Norwich Mission Fair marks Week of Unity
 By Eldred Willey
There was a peaceful buzz at St Luke’s on Tuesday Janaury 20 as more than 100 people gathered for the Norwich Mission Fair organised by Transforming Norwich and Christian Aid.
The speaker, Mark Sutcliffe (pictured right), is now based at Bridge Church in Bolton, but as one of the many outstanding graduates of Norfolk YMCA he has become a familiar figure in Norfolk. It was, as he said, “a significant occasion”. No one, it seems, could remember when such a variety of Norfolk churches had come together to share what they were doing.
Kings, Proclaimers, Surrey Chapel, Cornerstone, New Hope, Norwich Central Baptist Church, Fountain of Life, Norwich Family Life Church, St Paul’s, St Luke’s: all brought displays to show how they were helping to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
 “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Those were the words with which Mark Sutcliffe thought the Lord would greet the Church in Norwich. It was, he said, a contrast to some places he went, where the word might just be “Well?”
Mark placed a seven-page speech on the lectern but didn’t use it. Instead he became caught up in a different message from Hebrews: “Strive for peace…without which no one will see the Lord.” If we want to see the Lord, he said, we will have to make every effort to find peace with one another. He began by inviting people to give each other the sign of peace and ended by asking them to proclaim peace over the city and the planet.
More than half of those who came had already served on mission overseas. For those waiting for the next assignment, Mark had a word of encouragement. Don’t worry if it’s gone dark at the theatre, he said. It’s just God changing the scenes, preparing for the next act.
 For those who had not gone overseas, he gave a challenge to consider a short trip, or else decide how to support those who were going.
The gently swaying, lilting Gospel choir, Freedom Voices, provided the perfect updraft to lift the start of the evening. Between songs Colin Howell and Miriam Light brought some beautifully edited and astonishing clips of themselves teaching AIDS orphans in Mozambique to surf the waves of the Indian Ocean.
Mark had prayed that there would be “the maximum advancement of the kingdom”…and that, it seems, is what he got.
The pictures show Nomazwi from Mfuleni township in South Africa receiving a Bible and a new house from Christian volunteers and Jon Norman from Norwich sharing the Gospel at Pollsmoor High Security Prison, Cape Town.
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