Our good friend Bishop Moses Owusu-Sekyere of the Apostolic Pastoral Congress preached at our 10th anniversary celebration last week (28th Oct). He was joined by the Bishop of Stepney and our chaplain Sr Josephine Canny as ecumenical representatives in a packed out church.

We hosted the event at St George-in-the-East – where our new offices were based. Along with some great stories of our work over the last decade, we celebrated the new offices and our change of name.

Following on from the reading Matthew 13, Bishop Moses gave a short reflection, as follows…

“I would like to thank Canon Dr Angus Ritchie, Revd Tim Clapton and the rest of the team for inviting me to share in the celebration of this 10th anniversary, which coincides with your relocation and a change of name to the Centre for Theology and Community, Congratulations.

We’re grateful to Alex for reading the scriptures, which speak about the growth of the Kingdom. It’s interesting to note that one story is about a man, the other story about a woman, maintaining a gender balance. In both parables, there is a striking contrast between a small or obscure beginning and an amazing end result.

The parable of the mustard seed shows how good sowing can be, its effect can be out of all proportion to its appearance. The mustard seed may be one of the smallest of all seeds, and the yeast may be almost indiscernible in the baking dough, but the effects produced in both cases are far-reaching and thorough.

These two parables are an encouragement to us that the seemingly insignificant kingdom initiatives we have taken in times past and continue to take today, given the opportunity to grow, will one day shape the future of many communities and provide a haven for  humanity. Of course, the challenge is ‘IF it grows’, but to be more positive, the words of Christ are, ‘WHEN it grows’. In this regard, we need to consider how we on our part, can contribute to the growth of the Kingdom in our own lives and in our communities. CTC, has over the last 10 years made significant contributions in this direction.

The kingdom is the rule and reign of Christ in the hearts of men; inwardly we are being transformed into the image of Christ, and outwardly, we are called to transform the world through our witness and action.

Our role in growing the kingdom is to allow God to plant us in various communities to work the leaven of His word in and through us – until our communities assume the character of the kingdom – which include:

Righteousness, Peace, Social Justice and Joy in the Holy Ghost, and until we realise the eschatological dream, when the Kingdom of this world becomes the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, Amen.