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Mission Trips A letter to Christ Church Dear Parishioners Friends, Last year I applied for and was accepted to become part of a mission leadership team to Tanzania, Africa along with a group of Lay and Clergy from the Diocese of Massachusetts. Together our group of nine Missionaries prepared to embark on a journey that would take us to Tanga, Tanzania as a guest of Bishop Baji, and to connect with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in Africa. Our Mission was to take place in August of ’07. A major focus of this mission was to involve and include our local parishes in our journey and to fund gifts of mosquito netting to Africans that we encountered on our mission. I immediately enlisted the help of Rev. Grundy who wholeheartedly supported my journey and helped me spiritually prepare for the upcoming year. I also had the wonderful support of our Church School that helped with the “ Change for Change” canisters to collect for the nettings. The Outreach committee received me with open arms as I told them of my mission and raised over 600.00 dollars as well. We also had a four part Aids series during the Lenten season where we educated ourselves on Aids in AfricaUnfortunately, during this time the relationship between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion in Africa continued to strain with differences of opinion in reference to Homosexuality and Women in particular. These differences eventually became too overwhelming for Bishop Baji to continue to welcome our mission leadership program and our trip has been cancelled for the time being. Reverend Grundy and I have decided to ask the parish to hold any funds collected thus far for the mosquito-netting project. All checks will be returned at this time and we are graciously asking the Outreach committee to oversee the remaining funds, i.e. Change for change canisters and bake sale profits, for mosquito nets until we are certain that the mission to Tanzania will not take place and then to defer the netting funds to Episcopal Relief Development to purchase netting on behalf of Christ Church. It is said that life is a journey and not a destination and this statement cannot be more pertinent than in this circumstance. For in my journey, I have truly encountered the spirit, charity, and love of my fellow parishioners at Christ Church. My mission was warmly and enthusiastically accepted and I was overwhelmed by the support provided by everyone. I cannot say that this mission has failed because my heart has been warmed by your grace. It is because of your actions that I will not forget my brothers and sisters in Africa and know that there is hope for them. Please continue to pray for Africa and for missions throughout the World and pray that our leaders will learn to put aside prejudice in order to better serve their people and their faith. Peace and Love, Chris Munro
Sunday Nursery Christ Church Swansea 57 Main St. Swansea, Massachusetts 02777 (508)678-0923 For questions or problems with this webpage contact webadmin@christchurchswansea.org
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