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Long-term sustainable friendship
My encounter was largely limited to the people of the Presbyterian Church of Myanmar. They form part of a tiny Christian minority in Myanmar.
So I suppose one could question why I feel anything at all. I suppose the reason why I have these feelings is because they are not strangers or a list of faceless names. They are people I feel I can refer to as my friends.
“Friend” is a holy word. Jesus used it in reference to his disciples. That is why we use it in the GMO to define the work that we do.
GA08 marks the end of our two-year special Moderator’s Appeal for the PCM.
This appeal proved God-inspired when one considers how Myanmar has been in the news during that same two-year period. How wonderful that as images of the monks marching for democracy and the devastation left by Cyclone Nargis hit the world headlines, we were able to say “we are already working there”.
But surely this is just a beginning? The Moderator’s Appeal has enabled us to make a significant start. Is this enough? Friendship, especially long-term, sustainable friendship, can’t end after two years.
On behalf of Pamela, I would like to thank all who have given so generously. Some of the most creative fund-raising ideas we have seen in parishes came out of this appeal. The appeal has also caught the attention of some of our Presbyterian schools in a fresh way.
So we have no alternative; we must go on. That’s what friends do.
By Andrew Bell