Getting settled in Izmir

We’ve now experienced one whole week of involvement with the church here. It is a wonderfully diverse group of people – but one disadvantage of that is the difficulty of finding any hymns people can sing! We have had good responses to our first two Sunday services: three Turkish members of the congregation declared yesterday that they wanted to keep us! That is also creating new opportunities; we have agreed to offer an extra evening Bible study group, primarily for working men, and one of these, an Iranian refugee, wants supplementary teaching as a first step towards confirmation. We also have two families to prepare for the baptism of their children.

Since my last report we have shared in a bi-lingual evening service, held every Tuesday; that was held in the daughter church of St Mary Magdalene, but because of difficulty of access, we shall continue it at St John’s. A small group of women meet for Bible Study on Wednesday afternoons.

St John’s was being used on three days last week by a group of tour guides, from various parts of Turkey. An American academic was giving them lectures on Christianity and the Seven Churches. Today they have to sit an exam, in order to gain certificates – but it is interesting that, apart from their professional need for information, many seemed to want to know more about the faith. So there are many opportunities in this country that seems to have underplayed its cultural and religious heritage; as the lecturer pointed out, in the first centuries of Christianity, Turkey was the focus of activity (the first four Ecumenical Councils were held in this land.)

It’s not been all work! We have gained a rather better understanding of Izmir city. Contrary to the criticisms in the Lonely Planet guide, the city Information Office were friendly and helpful, and issued us with a good map and a couple of leaflets. We have discovered the Roman Agora – quite an extensive area, with reconstruction work going on - and the bazaar area of Kemeralti, a maze of narrow streets lined with every kind of small shop, with an 18^th century caravanserai in its midst. The former Armenian area, destroyed in the 1922 fire, is now an attractive park in the midst of the urban busyness. We have also ventured onto the metro system, and experienced the frequent ferries that criss-cross the bay. Buses are still something of a mystery, but we live in hope of solving that one too!

We also met one of Jo’s former pupils from St Sidwell’s school, Exeter; she was 8 at the time, and is now an architect back in her home city. Most mornings we have a pre-breakfast walk alongside the Aegean on the wide promenade (the kordon.) Today was the first time that the air was fresh – and almost cool – so we hope the intense heatwave is coming to an end. We celebrated the conclusion of last week with a meal at a restaurant with a terrace overlooking the sun setting behind the bay. And on Saturday, a (Korean) church member is driving us to Ephesus, which will be great.

A final comment on the UK referendum result; we were saddened by the outcome, but especially by the narrow-mindedness of British insularity. At one point in the campaign, there were dark hints about the millions of Turks who would flood into Britain if Turkey joined the EU. The implication was that the barbarians were coming, but all the Izmiris we have had dealings with have been friendly, helpful and hard-working. One of the joys of congregations in the Diocese in Europe is the way they foreshadow the final assembly of the saints of God, gathered ‘from every tribe and language and people and nation’.

Prayer Points:

·        Please pray for us as we meet with the two families whose children will be baptised on July 10^th, and for baby Esther and lively 2-year-old Ryan.

·        Preparations for the additional evening Bible study.

·        For developing relationship with the predominantly Turkish-speaking Lighthouse Church, which uses St John’s every week. (There are other Turkish churches; yesterday we saw a local car, with a fish on it!

ARRIVED IN IZMIR

We’ve been in Izmir for less than five days, but it feels longer (in the most positive sense!)

Our journey here was easy and uneventful. We received a warm welcome from our greeters, who then took us to a restaurant, where we enjoyed the iftar menu, for those observing the Ramazan fast (freedom to eat being signified by the firing of a cannon. There is a pre-dawn warning from drumming in the streets.) It appears that many people are not fasting – Izmir is a liberal, Western-oriented city (known to many Turks in the past as ‘infidel/pagan Izmir’!)

Physically, it is very hot (40/41 degrees C yesterday), but less humid than we had expected, and mitigated by breezes off the Aegean. So we think we will survive; especially now that the church has had air conditioning put into the main bedroom of the flat. We are about ten minutes walk from the sea. We can see St John’s from the flat; the former chaplain’s house is used as the British consulate. An advantage of that is a reassuring, friendly police presence whenever the church is open.

We are settling into the practicalities of life here. Shopping is easy; there are some good supermarkets nearby, as well as many ‘corner shops’. Yesterday we discovered an abundant farmers’ market in neighbouring streets, with all sorts of fresh produce on sale. Our lack of Turkish is a slight disadvantage, but much can be achieved by smiles and pointing! We are working on the language. Our hosts have taken us out to two lunches: one an amazingly good value salad bar (six portions for 10 lira – less than £3!), the other a wonderful fish lunch at a harbour-side restaurant.

