Items filtered by date: December 2015

Canon Carolyn Lewis, Diocesan Director of Education, writes:

It was a great joy to be able to welcome new headteachers from across the Diocese of Derby and to be hosted by the Rt Revd Libby Lane, Bishop of Derby.

We shared together in a commissioning service where Bishop Libby shared words of encouragement and affirmation to the new school leaders and they were each given a holding cross as a small gift to remind them of their belonging to the diocesan family.

The Rt Revd Malcolm Macnaughton, Bishop of Repton and Chair of the Diocesan Board of Education (DBE), prayed for the new headteachers and also encouraged them with words from the DBE’s vision:

"In the Diocese of Derby, we are committed to support our schools to be places of transformation, growth and where community is built, as we live out the values of generous faith, courageous hope and life-giving love.

"We do this through offering:

• life-giving, life-changing learning through excellent education, shaped by a distinctively Christ-like vision and ethos 
• inclusive and inspirational collective worship, inviting all to grow in faith 
• excellent religious education, enabling children and young people to reflect critically and explore faith, belief, and Christian responses to life’s big questions 
• hospitality, hope and love to children, young people and households  
• a sense of belonging to those of all faiths and none, building community near and far, local and global.

"As the headteacher of one of our church schools, you have a special responsibility to ensure everyone in your school is valued and recognised as a child of God, uniquely gifted by God.

"You are also responsible for ensuring the school is rooted in Christian values, principles and beliefs, and that worship and religious education are at the centre of the life and work of the school."

Finishing the afternoon with ‘afternoon tea’ new headteachers, the bishops and the DBE staff team were able to make connections and share a little of the joys and challenges of life in school.

>> Visit the Derby Diocesan Board of Education website

Pictured with Bishops Libby and Malcolm are (l-r): Helen Britten, Duffield, William Gilbert Endowed CE Primary; Louise Nicholson, Stretton Handley CE Primary; Katie Forster, Breadsall CE Primary; Emma-Jane Harry, Bakewell CE Infant; Mark Hibbert, Weston-on-Trent CE Primary;  Francesca Mellor, co-head, Hartshorne CE Primary.

The DBE also welcomes: Liz Wooliscroft, Carsington & Hopton; Jayne Jackson, Castleton; Sarah Bellicoso, Dove Holes CE Primary; Suzanne Gardner, Langley Mill CofE (VC) Infant & Nursery; Jodie Daniels, Rosliston; Jakki Rogers, Whitfield, St Luke's.

‘And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations’ - Revelation 22.2

The Bishop of Derby's Harvest Appeal 2023 will help the people in the Diocese of Bujumbra, Burundi, fight the catastrophic effects of seasonal rains that wash away their farms, homes, land and livelihoods.

Trees for Life Burundi will assist communities there plant thousands of saplings to help stabilise and strengthen the land, whilst at the same time helping wildlife and the environment in the area and beyond.

On launching the appeal, Bishop Libby said: "Burundi is ranked as the world's poorest nation and people there desperately need help to stop their crops, livestock and buildings disappearing down a hillside as the land gets eroded by the rains.

"It is a complex situation but, fortunately, the remedy is relatively straightforward, and I am delighted that this year's appeal will offer hope to those people and communities in danger of losing everything they have."

The Bishop of Repton has recently visited Bujumbura and seen for himself the need to help the people of the East African state.

Bishop Malcolm said: "On the edge of Bujumbura in the Commune de Kanyosha there are two ‘Collines’ greatly at risk, Colline Gisovu and Colline Nyamaboko. There is currently no agro-forestry there.

According to the administrator of this commune, Kanyosha, following torrential rain and strong winds, recently more than ten dwellings, a church and a school were destroyed, and many fields were damaged; domestic animals were swept away by lightning and others by landslides.

"These hills’ inhabitants have not yet been able to take action to  secure resilience to the effects of climate change."

The Diocese of Bujumbura, based in and around Burundi’s largest city, is marked by rolling hills and valleys and in that respect alone, not unlike Derbyshire.

The impact of climate change is felt by those who try to make a living by cultivating the hillsides.

Recent years have seen particularly dry dry seasons and torrential rains in the wet season, often causing flooding and devastating mudslides.

Bujumbura is working in various areas to mitigate the effects of climate change by helping local residents plant trees.

Trees hold hillsides in place, prevent erosion, and protect lives and livelihoods.

They make all the difference locally,  and contribute globally to carbon capture.

Saplings ready to be planted in Burundi to help stabilise the soil

Landslides can have a far-reaching impact on communities, not only through the loss of houses and fields, but also through the destruction of critical facilities.

The loss of a school means that opportunities for education and qualifications in that community can be lost. In turn that greatly reduces the chances of getting a job, and that reduces the chances of being able to support yourself and a family adequately.

And that can lead to a loss of hope.

But the people of Bujumbura have a lot of determination and know that by planting trees - thousands of trees - the roots will grow and help stabilise the land.

