Annual Gathering - The Next 25 Years

I joined seventy others at the Annual Gathering of The Community of Aidan and Hilda at Yarnfield Centre, Staffs., to celebrate our first twenty five years. Representatives from  Ireland, Norway, South Africa and USA joined us.   I  gave a power point presentation starting with my visit to Holy Island over 25 years ago. We had audio visual presentations from three continents.  David Cole received his green habit as the first monk voyager. We ended with a Zimbabwean Choir (who met in the same complex) singing in Shona.

We also identified eight goals for the next twenty five years.  These included a multiplication of area groups, diversity and  community houses; re-connecting with the Eastern church and healing the split in western Christianity, servicing the save-the planet environmental movemements, and  twelve task groups in the world's places of greatest poverty or conflict.

I hurried home in order to lecture to Pentecostal Presbyterian ministers from Alberta, Canada. Their leader, Professor Charles Nienkirchen, has written a book about my namesake A.B.Simpson, who formed this alliance of churches a century ago. The following day I spent three hours with them on Holy Island lecturing on Celtic Christianity. The day after that I met with  Norm Allen and his Canadian golfing friendship group, again at The Open Gate.   He promotes spiritual friendship on  www.touchstone.can