Happy New Year!

A very happy New Year to you. Welcome to our second newsletter, and our first of 2022. May this be a year in which you experience more of God’s reconciling love, and are part of sharing that love within the communities and neighbourhoods that you are part of.

New Chair of Trustees: Moira Astin

We are delighted to announce the appointment of our new Chair of Trustees, the Ven. Moira Astin. Moira is the Archdeacon of Reigate, in Southwark Diocese, and a tutor in Church History for St Augustine’s College. Previously she ministered as an Area Dean in Lincoln Diocese, and as a Vicar in Oxford Diocese. She brings extensive experience as a charity trustee and chair; and she looks forward to being part of resourcing Anglican leaders and churches as ministers of reconciliation.

Making the announcement, the Ven. Tricia Hillas, our Acting Chair, said: ‘We are delighted that Moira has accepted our invitation to join us as the new Chair of Trustees. We believe that her gifts, skills and experience will complement well those of the Executive Director, Alastair McKay. She will bring a focused approach to translating vision and plans into concrete action. Her personal emphasis on relational working and building organisation effectiveness are a good fit for Reconciliation Initiatives.’

Reconciling Mission 2022: An Update

Our recruitment for the third cohort of the Reconciling Mission programme is going really well. Just before Christmas we secured our fifth diocesan group. So we now have the Dioceses of Lincoln, Monmouth, Newcastle, Southwark and York on board, with their Bishops each sponsoring a group of four participants.

We are hopeful of securing a sixth diocesan group this month, which will bring us up to a full complement, and the limit of our capacity for this cohort, to begin the programme in July 2022. We welcome your prayers for bringing a final group on board.

Building Bridges across Europe

The consequences of Brexit are kicking in afresh at the start of 2022. This is therefore a good moment to revisit the need for us to work at building bridges across Europe. Do therefore watch our webinar which explores how Christians might contribute to overcoming current tensions by building bridges across some of the boundaries within Europe. Our speakers are:

• Brother Matthew, part of the Taizé Community in France, who helps with the formation of new brothers, and has travelled in Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Sweden.
• Cornelia Kulawik, a pastor in Berlin-Dahlem, who is on the board of the Community of the Cross of Nails, Germany.
• John Witcombe, the Dean of Coventry, who carries responsibility for the overall leadership of the Cathedral’s ministry both locally and internationally.
• Robert Innes, the Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe, with pastoral care of Anglican congregations in 42 countries across Europe, plus Russia, Morocco and Turkey.

Catch up with the webinar recording on our YouTube channel.

Prayer requests

We welcome your prayers for Reconciliation Initiatives, especially for:

• Giving thanks for our new Chair of Trustees, Moira Astin; and praying for the trustees and staff as they begin working with her.
• Identifying a new treasurer to join the board of trustees.
• Recruiting a sixth diocesan group for the Reconciling Mission 2022 programme.
• Discernment about what shape any offering for southern and east Africa might take.

Thank you for remembering us in your prayers.

“As Christ’s body, our common vocation is to have an impact for creative love and reconciliation within our immediate neighbourhood; and personally to be an infectious influence for Christ.” 
Quote from Sharing God’s Blessing: How to renew the local church, by Robin Greenwood (SPCK, 2016), p.14.