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Editorial
Alwyn Thomson
Comment:
Failed Politics?
Norman Hamilton
From
the Director: Words and Deeds
David W Porter
Loyalism
and Me
Philip Rankin
Real
Life
David Campton
Policing
Matters
Sam Pollock
The
Crisis Within
Eddie
Kinner
Loyalism
- The Issues
Mervyn Gibson
Scapegoating
Billy Mitchell
Review...Beyond
Retribution
Stephen Graham
Down
to Basics
Malachy
O'Doherty
Faith
in the Future
David
W Porter
For
God and His Glory Alone:
Study 1: Love
STAFF NEWS
Derek's Sabbatical
After six years working with ECONI Derek is due a three-month sabbatical
leave which will focus on the theme of spirituality in the history of
the church. Beginning in September he will be walking the northern mountains
of Spain for five weeks meeting various church leaders and reflecting
on the development of spiritual disciplines and practice as they have
evolved in the life of the church. After three weeks back in Northern
Ireland he will then spend four weeks in Italy considering the spirituality
of the late medieval church and the challenges and changes to spiritual
practices brought about by the Reformation. The sabbatical is an opportunity
for Derek to review the leadership training and development work he has
been doing with ECONI and to enrich his understanding of church history.
He will be back in the office the first week in December preparing for
his commitments in 2003 and you should feel free to contact him then.
ECONI Staff changes
Since May the ECONI Staff team has welcomed three new recruits. However,
we have said farewell to:
Ruth Hutchinson:
Ruth left ECONI in May after six years working as Assistant Editor
on lion & lamb. Ruth brought more to her job than her editorial skills;
she gave something of herself to every word on every page. Her determination
and persistence in the face of deadlines resulted in a good quality product
time after time. Ruth also embraced responsibility for the international
volunteers who came to support the work of ECONI. Ruth did not simply
supervise their work, she engaged with their whole experience in Northern
Ireland and offered care and support. We are grateful for her contribution
to lion & lamb and recognise how she established the volunteer programme
as an integral part of ECONI. She is already missed in the office but
we are glad that she has resumed her role as a Company member and we look
forward to her contribution to ECONI in the future.
And Meg Flannagan, a one year volunteer from the PC USA, based in Eglinton Presbyterian Church who worked part-time with ECONI as Programme Assistant. Meg returned to the States at the start of August and has gone to live in Charleston, South Carolina where she will be working with colleges and with the church as Director of Education, focusing on youth.
Farewell also to Sarah Parkinson who worked with ECONI for nearly two years, latterly in the role of Administrative Assistant. Sarah left in September to embark on a Masters in Development Management at the University of Swansea:
"The experience of working at ECONI has been one that began in a state of transience: a six-month contract before going off with my husband to pursue our dreams. But dreams change, and I was asked to stay here temporarily for a little while longer; and then offered a more permanent place until we found a new future. Now the time has come, and the desire within us to delve into the skills and hopes that God has placed within us takes us to Swansea. I am going to study, and am thankful to ECONI for helping me to understand the things that move me, that inspire within me the will and determination to make a contribution to making the world a better place. I am thankful also for the encouragement that has helped me to take this step, giving me courage where sometimes it was lacking. Perhaps most of all, though, I'm grateful for the way in which being here has nurtured my journey of faith: for the questions asked, and for the conversations which delve into depths surrounded by a God whose heart aches for a broken world. It is the permanence of this journey that unites us beyond geographical boundaries, and I am grateful that we have had the opportunity to share that journey for a short while together."
Amy Ornee, volunteer Research Assistant from the Mennonite Mission Network, started with ECONI in September 2001. She has recently had her term of service renewed for another year to work in the areas of learning and ministry:
"Last autumn, I confessed I'd come to Belfast for the moss. Still now, a year on, I'm apt to wax rhapsodic about the fiercely green mounds, billowing over stone walls, wedging tenderness into cracks in the pavement. If moss summoned me here, it's also emblematic of the reasons I'm so grateful to be staying for a second year. Here's a little list of the qualities of moss: turns up in hard, inhospitable, broken places; transforms and makes new; thrives with aliveness. That's moss - and it's a fair description of how Jesus lived, and what we, his Body, are called to do. Working with ECONI, I'.ve had incredible opportunities to dig deeper into the Bible, to ask questions about how we be Church, what it means to forgive and be forgiven people who love our neighbours and our enemies. I'm surpassing pleased to have been granted a bit more time to have a hand in this work."
Here's a brief introduction to the new faces at ECONI:
Bill Ellison has been working part-time since the end of May as Head of the Support Services team and became full-time in September:
"I am a qualified administrator and have worked in a variety of Senior Management positions in industry and commerce. As an evangelical Christian I have been aware of ECONI for some time and when an opportunity came along to get directly involved I was delighted to do so. As Support Services Manager I will be responsible for the entire range of financial and administrative activities necessary to support the work of ECONI. It is my intention that, by bringing my management skills and experience to the organisation, I will free other staff from the bulk of burdensome administrative tasks in order to expand their ministries and thus enable them to contribute more fully to the work of ECONI."
Helen Smith joined ECONI in June to work alongside Lynda Gould in the learning team:
"I was attracted to the job because of the job title 'Learning Co-ordinator' and the concept of thinking biblically, building peace. Learning, biblical insight and shalom have been crucial to my perseverance in various work situations. My experience of church began in a strict Brethren Assembly in Dungannon. I now belong to Knockbreda Methodist and have been involved in many Christian organisations from School SU to the Iona Community. I have come from an experience of work where people very different from myself have enriched my life, challenged my faith and questioned my presumptions. In teaching, the YMCA youth club and in The Bridge Community Centre I have worked with people disadvantaged by the lack of opportunity to realise their potential. Success in this type of work has been difficult to measure but I take comfort from Oscar Romero's words, 'We plant the seed that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted knowing that they hold future promises. We lay foundations that need future development. We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in that'".
Anna Rankin is from Dublin and worked with Christian Aid in Belfast for over two years before coming to ECONI as Resource Co-ordinator in June 2002:
"I have responsibility for the production and promotion of ECONI resources - including lion & lamb. I studied Theology and German at Trinity College Dublin and did a Masters at the Irish School of Ecumenics, where I first came into contact with ECONI. So far my career has included working as a teacher, in community projects for the unemployed, with children from ethnic minority communities and in supporting and facilitating development education for young people. My husband is from Co Down, so our different identities and experiences of church and community have been brought together in an ongoing conversation and now help to inform my work. I am very excited about this new role with ECONI and look forward to seeing it develop and to learning from the new experiences and challenges of the job."
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