St Luke's Church Eccleshill - Articles from "The Link"

Chorltons in Cairo

Chris and Angela Chorlton are our mission in Egypt. Until recently they have worked with St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church in Beni Suef (about 70 miles south of Cairo on the Nile), but Chris has now taken up a job with the Episcopal Training Centre (“ETC”) as its new director, and the family have moved to Cairo.

The ETC teaches Arabic in the mornings to foreigners, and English in the evenings to Egyptians. Its vision is that it equips young Egyptians for the workplace at affordable prices, and Chris and Angela studied there themselves when they first arrived in Egypt - so they know it from the receiving end. It hasn’t had a proper director for quite a few years, and reading between the lines of Chris’s letter there seem to have been a few issues which needed a clear head to sort out. The admin seems to have taken all hours of the day, but the shortage of teachers has been solved and the future is looking up.

The family live in a flat in Maadi, a district in the south of Cairo. It’s one of the greenest parts - shady trees line the routes to school, nursery, work and church. Anna (aged 5) is settling well into a local school with a Christian foundation which has lots of Korean children, so she’s adding extra language skills, as well as enjoying ballet once a week with Egyptian girls her age. Isaac (aged 3) is taking longer to settle into Nursery, but enjoys swimming; and Noah (aged 11 months) may soon be joining him part time. (“Noah” is a very traditional name in Egypt and gets a lot of comments.) And Angela is temporarily teaching at Isaac’s nursery, which keeps her Arabic up to speed!

By contrast to Beni Suef, Cairo has lots of churches, and the family are attending St John’s Episcopal Church in Maadi, which seems fairly lively and means they’re making a variety of friends

Prayer Pointers:

Relationships with Egyptians. It’s easy to strike up deep friendships with ex-pats from Britain and other English-speaking countries, but the point of being there is to help Egyptians. So pray they’ll find social activities, areas of work, and spheres of service that keep them in contact with Egyptians,
The joy of discipline. With three children under 6 life can become a round of domestic activities with little time for Jesus and for others. “Pray that through prayer, bible-study, times of stillness and solitude, we can be bringers of fresh, life-giving water to those around us,” they write.
The unity of churches. In a country which needs to know God’s true character, pray that the churches would show love, grace and hope.

John Hartley

	*St Luke's Church, Eccleshill - The Link* magazine** The Link is published monthly at 40p (Senior Citizens 35p), and we deliver free within the parish and post copies (at the reader's expense) to those who request it. Please contact us if you would like a free copy for a trial period. June 2009, Page 8.
Home Page. Index of articles: by subject, by date. In this issue: (June 2009) Trinity, Prayer, Question, Song, Chorltons. Other articles on the Chorltons.	Chorltons in Cairo Chris and Angela Chorlton are our mission in Egypt. Until recently they have worked with St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church in Beni Suef (about 70 miles south of Cairo on the Nile), but Chris has now taken up a job with the Episcopal Training Centre (“ETC”) as its new director, and the family have moved to Cairo. The ETC teaches Arabic in the mornings to foreigners, and English in the evenings to Egyptians. Its vision is that it equips young Egyptians for the workplace at affordable prices, and Chris and Angela studied there themselves when they first arrived in Egypt - so they know it from the receiving end. It hasn’t had a proper director for quite a few years, and reading between the lines of Chris’s letter there seem to have been a few issues which needed a clear head to sort out. The admin seems to have taken all hours of the day, but the shortage of teachers has been solved and the future is looking up. The family live in a flat in Maadi, a district in the south of Cairo. It’s one of the greenest parts - shady trees line the routes to school, nursery, work and church. Anna (aged 5) is settling well into a local school with a Christian foundation which has lots of Korean children, so she’s adding extra language skills, as well as enjoying ballet once a week with Egyptian girls her age. Isaac (aged 3) is taking longer to settle into Nursery, but enjoys swimming; and Noah (aged 11 months) may soon be joining him part time. (“Noah” is a very traditional name in Egypt and gets a lot of comments.) And Angela is temporarily teaching at Isaac’s nursery, which keeps her Arabic up to speed! By contrast to Beni Suef, Cairo has lots of churches, and the family are attending St John’s Episcopal Church in Maadi, which seems fairly lively and means they’re making a variety of friends Prayer Pointers: Relationships with Egyptians. It’s easy to strike up deep friendships with ex-pats from Britain and other English-speaking countries, but the point of being there is to help Egyptians. So pray they’ll find social activities, areas of work, and spheres of service that keep them in contact with Egyptians, The joy of discipline. With three children under 6 life can become a round of domestic activities with little time for Jesus and for others. “Pray that through prayer, bible-study, times of stillness and solitude, we can be bringers of fresh, life-giving water to those around us,” they write. The unity of churches. In a country which needs to know God’s true character, pray that the churches would show love, grace and hope. John Hartley
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