This was my last family camp with St. Thomas. I was close to tears on a few occasions. Enough that God showed up and we were greatly blessed.
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Ian Montgomery
Polly
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Polly and Ian by the woodpile
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About Me
- Ian Montgomery
- I am an Anglican Priest who has served in the USA since 1973 (with some interruptions.) I am retired. I serve in Peru, with SAMS, assisting the bishop, training clergy and seminarians better to evangelize and transform, especially among the poor and in the shanty towns.
More about our call to Peru
Bishop Godfrey has invited me to mentor, teach, encourage and come alongside his clergy in Peru. The whole country is his diocese! I heard God speak to me very clearly in Lima and we have acted upon God's call. Polly and I have accepted his invitation.
In the last eight years Bishop Bill has developed seminaries in Lima and Arequipa. There are now several energetic, enthusiastic and freshly minted clergy and lay leaders. They are adept at starting new missions especially in the “pueblos jovenes,” or shantytowns, surrounding Lima, but there are no experienced clergy who can mentor these newly ordained clergy. Some have come from other denominations and lack understanding of how the Anglican Church operates. In all this there is need for further training. Along with this mentoring, the bishop will have me teach the seminarians.
Displaced people coming in from rural Peru build the shantytowns. These extend up the valleys and up the hillsides around and above the city. The building materials are initially anything that can be found and later converted to more substantial homes. The sand is held back by either rocks or stacked old tires. The buildings lack water or drainage and electricity lines run from house to house like spider's webs. Eventually the city may build a street, a water tank and bring in electricity thus recognizing the new development. These “invaders” are coming in from rural Peru, driven by a variety of social circumstances and unrest. They are extraordinarily poor.
Ministry in the shantytowns is both evangelistic as well as socially transforming. In these communities the Anglican Church's ministry is welcomed and bears great fruit. God had given me a great love for the Anglican clergy in Peru along with a passion to develop the ministry to the “poorest of the poor” who live in these shantytowns. It will be a privilege to minister in Peru.
We serve under the oversight of SAMS-USA (Society of Anglican missionaries and Senders - formerly the South American Missionary Society, but now worldwide).
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