They turn out in numbers to dig trenches and get planting - but they can only do that when viable saplings are available.

►Donate now◄

Locals dig trenches to start the tree-planting process

How will the Bishop of Derby's Harvest Appeal help?

The focus of the Diocese of Bujumbura’s work, with our support, will be:

1. to reduce soil erosion by 20% on Gisovu and Nyamaboko hills by marking out the contours of the hillsides and planting trees strategically to offer the best protection to the land, and
2. to initiate 20 climate resilience local economic groupings amongst women and young people, with a savings and credit approach to enable beneficiaries to set up a fund to help them purchase tree nursery equipment to sustain a tree planting project for the long term.

£5,000 will make possible all this possible.

If any more is raised, it will enable this immensely valuable work to be expanded to benefit residents of other collines in the neighbourhood.

Bishop Libbs said: "It is a privilege to work together with the Diocese of Bujumbura in this way. Climate change is, of course, a global phenomenon and trees planted in Bujumbura also address, to some degree, climate change in Derbyshire!

"We are one world, and one human family.

"The people of Bujumbura need our help, so let us gift them generous faith, corageous hope and life-giving love."

 ►Donate now◄

Land is washed away by seasonal rains, leaving a large chasm where crops used to be

How to donate

Maybe you and your church or community could work together to organise an event for the appeal.

Or you can make a personal donation using your debit or credit card at our JustGiving page.

Thank you for your support!

We love all the creative and different ways churches are engaging with their parishes and beyond.

Our vision is The Kingdom of God, Good News for All and it's great to see how so many churches in the Diocese of Derby are sharing stories of their success in achieving transformed lives through growing church and building community.

Here are a few that have caught our eye recently:

This is a 3 year fixed term, part-time (3 days plus Sunday), stipendiary (0.5) role

We are looking for an experienced and imaginative pastor and teacher who will come alongside our existing congregations offering additional capacity, expertise, inspiration, leadership, and guidance to build our confidence and further the mission and pastoral presence within our villages. Over the coming three years we hope to strengthen our lay ministry teams and reach out to our communities thereby growing in number. Alongside this we will be exploring together sustainable models and shapes of ministry for the parishes and in the surrounding area of Belper as questions of pastoral reorganisation are considered and decided.

You will find an eclectic and friendly mix of people and supportive PCCs who are looking for someone to nurture and encourage us and build on the work that is already happening.

You will need to be pastorally gifted, a confident teacher and nurturer and a skilled co-ordinator and be excited by the opportunity to think across boundaries and imagine new potential, possibilities and partnerships.

We offer you a desirable home within the welcoming and growing community of Belper.

Enquiries and expressions of interest to: The Archdeacon of Derbyshire Peak and Dales, the Venerable Nicky Fenton: nicky.fenton@derby.anglican.org

For further information, please use the links below:

Bishop of Derby's Letter

Parish Profile

Role Description

Application Form

***

Bishop Malcolm and his wife, Pam, visited Burundi in East Africa during July and spent time with the Diocese of Bujumbura, learning about ministry and mission in a very different context to the Diocese of Derby.

Bishop Malcolm writes:

Burundi is the poorest country in the world – the one thing it has in common with Derbyshire is a beautiful landscape of hills and valleys.

Life is very hard indeed for those who live in rural areas – the city is seen as a place of opportunity, which works for some, but even there the need for investment is always apparent.

The shadow of violent episodes in recent history remains, but people are hopeful about the future, and determined to work for peace and greater prosperity.

We found folks extremely hospitable, and rightly proud of their heritage and of their culture.

Travelling around the diocese you see just how precarious peoples’ livelihoods are.

This is especially so where steep slopes are vulnerable to flash floods in the rainy season, often causing devastating mudslides which destroying fields, homes, livelihoods, and endangering lives also.

One of the inspiring programmes the diocese is engaged with is helping local people get together in cooperatives to grow seedlings and plant trees, so that their roots will protect their fields and gardens from soil erosion.

>> The Bishop of Derby's Harvest Appeal - Trees for life Burundi

Eroded land is washed away by heavy rains

Empowering women and young people

As well as attending a glorious ordination service in the cathedral, and a wedding blessing in a village church, we had the opportunity to visit a range of innovative community projects.

The diocese is very involved in community development, the church working locally on initiatives that empower people living in poverty, especially women and young people.

Churches are full of young people – tiny, inquisitive, eager children everywhere, and older youths enjoying church as a forum for securing friendships and building community.

Whilst music and singing are lively and active, there is real depth and quality to the worship, and a sense that being Christian there is about the whole of life – home, family, livelihood – and the liturgy reflected this.

We just did two tourist things. We visited Lake Tanganyika one afternoon with Bishop Eraste - and given the immense size of the lake, it was like being at the seaside!

And we met the Royal Drummers of Burundi – which you can check out on YouTube – they were fantastic.

I look forward to opportunities to share more about the work of the Diocese of Bujumbura in the autumn, when this year’s harvest appeal will support tree planting projects there.

