cathedral and town churches: St. Pancras, St. Martin, St. Stephen and St. Petrock; Buckfast Benedictine Abbey; St. Winifred s Church in Branscombe; the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, Wells Abbey and Bath Abbey, along with the Bath Roman Museum. Each place seemed beautiful and special in its own way. some with beautiful simplicity and others dripping with ornament from a 1000 years of devoted donors. We prayed daily in wonderful places, with brothers and sisters we never knew we had, blessing each place we visited. The next pilgrimage lies before us. This time to the North with its holy places. Why not join us? (A great thank you to our Area Dean Ken, who organized the pilgrimage, and wrote part of this article.)

5 African Day! For the first time the A.C.F celebrated African Day and it was indeed a Celebration! The idea came from Samuel - he had been attending a course on FundRaising in Stuttgart and put forward the idea to the Church Council, it was spontaneously accepted and the date set. Solace joined Samuel and together they put in an incredible amount of work into an event that had never before taken place in ACF, a Community with so much diversity. A platform was set up for ideas, and teams formed to help with the organization and the day itself. There was a lot of activity on the platform and many problems were solved and jokes shared. and professionally presented! The cakes also (mostly baked by a small cafe in town that I have discovered) also got their share of praise, and were especially enjoyed on Sunday after the Service. Many thanks to those who did the cleaning, and to those who suddenly appeared in the kitchen: a friend of Soso's who helped Ayo get the food warmed up and out onto the tables, and to the young ones who took over when Chris and Keziah left. They seemed to be enjoying themselves, and left the kitchen spotless! Kiraithe, the minister of Finances, said, At the beginning we seemed disorganized and many had doubts, but in the end we had a good time and shared many experiences. Success taught us to trust in God always. It was not the amount of money that came in, but the working together!thank you Michael Westerman, for assisting here. A Thought from Christoph and Keziah: The lessons we learned were Faith, overlooking what we might find bothersome due to our differences, and Patience, Working towards a common goal of serving God, and to Appreciate each other! Busayo, for the publicity team: We had the T-shirts and ribbons as one way of raising funds, and managed to sell most of the shirts. Here we got good support from the church; some didn't want one but paid anyway. We, the Publicity Team say thank you for your support. Together we continue to serve the Lord of all. Solveyg, for the music team: For me, Africa always somehow meant JOY of life in spite of the problems that face so many, expressed in loud and happy music, much of which is rooted in deep faith. In preparing for this event, I saw how right I had been. We came together and learned from each other, singing and dancing, putting ideas together. The result was wonderful! The Community followed our invitation to join in... and when we sang Oh Happy Day I saw the spark igniting. Margaret (Mama Africa), for the culinary team: The ladies of Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya got together and brought along some of their specialities: Egusi Soup, Chicken with Peanut sauce, Blackeyed Beans, Meat pies, rice, and lots of chicken in various forms. I heard from many that they enjoyed the food very much. Christine (wife of our resident cook, who was there but couldn't help in the kitchen for family reasons) said, Food was ever so delicious

6 Samuel s Thank You: It was a turning point in the lives of the Africans in our congregation and for the general public. Those two days were used not only to make funds and create awareness, but were also used to show the cultural diversity abounding in our church. We also used it to contribute our quota to the Integration Project of our Government! But it was our trust and steadfastness in the Lord (which was also tested) which made us successful. We thank the Lord for making it possible, and the members of the ACF, members of the African Group, our Pastor, the Joyful Singers, our Guest Speakers, Representatives from other churches, and those who could not come, but still supported us. We say Thank you, Merci, Danke, Gracias. Conclusion: Yes, we learned a lot about and from each other and took many steps to becoming that Community of Grace which we have as our mission. As Christine said, the African style of worship was such a blessing, the Talks were inspiring, the music went straight to the heart, but most impressive was the great team effort that went into the organizing of it. Well done and we are looking forward to African Day 2017! Contact: Revd. Canon Christopher Parsons freiburganglican.pastor@gmail.com / / His day off is Monday. Please visit our website: October Newsletter If you have any items for the November newsletter, would you please send them to Cindy by October 24th. Thanks. cindywyneken@gmx.de