John and Phyll Chesworth - UK |
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mp news
September 2009
New home address:
34 Hengrove Close
Headington
Oxford OX3 9LN
Phone: 01865 765627
Dear Friends,
With this letter we are delighted to be able to give you our new home address and telephone number. Please amend you records accordingly, although the Post Office will continue to redirect our post from Kidderminster for a while.
House move
We are very thankful for God’s provision of a home, and for his amazing over-ruling in the timing of our move. Generous friends had offered to buy a house in Oxford for us to rent from them at a below-commercial rate. In January they asked us to start looking for a house but thought that the best time to purchase would be about 6 months later. We found a house that we liked and our friends were able to come and approve it, but when the property we had been renting was sold and we were given a month’s notice to quit by 1st July, negotiations for its purchase had to suddenly speed up! On that date, it seemed unlikely that we would be able move into the new house, but in fact John was able to collect the keys at 5.15pm, having handed in the keys of the old house at 4.45pm. We spent that night with Phyll’s mother and started moving our goods out of store the next day. Our friends came to stay during the next 2 weekends and worked very hard to complete essential work, replacing inadequate door locks, decorating, tiling the bathroom and fitting a shower. We love having a place that feels like home and has a little garden to work in and enjoy. The house backs on to allotments so we may later take on a plot so we can grow vegetables as well. Do come and visit us if you are in the vicinity.
The Centre for Muslim-Christian Studies
In our last letter we mentioned the disappearance of a film sequence of the inauguration lecture, needed for the development of a promotional DVD of the Centre. Well, the cameraman eventually tracked it down on his computer, and the DVD is now nearly ready for distribution. Do pray that it may be well-used in promoting the work of the Centre and in fund-raising. Our volunteer, Lisa Holmes, is joining the team in a part-time paid capacity with the specific remit of fund-raising for the Solomon Academic Trust in the UK. Please pray for her in this difficult task.
We had many encouragements at the Centre during the summer term, with visitors, enquiries received by phone and email, increasing attendance at the weekly seminars and invitations to the team to speak at conferences, give lectures and tutor students in the coming academic year.
John
John has now been made a member of the Theology Faculty at Oxford University through his position as a non-stipendiary Fellow of St. Stephen’s House. We pray that this role will open up yet more opportunities to bring to the attention of theological colleges the urgent need for vicars in training to receive more teaching about Islam and the Muslim-Christian interface.
July was a month of deadlines for John: completing the latest edition of the Digest for the Network for Interfaith Concerns (http://nifcon.anglicancommunion.org/digest/index.cfm), editing part of his PhD thesis to be considered for publication in the Studies of Religion in Africa series, and working with his colleague Franz from Bayreuth University to complete the editing of the Volkswagen Project students’ articles for a book to be entitled Shari‘a in Africa Today: Reactions and Responses. John and Franz didn’t manage to complete the latter, but the work is well underway.
In September, John will be back teaching at St. Paul’s University, Limuru, for 3 weeks. Please pray for his time there and the renewal of his contacts in Kenya. He will also be attending the Fiftieth Jubilee celebrations of PROCMURA in Nairobi in November, representing Crosslinks.
Phyll
Phyll’s work in recent months has included the preparation of reports for the Charity Commission and Companies House under the guidance of the Trust’s accountant, our friend Eleri James, and supplying Eleri with the information needed for her preparation of the Trust’s accounts.
New websites for the Centre and the Solomon Academic Trust are being developed. Phyll’s task is to upload the material produced for it by the team members. Nowadays, websites are the major source of information for most enquirers and so it is vital that the websites for the Centre and for the Trust draw in those people we are seeking to serve. (www.cmcsoxford.org.uk and www.solomonacademictrust.org.uk )
Finally, thank you, as ever, for your prayers – we saw the answers to them in the provision of our new home and the amazing recovery of the lost material from the filming of the inauguration event. Thanks be to God!
"Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving" - Colossians 4:2
Points for Praise
- Our new home
- The recovery of the material for the DVD
- The growing work of the Centre
Points for Prayer
- John’s travels and time in Kenya
- Lisa Holmes developing fund-raising in the UK
- Personal Funding - Details of our Crosslinks Budget are being sent to our supporting churches and individual donors. Please contact us if you would like a copy.
With our love,
Phyll & John