The Rev’d Canon David Longe, JMECA’s newest director, is a cradle Anglican who has always had a passion for social justice.
Although members of his family showed no surprise at his call to ordained ministry, his path there was not straightforward. Following a degree in Divinity from Edinburgh, his first instinct was to work for social justice as a lawyer, specialising in human rights law, and specifically the rights of asylum seekers. He certainly speaks with passion as he recalls some of the cases he was involved in, fighting for people who had been trafficked or whose back story was horrific. In retrospect, although he would certainly have regarded this as Christian-inspired work, he believes that God was not calling him to ordained ministry then. But then he was.
David served a Curacy in North Lambeth, which brought him face to face with some of the ugly realities of modern urban life, including gang culture and drug culture. His experience there demonstrated to him that the Church was often a “last chance saloon for the vulnerable.” David gives the impression of someone who has never been shy of involvement in life as it is really lived. He says that his down-to-earth approach stems from growing up on an apple farm in Suffolk. Now he is Rector of several villages in Norfolk, but in between he spent three years as Chaplain to Bishop Suheil Dawani, Archbishop of Jerusalem – an experience that has shaped his understanding of the role of the Church, and of vocation. His regards his life story as one of “God calling me into the journey of the unknown.”
It was while David was collecting funds to finance his time in Jerusalem that he first came across JMECA, to whom he says he is eternally grateful for support. He went to Jerusalem as a CMS partner (another organisation that David endorses enthusiastically), and he and his wife Sara “fell in love” with the place immediately. He had a sense that the Gospel was being played out in the Diocese in a special way, and he gained an enormous respect for the “living stones” who minister, work and pray there, and whom the Diocese supports. Asked what his experience has added to his ministry, he says it has given him a world-wide perspective of Anglicanism and widened his horizons. It has given him a new and contextualised understanding of scripture. He wants to share that in his current parish ministry.
He has done so by leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Lands, and by keeping his congregations in touch with the realities of the situation there to inform their prayers. He says so many in the parishes he serves are shocked and grieved by the horrific events playing out in the Holy Land and in particular Gaza."He sees his parish as “walking alongside” the peoples of the Holy Land, supporting them through prayer and seeking to learn more about the situation. David keeps himself informed by, among other things, reading Ha Aretz and other Jerusalem based English language newspapers daily. The “walking alongside” role is one he sees JMECA also undertaking.
David says he is honoured to have been invited to be a director. He values the role of JMECA as one who has benefitted from its funds in the past, and as he sees it might develop its role of widening the horizons of more people, by telling the stories of the people in the whole area it serves. He believes JMECA can act as a bridge between separate groups who support different aspects of work or specific parts of the JMECA constituency; and between different understandings of Anglicanism that obtain there. “Connectivity is the key,” he says.
David’s enthusiasm is infectious, and that is an enthusiasm fuelled not only by character and experience but by scripture and prayer. Psalm 91 is a favourite:
“He who lives in the shelter of the Most High, who lodges under the shadow of the Almighty says of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and fortress, my God in whom I put my trust.’”
As he prays daily for Jerusalem and the Holy Land, he often uses a prayer which is found in St George’s cathedral.
Pray not for Arab or Jew, for Palestinian or Israeli; but pray rather for ourselves that we might not divide them in our prayers but keep them both together in our hearts.
Sleeves rolled up and with passion and enthusiasm, David looks forward to his role at JMECA.
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