This site aims to keep you up to date with the latest news from within the Cumbria district and from the connexion. If you think that something in your circuit or church might be of general interest, then please let us know. The email addresses of our webmaster and the internal communications officer for Cumbria are given on our “Feedback” page

Live Video and Audio from Methodist Conference

Toby Scott tells us that live video and audio will be available from the Methodist Conference in Scarborough. Live broadcasts will start with the official opening of Conference at 2:30 on Saturday 5 July and run until Conference adjourns at 1pm on Thursday 10 July.

The audio is being offered in partnership with Premier Christian Radio, and can be heard at:

www.premier.org.uk/streaming/methodistconference08.asx.

The video and audio can be found at the Conference website at:

www.methodistconference.org.uk/listenlive.htm.

An alternative site for the video, which also has an archive of video sessions, is at:

www.selfcast.com/methodistchurch.

The Conference timetable, along with reports and other information, is at:

www.methodistconference.org.uk/.

Please note that:

• The video is an experiment for us, so please bear with us through any teething troubles. The image is slightly cropped due to technical issues that we are trying to solve.
  
  
• You will need a computer with a broadband connection and the latest version of Flash for the video. You will need Windows Media Player for the audio. Some employers may not allow this sort of Internet traffic.
  
  
• Both audio and video will fade out whenever Conference goes into closed session (currently timetabled for 17:00-17:15 on Wednesday 9 July, but potentially at other times) or when copyrighted material is being shown – we have a license for the hall, but not the whole world! Broadcasts will stop during tea breaks and for lunch.

Changing Church for a Changing World
Church Course Gains Academic Recognition

Fresh Expressions’ one year part-time course, which aims to equip people to start new forms of church, has received academic recognition from the nation’s newest university, the University of Cumbria.

mission shaped ministry was launched nationally last year and will be running in 20 centres with a total of 1000 students by the end of 2008.

The University of Cumbria was so impressed with the method of teaching and the programme that it validated the course currently running in Cumbria and North Lancashire. Students who successfully complete a series of assignments will be awarded credits which they can use when they do further courses in higher education.

The President of the Methodist Conference, Dr Martyn Atkins, said that “more and more Christian people are learning to plant, sustain and lead fresh expressions of church. The mission shaped ministry course is a crucial means by which the Holy Spirit is preparing them for this calling.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, added that when it comes to starting fresh expressions of church, “the mission shaped ministry course looks set to make a major contribution and I’m delighted to commend it.”

The Bishop of Lancaster, Geoffrey Pearson, who is part of the team working on the Cumbria and North Lancashire course, also claimed that “the mission shaped ministry course is set up to invest in new mission leaders. It is a positive pathway for any who desire to be better equipped for sharing Jesus Christ in today's culture.”

According to Fresh Expressions’ Director of Training, Norman Ivison, the aim is to make the course available within an hour of everyone in England and also available in Wales, Scotland and on both sides of the Irish border.

He said, “The University’s recognition of the course also shows that fresh expressions of church and the establishment of new congregations are not an optional extra but at are at the heart of what the church in the UK is about. Already the course has encouraged Christians to form churches on new housing estates, on a double decker bus in Lincolnshire and amongst students and young people.”

Further information about available courses can be found at: www.freshexpressions.org.uk/missionshapedministry .

“A Difficult Birth” – The Struggle for Democracy in Zimbabwe
A Reflection on Zimbabwe in the perilous aftermath of the Elections

Having recently returned from Zimbabwe, the Rev Graham Shaw presents these personal reflections on the plight of its unfortunate inhabitants:

Add the name of Zimbabwe to the list of beleagured countries that have suffered a military coup and are now under the yoke of a military cabal. The coup may have been staged without much fanfare and the necessary violence to effect it may not yet have reached the city streets, but a coup it is nonetheless. Robert Mugabe who was voted out of power in the elections of 29th March and the ZANU PF hawks to whose foolish counsel he has again listened (or is it submitted ?) are putting a different gloss on it of course but this is the reality. They have driven a horse and cart through the constitution, to the point at which not even their most willing accomplices in the art of disinformation can any longer claim they are acting within the law. The brute force on which this regime has relied for so long now stands revealed in all its ugliness, for all the world to see.

