New mission for Gouray vicar

Friday 09 January 2015

A Jersey vicar is heading to Egypt on a mission to unite different faiths both in and outside the Island, at a time when Christians are seeing renewed persecution in the Middle East.

The Rev Canon Gavin Ashenden, the vicar of Gouray Church, is off to join hundreds of other church leaders in Egypt this weekend at a conference to explore ways of uniting the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church.

Rev Ashenden is part of a renewal movement in the church called True Life through God that aims to bring people together in a fresh way, forgetting the squabbles of our ancestors.

He said: “Why are we so complacent about inheriting these divisions that we could put right? It’s like only going out and having an aperitif, restricting ourselves to one meal and it’s not enough. We all bring something to the table that brings us altogether.”

Rev Ashenden is keen to see a change in churches on the Island.

He said: “I’ve only been in Jersey two years, and someone has to be careful jumping up and down when you are new to a community. I have to develop a good track record before I start introducing people to exotic stuff that they might be suspicious off. But I really want to bring Catholics, Anglicans and Protestants together in a new way.”

The conference is taking place at a monastery in the middle of the desert in Cairo at a time when the Coptic Church is under threat from Islamic extremists – last week 20 Coptic Christians were abducted in Libya.