Sunday 5 December saw an exciting step taken in the growing relationship between the congregations of St Andrew's, Jarrom Street and the Filipino Chaplaincy in Leicester.
For the past few years the Filipino congregation have been using the St Andrew's building as a venue for their twice monthly services but the intention of both congregations is to develop the link from a friendly host/guest relationship to one that becomes an integrated church family. The congregation of St Andrew's already consists of a rich ethnic mix and Father Herbert from the Filipino church and Father Johannes from St Andrew's have been exploring how to strengthen the relationship, both in terms of church governance and worshipping life.
As a result, both congregations have decided to worship together on the first Sunday of the month, with the Filipino congregation also retaining their own service on another Sunday so that their own distinctive identity is retained, with the hope that the two congregations will increasingly belong together, commit themselves to one another, and mutually benefit from their shared worship and life together.
The first of these joint services took place on 5 December, with Canon Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy (Diocesan BAME Enabler who will be leaving us in the New Year to become Bishop of Willesden in the Diocese of London) preaching at their first jointly held Mass. With many members of the congregation not having English as a first language, Father Johannes observed that "it helps that our style of worship does not entirely depend on language but has a highly developed visual aspect to the liturgy; the Eucharist or Mass as summary and summit of the Christian faith is the ultimate intercultural act of worship and is itself highly evangelistic."
The service was followed by food and celebration (including a hog roast).