As I write, the brute forces of coercion are taking up their positions across the country. Mugabe’s military top brass, guilty every one of them of untold crimes against humanity, have set up command centres under the control of so-called war veterans – code for Mugabe’s uniformed thugs. The war vets are his storm troops. They have been schooled in brutality and de-humanized by vile, fascist propaganda. They recognise no law apart from the word of their commander and are not answerable to any other for the heinous acts they perform in the name of ZANU PF. For their most vile acts of brutality they often psche themselves up on drugs. And these are the cadres who have been set in authority over the once-disciplined and professional police force. It is reported that some army units whose allegiance to ZANU PF is not as rock solid as it once was have been confined to barracks.

First on the hit list of these political thugs are the wards which switched allegiance from ZANU PF to the opposition in the recent elections. From Mugabe’s point of view the evidence against them is damning, for the same results posted outside the polling stations after the vote which enabled independent observers to calculate a greater number of votes for the MDC’s presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, than for Robert Mugabe, have proved their “guilt” in his eyes. And now it is retribution time. Thousands have been beaten, tortured and chased from their homes – which is exactly as the repressive forces would have it for any further election in which voters can only register to vote in their own wards. Torture centres have been reinstated for use as in the violent elections of 2000 and 2002 and at least ten people have already been murdered in the gathering mayhem.

I arrived in Zimbabwe a few days after the watershed elections and found there was great hope in the air – almost as tangible as the sweet smell of rain just before the first storm of the season mercifully breaks the African drought. The people had spoken. They had taken their courage in both hands. Defying every attempt by the ruling – better called, the ruining – clique to rig the elections, they had voted for change, and in such numbers as virtually to overwhelm the carefully-constucted rigging mechanisms of the Mugabe regime. So even the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), staffed by hand-picked ZANU-PF supporters, was forced to concede a greater number of seats in the House of Assembly to Tsvangirai’s MDC than to their own party, with the Mutambara faction of the MDC securing another 10 seats, to give the combined opposition control of Parliament. For the first time in the 28 year history of Zimbabwe ZANU PF had been defeated on the official count. Moreover it was confidently predicted that Tsvangirai had won the presidential contest, though not perhaps with the 50 per cent plus one required to avoid a run-off election. In any event he could count on a combined anti-Mugabe vote to sweep the latter away if he were foolish enough not to concede before a second ballot.

The excitement was like electricity in the air. Freedom, democracy and a return to the rule of law now seemed just days away.

But the delay in the official announcement of the presidential vote was ominous, and when ZEC officials moved (with the ballot boxes) to a new command centre from which opposition and independent observers were excluded, the alarm bells really began to ring. The mood in the country swiftly changed from stunned amazement to dismay. As one activist to whom I spoke put it, the old was refusing to die even though the new was already being born. The advent of freedom and democracy in Zimbabwe was to be a difficult birth indeed. Once again it was put on hold.

And I looked again at the tired people, worn down by years of long-suffering under a fascist regime that is not only brutal to its own people but entirely unconcerned at the economic melt-down for which it is responsible. The ruining elite have long cacooned themselves in a “bubble” of prosperity so they do not feel the pain which their reckless, doctrinaire policies inflict on other Zimbabweans.

I looked at the empty shelves of the supermarkets, the endless queues waiting in desperate hope for some essential item, and the gaunt-faced pensioners calculating if it was to be one egg today at 15 million dollars or perhaps a tomato at only 10 million.

I looked at the helpless hundreds waiting for the weekly hand-out of a tiny portion of maize meal at a church feeding scheme. And then watched the desperate mother waiting patiently for the drugs needed for the emaciated baby on her back. Without the nursing care and free drugs supplied by the volunteer team at that church clinic she would be without hope indeed. The state clinics and hospitals have long since run out of essential drugs, and most can not even supply a paracetamol to their patients.

