Global Partnership

At Love's Farm, St. Neot's

It is hard to believe that it is a month ago today that, together with a few others from the Synod, I made my way to Gatwick Airport to meet the delegation coming to visit the Synod from the Presbytery of Zimbabwe.  Old friendships were quickly renewed and new ones established as we engaged in a few days’ of exploring the Synod and sharing something of our lives, ministries and missions.  We visited a range of churches and locations, trying to give a flavour of the Synod without spending all the time in the car.  So, for example, one day we started at the Synod Office in Whittlesford meeting the staff and then went to the churches in St. Ives, St. Neot’s (including stopping off at the Lover’s Farm Estate to hear something of the pioneering work there) and Cambourne.  Another day we went to Ipswich and met a number of people from different churches, and then on to Long Melford to hear about the rural side of Synod life. 

There were trips to Cambridge and London (which I missed as I had to be at a meeting in Windermere) and a lunch at Epping where we joined by a couple of Zimbabwean ministers now working in the United Reformed Church in the UK.  The visit included the Synod meeting at Witham and visits to a number of churches, especially those with twinning links, on the two Sundays. 

It is not always easy to work out the best approach to such partnership, but we were certainly left appreciative of the personal encounter that helps us learn from each other, pray for each other – and just be friends.

By Big Ben

Outside URC Church House, London

At Cambourne Church

Reception and Lunch at Gatwick Airport