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Imagine you are about to lose your family home by the end of the year. Your community no longer has anywhere to meet. Imagine being a Bishop in the Anglican church and facing this situation. This is the exact scenario facing the Bishop of Bolivia (Father Walter Toro). The landlord of the premises used by the church of El Buen Pastor (The Good Shepherd) in Tarija (in the south of the Bolivia) has given the congregation notice to leave. Walter and his wife Adela live in a flat over the church. They now face the prospect of being homeless.

The economic situation in Bolivia is terribly difficult at the moment. The country has run out of dollars, inflation is rampant, unemployment is rising. The congregation of El Buen Pastor have been hit hard by these economic headwinds. People have lost their jobs, and disposable income is very tight. This all means that the little church of 35-40 people simply does not have the financial resource to find the $40k to secure them a new church building and home for the bishop for the next three years. As you can imagine, it is weighing heavily on their minds.

The Church of England in Birmingham has a mission partnership with the Diocese of Bolivia, which started in 2013. There are some seven or eight congregations with a direct relational link with Bolivia. We do what we can to offer support, but in this emergency we really need your help. We are attempting to crowdfund at least £10k to help the congregation in Tarija find a new home. They are lovely, faith-filled people, following Jesus in difficult times. Can we ask that you consider coming alongside them in their time of need? Please consider asking God how he might want you to respond.

Thank you. It will be such an encouragement to our hard- pressed brothers and sisters in Tarija.

Revd Geoff Lanham (on behalf of the Birmingham Diocese Bolivia Task Group.)

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