Was held at St Jacut in Brittany as it had been the previous year; this was a very good decision, because although it is an awfully long way to travel, it is the perfect setting in a delightful area of France on the sea shore.

The building is gracious, the spring garden alive with flowers (even bluebells!) So everything is conducive to hard work and getting the most out of lengthy sessions, so that we do feel we have made the effort, and that attendance was a privilege as well as an opportunity to grow, in the company of like-minded people from all over the country.

The theme of the Synod this year was The Idea of Mission and Bishop David brought to our attention that our aim was to "serve Anglicans, and English -speakers throughout Europe, plus the former Soviet Union, Turkey and Morocco" quite a challenge. Our mission is Godsent. If I leave aside financial and legal aspects (which you can question me on, if passionately interested), we can look at some other aspects of the ground covered.

The Archdeacon referred to the title of the Synod " Go forth quickly and tell......." in his introduction of the speakers: Michael Harvey with his "Back to Church Sunday" which we tried out in the autumn, Lance Person, the actor, reading St Marc's Gospel, Michael Hepper on "Mission in the Market Place" and Charles Howard on "Mission and the tangle of our minds".

Our own Chris Martin, from Lyon kicked off giving us an overview of the present situation, telling us that in 1800 13% of the population lived in towns; this crept up to 19% in 1900 and by now well over half the population is crammed into a smaller space. As populations migrate, they lose contact with their roots, family, church and tend to drop into poverty.

With globalisation, we find that neighbours tend to be foreigners, ethnic diversity is a normal experience : we are swamped by refugees, tourists and "vagabonds" - sometimes inciting fear into the hearts of the locals, which is played upon by untrustworthy politicians, because fragmentation leads to fragility and France has become a spiritual desert - whereas there is rapid growth in African churches - though this is sometimes viewed as secularism or thinly disguised paganism. But the centre of the Christian world seemed to have moved south, where believers were often more conservative - and sometimes harsh in judgment.

Chris thought our churches represented Linguistic imperialism and said we are now post denominational; it is true that in Lyon as here, at St Marc's we have only a small percentage of British Anglicans! He followed by talking of the advantage of diversity, he importance of a community, that "church" was more than just on Sundays and that small(ish) was beautiful. He brought out the slogan "Believing, belonging, behaving".

On Thursday Bishop David spoke on "One in Serving and Proclaiming the Gospel : Mission in an Ecumenical Context"; followed by an open debate.

After Michael Harvey spoke enthusiastically about "Back to Church Sunday", emphasising the need for individual people to bring with them ONE uncommitted friend. In many places the result has been very positive.

That evening, Lance Pierson gave his dramatic rendering of St Marc's Gospel. His lively style went over well. Friday Michael Hepper launched into "Mission in the Market Place" : in the small town of Civray a realcafé "La Bergerie" has been opened and is run by two good ladies as a pleasant spot where the "church-shy" were invited to encounter a new and successful way of evangelising. Bishop David presided the closing session We were shown photos of Bishop Geoffrey at the ordination of Father Engin in Istanbul. Bishop Geoffrey is a seaoned traveller and loves to get about. He's the only other person I know who has visited Albania! Ministry in national languages was touched on and sensitivity to oecumenism. Bp. Geoffrey would surely appreciate our efforts to have translations of our service flashed on to the wall and (in many cases) teaching of Sunday School in French.

After the Rev. John Murray, who preached on our European experience, had celebrated the Eucharist the Synod came to an end and we wended our long way home. Driving with Alan and Val, we stopped off at a lovely château with fabulous gardens and spent the night mid-France. They showed me some lovely places I should not otherwise have known.

Alison Coulavin, 13th April 2010