Friday 5 August 2011

Saturday 23rd July: A Frantic Fortnight


Up at 4.00 am to fly down to Bristol for the closing service at Wesley College. But worth every minute of lost sleep! A deeply moving occasion and the large number of people present was a fitting tribute to all that the college has meant. Thanks be to God.
Wednesday 27th July another early flight, to Accra, Ghana via a meeting with MRDF at Heathrow about my trip to Ethiopia in December! Read papers for the World Methodist Council in South Africa during the flight so when I landed couldn't quite remember where I was!

Methodist Church Ghana is in very good heart and continues to grow. Travelled over 1000 miles in three days mostly to visit Methodist Schools, of which they are justly proud.
I met with the President of Ghana, Deputy Speaker of Parliament and Chief Justice and was on the front page of the national news paper the next day - although they chose to use a picture of one of our group, Rev Jenny Impey (London Chair) instead of me! I wonder why? Clearly the Methodist Church is a big player in the nation's life and this was reflected in Sunday's service at the national football stadium to celebrate 50 years of Methodist autonomy.

This was attended by all of the above plus the leader of the opposition and 15,000 others! The service was relatively short - just less than 4 1/2 hours - and was an interesting mix of Methodist liturgy (MWB and Book of Offices) and modern African worship. Thankfully it was not too hot and it was a great honour to be there. Great thrill to be on the pitch too - the nearest I'll get to scoring a world cup goal!
Visited Cape Coast Castle from which slaves were transported to the West Indies - that is any that survived the brutal treatment whilst waiting to board ship. Hung my head in shame. Who wouldn't?
Overnight flight to Durban where I'm blogging from. I'll report on World Methodist Council next time.
Posted on Behalf of Leo

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