Then I looked at the potholes in the roads, the dangerously-tilted telephone poles and the traffic lights working intermittently. The generally run-down and shabby state of the infrastructure are further testimony to the cost of putting democracy on hold indefinitely.

I looked into the eyes that registered dull resignation to such a fate, and I felt a huge sense of outrage; such totally unnecessary suffering – caused by the unquenchable lust for power and the deep fear of justice on the part of the tiny clique now holding the nation to ransom. They have just decreed, unilaterally, that the suffering is to continue – indefinitely.

This voracious, corrupt and violent clique is in a state of undeclared war against its own people. They are defying the clearly expressed will of the people. They are certainly defying God.

“How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself for ever?”

Of course the fundamental issues in Zimbabwe go far deeper than one delinquent ruler refusing to relinquish the absolute power to which he has become accustomed. There are real historical grievances that have not been addressed. There are issues of governance and legitimacy involved, and behind them all the reality of a regime that has failed to transform itself from a liberation movement into a political organisation that is willing to operate within democratic structures and institutions. In Zimbabwe we are dealing with a ruling elite that will not tolerate alternative views. They have privatised the whole country. They have also militarised Zimbabwe in order to secure their own perpetual rule.

One serious danger that emerges out of the military take-over in Zimbabwe is that the ruling cabal will seek to fix the Mugabe succession in their own way, installing, at a time convenient to themselves, their own man in State House. That the man could well be Emmerson Mnangagwa is a terrifying prospect for the country for he it was who supervised the Gukurahundi massacre. He remains unrepentant to this day for such a monstrous crime. He has as many degrees in violence as Mugabe and is an utterly ruthless politician. Moreover he may well be the man whom Mugabe feels he has least to fear in ever permitting justice to take its course.

Meanwhile with one in three of the population now dependent on food aid provided by the international community (4.1 million according to United Nation’s estimates) and with the regime continuing to hinder rather than to help relief efforts, the humanitarian crisis is intensifying with every day that passes.

In a country noted for its religious observance the role of the Church is crucial. Realising this Mugabe moved early to either coerce church leaders into silence through fear or co-opt them to his cause, using the vast array of powers of patronage at his disposal for the purpose. Many in the main-line churches were thereby “neutralised” though it was pleasing on this visit to see how powerfully engaged in the quest for social and political transformation are some of the new ecumenical alliances of church leaders. Most significant of these in my judgment is the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance which arose out of the informal association, Churches in Bulawayo. In recent times it has so often been the Church in Bulawayo which has shown the way. The iconic Archbishop Pius Ncube (of Bulawayo) was one of those who blazed a trail which others are now following.

For many in the Church the infamous “Operation Murambatsvina” of 2005 was the wake-up call. When Mugabe sent his uniformed thugs on a blitzkrieg against those living on the margins of society and making their living in the informal sector, thereby depriving 700,000 of their homes and livelihoods and impacting on the lives of two million others, the whole country felt the shock waves. In a way Murambatsvina was for the nation what the Gukurahundi massacre of the 1980s was to Matabelealand. Though the latter was a more bloody episode (costing at least 20,000 lives) its impact was scarcely felt in the north and east of the country. Now after Murambatsvina the whole nation reacted with outrage – and from this point onwards many in the Church consciously sought to identify more closely with the poorest and with the victims of Mugabe’s mis-rule.

So today the Christian Alliance is actively involved, along with the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, in monitoring human rights abuses and empowering the victims to assert their human dignity and to claim their God-given rights. The Christian Alliance was also closely involved in monitoring the elections of 29th March, and is committed to seeking a way out of the present dangerous political impasse.

While in Zimbabwe I took the opportunity to listen to a number of church leaders as well as politicians and human rights activists. Time and again I would ask them what non-violent options remain to the opposition which has achieved a dramatic break through at the polls but has yet to unseat a wily dictator who is as much feared as he is hated. Time and again I received broadly the same reply – we need the help of the international community.

