As Bishop Mike prepares for his next trip to Uganda to attend the enthronement of Bishop Stanley Ntagali as Archbishop of the Province on 16 December 2012, parishes back home in the diocese are also establishing new partnerships and building links with Ugandan churches.
Stanley will be enthroned as the 8th Archbishop of Uganda during a service at St Pauls Cathedral, Namirembe, on Sunday 16th December. Bishop Mike will be supporting him at this special occasion along with the Revd Chris Dobson and the Revd Canon Stuart Taylor.
One of the new Archbishops first engagements in January will be to attend part of the second Christ Centred Leadership Conference for Ugandan Bishops and their leadership teams, which is organised by the Diocese of Bristol in partnership with the Church of Uganda.
Building on the work of two conferences held in November 2011, the 2013 event will continue to explore and deepen the theme of Christ centred leadership with participation from Bishop Mike, Bishop Lee, Chris Dobson, Stuart Taylor and the Revd David Hart, Methodist Superintendent for the greater Bristol and Gloucester circuits.
Here in the UK, deaneries and parishes are now working with Tearfund towards establishing links with Ugandan parishes which aim to deliver mutual benefit to both parties. Whilst the UK parishes fundraise to support Tearfunds work in equipping local communities in Uganda to regenerate and lift themselves out of poverty, there is also the opportunity to create direct links whereby the parishes can talk and pray with, and for, one another.
The UK parishes also have the option to take part in the Tearfund Discovery Course which aims to achieve regeneration in deprived areas of this country and to share the learning of communities in Uganda.
In the Diocese of Bristol, parishes in the Bristol South deanery are now in the early stages of developing their partnership whilst Christ Church, Clifton are having advanced discussions about work in Kitgum, northern Uganda. Malmesbury Abbey is also supporting a water project in Kigezi diocese.
Representatives from Bradley Stoke and Downend will be travelling with the diocesan team to Uganda in December to research and prepare for youth trips from their churches next summer.
If your church would be excited by the prospect of this sort of link, please contact Chris Dobson or Andrew Doarks for an initial discussion to find out more.