 +Malcolm

Bishop Eraste Bigirimana at a Bujumbura tree planting event

24 August

17 August

The clergy and laity of the Archdeaconry of Derbyshire Peak and Dales, and all those wanting to support from elsewhere in the diocese, are warmly invited to join the Bishop of Derby in the Cathedral church as Nicky begins her new ministry.

Nicky will be collated by the Bishop to her new role and the Dean of Derby will place her in her stall within the Cathedral. We hope you will be able to attend this service. Please hold Nicky and the Archdeaconry in your prayers.

4 August

3 August

Carpenter Steve, who lives in the parish of Boulton St Mary and regularly attends St Philip's Chaddesden, recently revived his carpentry skills and says Jesus guided him in making a cross for the church.

He joined a “men in sheds” group in Allenton and decided to use some of the wood meant for landfill to make a cross as a surprise for Philip's.

Whilst making the cross, Steve believes he had an encounter with Jesus.

He shared the encounter with the congregation in July and received an enthusiastic response.

He said: “I decided to make a cross as a surprise for the church.

"My background was in carpentry, but I haven’t used my skills for a while.

"When I started my arm got heavy and I couldn’t understand why.

"A short time later, I got the hammer and chisel and my hands felt hard and heavy. I thought this was unusual as I never normally feel like this when doing carpentry work!

"A voice came in my head and said 'we’ll make this together'.

"I was a taken aback as the voice was clear, and I found myself asking out aloud 'who are you?'."

Steve said: "The next thing I heard was 'I am Jesus, and we will make this together. It will be a special cross for your church'.” 

Steve proudly presented the cross to Revd Sarah Watson, Enabling Minister at St Philip’s.

“Steve joined us with an interest in faith," said Revd Sarah. "He is a dearly loved member of our congregation and was recently confirmed.

"The recalling of his personal encounter with Jesus was emotional to hear and the cross will be seen and appreciated by all as Canon Julian Hollywell, Priest-in-charge of St Philip’s, has given his blessing for the cross to be placed permanently on our high altar.”

On a gloriously sunny day in May, our diocesan churchwardens and church officers met in Chapel en le Frith for our latest network event.

Officers came from across the whole diocese with one person making a round trip of over one hundred miles to attend!

Bishop Malcolm opened the day on Churchyards and Wildlife, and Revd Dr David Mundy helped us to reflect on the importance of Caring for God’s World.

We finished the morning with a Fun Faculty Quiz (and yes, faculties done this way are fun!) and a presentation on how churchyards can be great places for all sorts of fun learning activities for people of all ages.

The afternoon was a choice of discussion groups covering ‘Wildflowers, wellbeing and working together’, two churches sharing their experiences of the journey to Ecochurch, a DAC surgery and a workshop on how to publicise your parish events – ‘Communicating Well’.

We are always grateful for your feedback from these days. We read every comment and use them to help us plan future events, wherever we can.

In response to the person who put as their answer to the question ‘What could we have done better?’, “pick a rainy day”, all I can say is that we’ll try! 

By Reggie D. Edmonds

Tideswell parishioner Sonia Rigg has been raising money for her local church through hang gliding.

And the feat is even more impressive given that Sonia is in her 85th year!

Sonia decided to support her local church, which is in dire need of re-wiring at a cost of around £200,000.

With the issues of ancient wiring and lighting, Sonia is hoping her church will really benefit from her endeavours.

She had been hoping to do the flight since April, but the weather wasn’t favourable. Now she is delighted to finally have had a huge success with this event.

Why hang gliding? Well, besides this just being an incredible idea, the inspiration came from her son, who has been hang gliding for 40 years.

Sonia said: “It was a really lovely experience. I could see all around and the views were super.

“Lying prone, you’re looking down and I had plenty of time to look.

“I wasn’t at all frightened.”

>> See the video of Sonia's hang gliding session [YouTube]

She achieved her goal with huge help from former world champion Judy Leden MBE and Ashbourne Hang Gliding Club.

Sonia is known for being active, and used to cycle and sail with her late husband.

She has no plans to stop taking part in charity events like this, hopefully having inspired many others to follow in her footsteps in doing awesome things to help out.

So far, Sonia has raised nearly £3,000 and donations are still coming in.

PCC Secretary Barbara Richell writes:

West Hallam's annual Well Dressing takes place every July.

This year at St Wilfrid’s we decided that our well would celebrate the 75th anniversary of the NHS.

This year, 22 of us were involved in producing our well and bringing our image of Jesus healing the paralysed man to life. 

The Revd Jan Hutchinson blessed all the wells at the start of the celebrations and was the star of the show on Facebook. 

The church was busy with entertainment provided by ‘Sing West Hallam’, The Imari Chorus and The Recorder Orchestra.

The bell ringers gave opportunities for visitors to ‘have a go’ and have some possible new recruits.

In spite of the heavy showers it was a very busy, successful day!