West Mids Christians help train South American church leaders

|PIC1|The Bishop of Lichfield has made the first donation from his new Overseas Training Fund, giving £6,000 to Anglican mission agency USPG to help train new leaders in serving the Anglican Church in South America.

The Overseas Training Fund was established last year with donations to the bishop's annual Lent Appeal.

Donations came from schools and churches running Lent Lunches and other fund raising initiatives throughout Staffordshire, the northern half of Shropshire and most of the Black Country and also from individual Christians. This year's Lent Appeal will be launched next week.

The donation was handed over to USPG's Ali Saunders by the Archdeacon of Walsall, the Ven Bob Jackson.

Welcoming the donation, Saunders said: "This gift will help hundreds of current and potential leaders to grow in their faith and lead others to know Christ better.

"With support from the Diocese of Lichfield, USPG is supporting eight projects in six dioceses. These courses will benefit Christians in diverse contexts, from clergy training that looks at the strengths that Anglicanism can offer, to training for children and their parents to lead courses in the popular Children's Encounter in the Spirit.

"For many of these leaders, theological training is a tremendous challenge. Leandro Naupa never had the opportunity to go to school, but, chosen by his bishop to lead his congregation, he and his wife Cecilia have graduated from Chile's Rural Biblical Institute. Leandro is now the lay leader of the Aposento Alto (upper room) church in Cauñicú, an isolated village in the Andes."