Norfolk centre offers welcome to two bishops

On a very cold and frosty morning The Rt Rev Jonathan Meyrick, Bishop of Lynn arrived with Bishop Lindsley Ihove of Papua New Guinea for a tour of the Horstead Centre as part of his trip around the Diocese of Norwich.

 

In keeping with the traditional warm receptions that Horstead is well known, for the Bishops were welcomed into the front lounge of the old Georgian rectory and seated by the open fire. Over a glass of sherry, Bishop Lindsley spoke of his ministry and the differences and similarities between the two very distant diocese. It transpired that the first Bishop of Papua New Guinea had come from Lynn and this was the reason for the twinning of the two seats.

 

Bishop Lindsley went on to talk about the role of the children’s ministry in PNG and how he had developed and sustained his faith as a young man by keeping close to his father who showed him the way to faith. Now he is seeing a role reversal in his country where many adults who have drifted away from the church are finding a way back through their children who attend special church run activities and camps. The children are very absorbed by the activities they attend and the parents, naturally curious, visit the camps and start to get involved in the activities themselves, often joining and becoming leaders.

 

Bishop Lindsley spoke of his interest in sending young people preparing for ministry to England and more specifically to The Horstead Centre to learn how we engage with children and young people in our Diocese.

 

We at the Horstead Centre are equally keen to forge this relationship with our over-seas brethren. Not only to host young people from our twinned diocese but also to support the development of our Bushcraft and learning outside the classroom programme. There is a growing link between supporting children as they search for deeper meanings in their lives and how this can be nurtured by quality time spent in nature.

 

Whether it be canoeing, cooking or shelter building, the people of Papau New Guinea and indeed their young trainee youth ministers, have a lot that they can teach us about survival in the wild and living without all the sophisticated gadgets and belongings that distract us from getting closer to God.

 

The Bishops left us after a lunch of ‘Norfolk’ Cornish Pasties and ‘Horstead’ Apple Cake, with Bishop Lindsley promising to write the Horstead Experience into his programme for trainee priests. We look forward to welcoming our brethren from so far away and indeed supporting other projects coming out of Papua New Guinea .