‘The youngest Chaplaincy in the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf,
worshipping in the oldest Church building’ Bishop Clive

Motto for 2007:
“Don't let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let
God re-mould your minds from within ” Romans 12:2 JB Phillips


2nd Annual Synod Report -  January 2007

Someone is reputed to have said – “Well I don't know what Robin and Val are going to do all day when they move to Famagusta?”

In some ways at first I have to confess that to an extent I felt as though I were on holiday after the rush and bustle and up to 90 hours per week on the wedding ministry from April to October in Ayia Napa parish. But the ministry is different, multifaceted and BUSY!

Many will know, but some may not, there is in Famagusta a large University with in excess of 15,000 students attending from over 60 countries. The church therefore is comprised 90% of students and the bulk of these, like the Anglican Church as a whole, are from Nigeria. A handful of our worshippers are actually Anglican – many are not, but like so many of our chaplaincies we seek to cater for the spiritual needs of a wide cross section of people from many traditions within the Christian Church.

So since moving over this time last year we have run many meetings; an Alpha Course, Bible studies on various Bible books; video led courses, payer meetings, Sunday worship and of course all the full range pastoral care issues, particularly as they relate to young people. Having been donated a minibus by MECO in Larnaca we were able to offer trips for students through the summer. One was especially well received – the visit to a senior student ID – Church Warden – who was on an Archaeological Dig at Kaleburnu almost at the very Zafer Burnu tip of the Karpaz.

Additionally we have begun slowly to reach out to the many British around, providing a typically Anglican morning service, not dissimilar to the service that would have been conducted in Ayia Napa save that the numbers are sharply lower – at the moment. Interestingly this is the service that is also attracting a few local people, the evening service is lively with a mostly African choir and in the height of the semester can attract over 120 people. The morning service is mostly ladies and a spiritually focused Ladies' Meeting has now commenced fortnightly arising from this service. As these folk can cross the border they have attended a Maggie Le Roy Quiet Day in  Limassol and hopefully again soon. The ladies will also be visiting the equivalent group at St. Andrew's Kyrenia soon and attending the Women's World Day of Prayer there on March 2nd.

But probably our most memorable event of the year was on Sunday 1st October when we baptised four young people at a swimming pool of a parishioner in Iskele. Three were Nigerian young men and one was a Russian young woman who has been involved with the Church since her arrival in Famagusta about 6 years ago. An ethnic Tartar and non practising Moslem by background she had come to Christ in her home country but grew and deepened in her Christian understanding to the point where she realised that Baptism was the next and logical and important step of commitment to her Lord.

And that's the whole point isn't it – that whatever we do in the life of the church it should be for the spiritual growth of the whole body and individuals within it and deepen of our life together. We have only outlined a brief glimpse of the busyness of the past year but the purpose has been as in the words of St Paul in Ephesians 4:11-13

“It was he who gave some to be ...pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

Robin Brookes (Chaplain)
29th January 2007


PS Just to explode one or two myths.
1. You can email from South to North and v.v.– just use the recipient's normal address.
2. You can telephone from South to North and v.v.. To ring a northern number dial 0090 followed by 392 and 7 more digits for north Cyprus landline– North Nicosia and around, they begin with 2 – Kyrenia 8 – Famagusta mostly 3 – EMU is 6. To ring northern mobiles dial 0090 followed by 533 for Turkcell and 542 for Telsimand 7 more digits.
3. You can telephone from North to South. Simply dial 00357 followed by the 8 digit CYTA landline or CYTAVODA or Areeba mobile number.
4. You cannot SMS text message from North to South or v.v. You can get a text to go one way from a UK or other foreign number to a local number in the opposite part of Cyprus– but you won't get a reply; it gets blocked.
5.  Mail does go from South to North – I regularly get the Pafos magazine in my Famagusta mailbox – have the envelope with me from the last one to prove it!
6.  I used to get mail from Turkey in Paralimni – so I guess it should work the other way round but I haven't tried it.
7.  People from the south of all nationalities can cross to the North of Cyprus.  Migrant workers or other non-Europeans might like to bring their Alien's Book with then to avoid problems on return, though through the SBA when they bother to check passports a Larnaca (or Pafos) entry stamp is usually sufficient proof .
8 .Only EU citizens and people not requiring EU visas can cross from North to South, e.g. US or Australian citizens. Other nationalities having entered North Cyprus from through Ercan airport or one of the ports may not cross south.  Thus no representative from the main congregation at this Synod.