Diocesan News20 Apr 11

'Half our team would be dead in Ethiopia' says marathon running Bishop

On 2nd May, the Church of Ireland Bishop of Down and Dromore, The Rt Revd Harold Miller, will run the Belfast Marathon Relay with a team of church leaders from NI and Ethiopia.

Left to right: Bishop Harold Miller, Rev Ken Todd, Tim Magowan, Ruth Cooke (Tearfund)

'The average life expectancy in Ethiopia is 48 which would mean that half of our team wouldn't be alive to make this run' says Bishop Harold Miller, who is also one of Tearfund’s Vice Presidents. Bishop Harold is running the relay with a team of local clergy including former Presbyterian Moderator Stafford Carson and former Methodist President Ken Todd. They will be joined by over 100 runners from churches, businesses and health professionals from around NI. 
 
Simon Haile and Tefera Abiche, the 2 Ethiopian church leaders who are running with the local clergy, both work for the Kale Heywet Church, which has been a long term partner of Christian Relief and Development Agency Tearfund.  To date, Tearfund's support has enabled 275 Kale Heywet churches to establish savings schemes and small businesses benefiting 70,000 people living in poor communities.
 
‘At Easter we remember that Jesus came to bring new life - physically, emotionally, intellectually, culturally, socially and spiritually' says Rev. Ken Todd. 'I'm delighted to be running to help to bring new life to thousands of people like Thhuy, whose life was transformed when she got a loan from a church based savings scheme to set up a bakery business'.

Together, the teams hope to raise £10,000 to help 20 more Ethiopian churches establish savings groups and small businesses which will benefit a further 5,000 people in poor communities. The clergy team can be sponsored online at  www.justgiving.com/Tearfundglobalrunningteamor by phoning the Tearfund NI office on 028 90 682828.
 
‘This run highlights how local churches are helping us deliver our vision – to lift 50 million people out of material and spiritual poverty through a worldwide network of 100,000 local churches’ says Tim Magowan NI Director, Tearfund. ‘You can see for yourself the impact local churches are making here - http://see.tearfund.org/’.