We are gradually finding our way around, but hampered by inability to find any meaningful guides or maps. The one map we did find was declared confusing and unhelpful by a Turkish visitor. The local metro station seems bereft of any timetables or route indicators! We will try the Tourist Office – but the Lonely Planet guide declares it ‘unhelpful to the point of being hostile’! So far we have not discovered a single post-card seller – so potential recipients will have to wait! (And post is slow…)

However, we are here to minister to the church. The Eucharist on Sunday was a good occasion. The congregation is not large; there were 21 communicants, of whom Jo and I were the only British. The rest divides between Americans and Turks, with 3 refugees from Iran and a couple of Koreans. We received a good reception, and my sermon seemed to connect for at least a few. The style of liturgy is quite formal; but we feel they are open to variations, though we are hindered by our inability to explain any divergences in Turkish. As usual, we are leading the service together as a team. Singing is not their strong point – and the organist returns to USA this week, until the end of September...

Tomorrow we visit the daughter church, and there will be other Christian groups to meet and pray with in coming weeks.

So please pray:

1.      For our ministry here, that we will meet the people at their points of need, and be open to the guiding of the Holy Spirit.

2.      For all the church members; especially those whose mother tongue is not English, that we will communicate clearly with them.

3.      For refugees; especially a couple from Iran who had to leave because he comes from an important Muslim family, while her family has been Christian for many generations; and another woman from Iran.

4.      For the future development of this church and chaplaincy; adverts for a full-time chaplain are appearing in the church press around this time.

5.      For us – that our Turkish will improve, and that we will be able to find our way around on the metro and bus systems! And that we will be able to visit some of the many wonderful ancient and Christian sites in this region. 

Turkish Delight?

There's a bit of a pun here. In Turkish - lokum means Turkish Delight! So we are hopeful that our time in Izmir will be a delight for us - and, hopefully, also for the people of St John the Evangelist and St Mary Magdalene, Izmir, where we will be spending ten weeks, from June 16th.

We will be posting reflections and prayers - and (if I can manage it!) some photos.
For now, our need is for the prayers of our friends, so I am pasting below the Prayer Letter we have sent out to some of our contacts.


From mid-June, we shall be spending ten weeks at St John’s in Izmir, Turkey; they have been without a chaplain for some time. The hope is that the church will eventually be able, with assistance from the Diocese in Europe, and the Intercontinental Church Society (ICS), and in partnership with the Mission to Seafarers, to have sufficient funding for a stipendiary chaplain. Please pray for us as we prepare to travel and for our time there.

Prayer Points:

• Our Preparation.
We have another fortnight for spiritual and physical preparation. Pray for our protection during this period, that nothing will impede our travel, and for safety during our journey.
• Settling in.
Pray all goes smoothly with our arrival, settling in to our accommodation (a two-bedroom apartment near the church), and finding our way around in a new city and culture. Pray we will cope with Turkish language, and be sensitive to living in a predominantly Muslim country.
• Blessings on our ministry.
We hope and pray that we will quickly be able to discern the needs of the congregation, and how we may best offer pastoral care, teaching and guidance.
• Protection in Izmir.
There have been disturbances in Turkey in recent months, with terrorist attacks mounted by both IS and PKK (the extremist Kurdish militants.  Pray for peace with justice in Turkey, and for our safety.
• Good health and energy during our stay.
July and August are the hottest and most humid months in that area. Pray that we will soon be acclimatised, and able to minister effectively. Pray for protection from illness.
• St John’s, Izmir.
Pray for the congregation here, and at the daughter church of St Mary Magdalene; for the churchwardens, with their additional responsibilities during the vacancy; for those who have been leading worship; for guidance for their future.

Izmir:
In NT, Smyrna (one of the seven churches in Revelation.) Third largest city in Turkey, and largest port. Small Christian community – RC Cathedral, some indigenous Protestant and Evangelical churches – and the Anglican Church of St John the Evangelist (19th century building, but there have been Anglicans in the city since 1625), with daughter church of St Mary Magdalene. There is a weekly Sunday morning Eucharist at St John’s, and a Tuesday evening Service at St Mary Magdalene’s.

Timetable:
Tuesday 14 June Leave Axminster, to take train to Gatwick. Stay overnight
Wednesday 15 June Fly from Gatwick late morning, changing at Istanbul, to reach Izmir by early evening.
Sunday 19 June Our first Sunday service at St John’s.
Tuesday 21 June Our first evening service at St Mary Magdalene’s.