wfn.org | ACNS3272 Chair of Anglican Family Network to join the Church in

["Anglican Communion News Service" <acnslist@anglicancommunion.org>]

ACNS 3272     |     PAPUA NEW GUINEA	 |     22 JANUARY 2003

Chair of Anglican Family Network to join the Church in Papua New Guinea

John and Della Rea have been invited by Anglican Primate of Papua New
Guinea, the Most Revd James Ayong, to work for the Province as Project &
Development Officers, as the Church copes with a deteriorating economic and
social situation. They will share responsibilities, fulfilling a long
cherished wish to work again in a developing country. John and Della come
from the Edinburgh diocese, where they are members of the Scottish Episcopal
Church.

John is Chair of the International Anglican Family Network and, until
September, a member of the Joint Primates/Anglican Consultative Council
Standing Committees and the Anglican Observer to the UN's Advisory Council.
He is currently Director of Fundraising for the Children's Hospice
Association of Scotland "CHAS".

Della, until the end of the academic year, was Head Teacher of Deans
Community High School in a disadvantaged area of Livingston, which provides
comprehensive education for adult learners and 860 students aged 12-17.

This new appointment will be funded jointly by PNGCP and USPG, with PNGCP as
the principal agency. USPG's David Craig said, "The joint appointment with
PNGCP is an exciting development and your prayers are asked for John and
Della."

The Province, which was inaugurated with five dioceses in 1977, is this year
celebrating its Silver Jubilee.

Archbishop James Ayong comments, "We are happy that John and Della have
responded to our appeal to help us move towards a stage where we may begin
to be realistically a self-supporting Church; they will work alongside us
helping to make our dream become a reality."

The couple will be based in Mt Hagen, undertaking considerable travel around
the Province, as they assist dioceses and institutions to identify and
implement sustainable projects, and to source development funding. It is
planned that John and Della will travel to PNG in late April via Oceania to
meet partners in the region and, after some months in post, will attend the
orientation course offered by the ecumenical Melanesian Institute in Goroka.

"We are delighted at the prospect of working with the Anglican Church in
Papua New Guinea," they said. "It feels both exciting and not a little scary
to us, as we prepare for the challenge of working in a new and unfamiliar
culture. We look forward to the steep learning curve that surely awaits us
in PNG; learning to listen, appreciate and hopefully contribute in a very
different way over the next couple of years."

[A photograph of John and Della to accompany this article is available from
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/]

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