Zimbabwe’s non-violent freedom fighters insist that Robert Mugabe and the military junta through whom he now rules by decree must be ostracised and isolated from the community of nations. The ultimate objective must be that SADC and the African Union will cease to legitimize the theft of the elections and rape of the country, but as a step in that direction the Commonwealth, UN, EU and other democracies should increase the pressure on Zimbabwe’s neighbours to recognise the fact that an unelected military junta is not a good neighbour for the region. And Thabo Mbeki in particular who has shamelessly protected Mugabe from international criticism, thereby prolonging the suffering, must be made to realize that the days for his so-called “quiet diplomacy” are over. As Ban Ki Moon the UN Secretary-General has observed, nothing less than “the credibility of the democratic process in Africa could be at stake here”.

The UN must also be brought in to assist the process. The world body has already accepted the broad principle that where a national government cannot or will not act to protect its own citizens the normal doctrine of national sovereignty gives way to the duty to intervene. The principle certainly fits the facts on the ground in Zimbabwe today. It is pleasing to note that the Secretary-General himself has already proposed sending international observers to monitor any run-off election, but more needs to be done, and urgently, towards stabilizing the situation and protecting those already under attack from a murderous regime.

China’s mischievous policy on Zimbabwe also needs to be addressed. For too long the international community has accepted as an unchangeable fact of life that China will continue to provide succour and sustenance to Mugage’s vile rule. The despicable attempt by the Chinese to ship to Zimbabwe post haste at the request of Mugabe’s generals and in the tense aftermath of the elections, no fewer than three million rounds of AK-47 ammunition, 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades and more than 3,000 mortar rounds together with mortar tubes, is surely a step too far. Thank God for the alert trade unions and civic groups in South Africa that alerted the world to the danger – and to the complicity of their own government – but the danger is not yet over. At the very least China should know that if it persists in its support of a dangerous, destabilizing and anti-democratic regime in Africa there will be a heavy cost to pay at the Olympics.

Finally there is an important role for the world Church to play, both in pressing for the serious engagement of the international community in confronting the Zimbabwean tyranny and standing in solidarity with those brave Christians in Zimbabwe who are already risking so much in the struggle for freedom. On my short visit I saw for myself something of the cost of their discipleship. They live within a lawless state and are extremely vulnerable to the murderous regime. Many are without the resources they need or any effective support networks. They do not complain but surely it is the very least we can do to show our solidarity, both with the victims of mis-rule and those who are so bravely standing with them. They are after all the front-line workers of the kingdom.

And we must certainly continue to pray, that the nation will be delivered from the dread virus of sin that has already destroyed so many and so much in the beloved country. The words of Karl Barth come to mind: “to clasp hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.”

Being a Christian – Having a Vocation?

In October, The Methodist Training Forum of the North West is planning to hold in the second of two meetings about “Being a Christian – Having a Vocation?”

The first meeting, held at Leyland Methodist Church on April 12th, was intended primarily for those offering for ordained ministry, or seriously thinking about offering. The second is at Luther King House Manchester, a residential conference, commencing mid-morning on Saturday October 4th. and ending with lunch on Sunday October 5th. This will have a wider focus than the first and is for anyone in the church interested in thinking further about discipleship and vocation. More details later but book the date!

Opportunities for Learning in the Cumbria District

This is just a reminder that a number of courses, including the major ecumenical course “Called to Serve”, are available in the Cumbria district. These are delivered by a team of people, mainly from within the district. You can find full details here. Our programme is co-ordinated by David Edmondson, our training and development officer. Please contact him with any enquiries or requests.

“Walking in the Wesleys’ Footsteps”
An essay by the Rev Michael Holland

At a ministerial synod some time ago, it was suggested that the probationary study “Walking in the Wesleys’ Footsteps” by the Rev Michael Holland should be made available to the district via this website. The essay is an exploration of the passionate spirituality that drove the work of John and Charles Wesley and underpinned Methodism, its faith, discipleship and mission. You can read it by clicking here.

OPEN PASTORAL LETTER TO THE ZIMBABWEAN CHURCHES  

ECO AWARD PRESENTATION TO SEASCALE METHODIST CHURCH

METHODIST CHURCH COUNCIL, 15-16 APRIL, 2008 – a report by David Andrews

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BURMA CRISIS APPEAL

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