| A Message from our Vicar |
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My Sabbatical
I thought it would be good to share very briefly how I spent my sabbatical. I spent the majority of my time in Suzhou, China. Whilst there, I attached myself to an international fellowship which calls itself Suzhou International Fellowship. You could find out more of this fellowship should you visit Suzhou at http://www.thesif.com. It is worth a visit. It is a fellowship which welcomes only foreigners. This is to respect the law of the land. I preached a couple of times there and participated occasionally in their weekly gatherings and it was usually over food and drinks! I felt most at home there.
I did not travel very much beyond the confines of Jiangsu Province of which Suzhou is a constituent part. I visited a local three-self church and it was a mightily good experience of what went on during the service. In fact, the international fellowship works hand in hand with a local church in Suzhou contributing financially in support of three theological students studying at Nanjing Seminary. I also visited Beijing and Shanghai. Beijing was more purposeful as I spent several days visiting the cultural and historical sites. Within Jiangsu I also visited Wuxi and Zhongzhua. This was part of my cultural immersion. Shanghai was more of a need as Pu Dong Airport is the airport to and from Suzhou. I spent Christmas at Shanghai.
As a family, it was a time well spent. We had months of unbroken time for fun and bonding. My children had benefited somewhat by default from the Chinese culture. It was so good that one of our numbers has decided to take up Higher Chinese!
Finally but really the very first, I am grateful to God for this opportunity to distance myself from the familiar places of work so that I could regain some significant level of objectivity. This gift of God has been mediated through the Diocese as well as the leadership teams in Ascension. Without these mediums of God’s grace, I would not have enjoyed as much as I did.
May God grant me renewed vigour to serve you in the years to come.
Revd
Gilbert Wong
21 January 2007