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!