Ro pic 1On Sunday 20 July 2014, Rosemary Pritchard’s time with Thurrock’s Methodist Churches came to an end.

But her work with Wycliffe Bible Translators is just beginning!

Grays Methodist Church was packed to the rafters as folk from the Methodist Churches of Stanford-le-Hope, Linford, Horndon on the Hil and Grays came together to say their goodbyes.

Also present were Rosemary’s parents from Kent, and others from across the fellowships of Thurrock, including ministers and leaders who attend the weekly Grays Leaders’ Prayer gatherings, of which Rosemary has been a frequenter since she moved over to Grays from Stanford about 5 years ago.

Before the service, there was a celebration tea in the Church Hall, with sandwiches and cakes aplenty. This enabled some local clergy to be part of the precedings before going off to their fellowships to conduct evening services. Rosemary cut a cake made especially for the occasion. On the cake was written the words, “Rev Rosemary Pritchard. May God guide you with his richest blessing as you continue with his work.”

Ro pic 2The service was conducted my Rev Marion Cole, Superintendent of the South Essex Methodist Circuit. Contributions came from Cleveland Key of Horndon on the Hill Methodist Church; Peter Risk from Linford; and Maggie Watts of Grays.

Rosemary’s address was the story of how she’s got to where she’s at and where she’s going next. Most of us know that Rosemary is an accomplished linguist – it is her God-given talent. She will be working with Wycliffe Bible Translators, whose vision is “that by working with churches, organisations and individuals from around the world all people will know God’s love in a language that they truly understand.” There are still 98 million people speaking 1576 language groups in the world who still have no known scripture in their language.

The GLP members prayed with Rosemary on the platform (see photo below).

This is summed up in the pages of the leaflet that was made available at the service (and which can be read by clicking on the two links to the left of this article for pages 1 & 2 of her partnership leaflet). Read it here:
Ro words

Ro pic 3Transformation Thurrock would like to thank Rosemary for her gracious unifying love; her ever-sensitive proclamation of truth; and her ability to delight in sheer ‘geekiness’ when it comes to obscure etmological facts and practical Wesleyan doctrine.

We shall miss her, but we release her with our collective blessing and love, to go to all the peoples of the world and preach in their own languages the Good News.

Ro, may God guide with his richest blessing as you continue with his work.

Rosemary will be sending back news from time to time, which will be published on the TT website. She will also remain on the TT mailing list, and so will keep up with all our antics and progress as the revelation continues to unfold in Thurrock.

Links