The Dean

Many of you will already know that the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf has formal and active links with two other dioceses, one in England, the other in Africa. The English diocese is Exeter and the African is Thika in Kenya.

My colleague and co-archdeacon Steve Collis in Nicosia has recently been to Thika while I had the privilege of representing the diocese at Exeter in July and preaching at Cathedral Evensong on Sunday 29th July. Our link also includes ‘chaplaincy’ links, each chaplaincy in our diocese being linked with a deanery in the Exeter diocese. Bahrain is linked with Christianity Deanery which comprises the parishes within the city of Exeter.

I was made to feel very welcome by everyone concerned and there was a great sense of enthusiasm for the link and a concern to find ways of bringing new and imaginative ways of making our link ‘live’. The purpose of the link of course is to inform each other about our life and needs, to pray regularly for each other, and resource each other wherever possible. We also realized the necessity to make the link work, finding practical ways to give it an ongoing momentum and energy which can soon dissipate because of the geographical distance that divides us.

Communication is of course an essential ingredient of this process. What we need here in Bahrain is a person who would take responsibility for this link, being our ‘link person’ who would ensure that the link is made to work. Are you that person? If you feel that this is something you would like to tackle then please contact me and together we can plan what promises to be a very valuable and rewarding experience for us all.

Alan Hayday