Pray Global, Act Local

Published: September 11, 2023

Picture: Martin Cox at All Saints’ Church, Honiara 2014

Stepping down at this year’s AGM is Trustee Revd Martin Cox, after 14 years of service. Here Martin reflects on his time:

“It all began for me twenty-three years ago in the Year 2000. I was an ordainand at that time in the Diocese of Chester and was invited by my placement supervisor to a mission evening of Melanesian drama and testimony. Some of you reading this will remember that mission well. I was challenged and enthralled in equal measure by the evening. The smiles. The dancing. The singing. I was left wanting to know and experience more.

I was ordained Deacon in 2003 and Priest in 2004 in Chester Cathedral and served my title as Assistant Curate in the Parish of St Anne with St Francis, Sale. As many readers will know, this is the parish where Bishop Willie and his family lived and served on their arrival in the UK. As part of my ongoing theological studies I was required to undertake an external placement. With the support of the bishops of the diocese and theological college it was agreed that I would visit the Solomon Islands and spend time with the Anglican Church of Melanesia. I wanted to learn and experience more of the country I’d first encountered as an ordinand.

So it was that on 20 July 2004 just one month after my ordination as priest I set off on my first epic adventure to the Solomon Islands. To make it work for us as a family I arrived via Brisbane two days later on my fortieth birthday. So many memories of the roads, the journey from Honiara Airport, the open fires, and of course the heat and humidity. Thank you Bishop Nigel for the antibiotic powder you passed on!

It is difficult to convey the full impact of that first visit.  I remember being verged into the pulpit in St Barnabas Cathedral to preach to a congregation of 1100 on my first Sunday, just five weeks after my ordination as Priest. ‘What am I doing here? What have I got to say? I’m just a Bloke from Stoke’. ‘So what’ were the words that came into my mind as quick as a flash ‘you’re here, so get on with it’. My ministry as an ordained Priest was being shaped in ways I didn’t fully comprehend, especially how we are to understand personal faith in the context of community faith, which came into focus when I preached at the sea edge to a whole community.

On that visit I met Bishop Richard and Sister Doreen for the first time. I spent time with trauma counsellors who were also staying at Chester Rest House and had many conversations with them about the impact of the ethnic tensions. I visited the four religious communities and paid my respects at the graves of the seven martyrs, some of whom I’d met in the Year2000. May they rest in peace and rise in glory.

On my return to the UK I became involved in local preparations for the 2005 mission and joined the Chester Diocesan Link group. By 2007 I was a Vicar in mid Cheshire and helped to coordinate the hospitality programme prior to the 2008 Lambeth Conference. New relationships were formed. We hosted a special Evensong for the Unity of the Church in Sandiway followed by a hog roast in our garden funded by the parish. To my surprise I received an invitation to the Buckingham Palace Garden Party where old friendships were once again refreshed.

A year later I was invited to become a trustee of MMUK. It has been an honour to serve and support the mission and ministry of the Church of Melanesia during this fourteen-year period. I was privileged to visit the Solomon Islands as a trustee in 2012 in preparation for the Simply Living Mission. This visit led to the Round Table Conference and the education project involving the Diocese of Blackburn. I visited again as a trustee in 2014 to attend the General Synod. I was present in the Cathedral when Their Royal Highnesses the (then) Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited as part of the late Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. So many memories, so many conversations.

There have been some difficult moments too. I was mistaken for an Australian serviceman in 2012 and was attacked in the street, which left me temporarily unconscious. I was bundled into a mini-bus and taken to Honiara Referral Hospital where surface wounds were dressed. On a lighter note make-up was applied to disguise bruising for when I skyped back home! Two years later in 2014 I was stranded at Brisbane airport for a couple of hours as my host hadn’t ‘clicked’ that this was the day of my arrival!

As this year’s AGM and Festival will be held in Chester Cathedral this seems to be the appropriate moment for me to step back from my trusteeship. Thank you, ACoM and MMUK for fellowship, friendship, fun and many memories. To those who may have an opportunity to visit I would say, take it! But travel with someone if you can as I regret not having a travelling companion to share the many experiences I have had. We believe in one Lord, one faith and one baptism. The relationships we have with our brothers and sisters who live halfway round the world bring this truth to life and enable us to ‘Pray Global, Serve Local’ to misquote a well known phrase.

Finally, thank you, God for the opportunity to serve as a trustee of MMUK and for your ongoing faithfulness to us all as we seek to serve you in the world, the church and the home.” – Revd Martin Cox, August 2023