July 11, 2008

Dear Friends and supporting churches:

The window in Tom's new office at the Overseas Center for Mission Studies in Oxford.

We’ve arrived but are on the move. Tom’s first task was to secure a home. After a frustrating week where Tom found that homes posted on the Net in the morning were gone by noon, he took to biking through neighborhoods. On a quiet street, just a few doors down from the lovely Anchor Pub, he spied a “to let” sign at 25 Hayfield Road along the Oxford canal. The homes, though small two-bedroom homes with a rather plain brick façade, have lovely gardens that back up to the canal. Though the rent was affordable, the home wasn’t listed on the agent’s Web site, which is usually a bad sign. Tom called on Monday anyway just in case. Turns out, the agency had put up the sign Friday but forgot to list the property. Carpe diem!

Hayfield Road is a historic and friendly neighborhood with a small store and corner pub, “The Anchor.” We are just two blocks from the beautiful Port Meadow along the Thames River where the strawberry and raspberry fields are.

The property isn’t available until August 1 so through June and July we’ve been on the move from a student hostel, to a cottage, to two nights at a bed and breakfast, back to the hostel, and then the cottage once again. So at the moment we are circling and living out of suitcases until we can successfully land.

At the Overseas Center for Mission Studies (OCMS), Tom hit the ground running. Arriving a week before the 25th anniversary of OCMS, he was thrust into the center of the celebrations while also sitting in on a new group of students who were being inducted into the Ph.D. program. This meant a busy week of needing to be two places at the same time, each requiring his presence and with major responsibilities to fill. On top of this, the executive board meetings were taking place and required his input as well.

All this helped Tom go grasp the complexity and importance of OCMS. With over 140 part-time or full-time students working towards their master’s of philosophy or Ph.D., OCMS has a graduate program larger than most university departmental doctoral programs with research into areas as diverse as displaced youth in Romania, HIV/AIDS in Africa, conflict resolution in Kenya, and biblical hermeneutics and the Anglican Church of Malaysia. Moreover, in a context where Christianity is expanding exponentially around the globe, it is one of the few institutions that is addressing the need for research both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Such a diverse and large task would be impossible anywhere but in Oxford. Not only is Oxford home of one of the leading universities of the world, it is made up of and surrounded by leading colleges, universities, research centers awash in leading scholars whose academic diversity can embrace OCMS’s global reality. Like many other research centers in England, OCMS works in tandem with universities that register and confer master’s and doctoral degrees. Through the University of Wales we offer traditional research masters and doctoral degrees, and through City University of London masters and doctoral degrees in professional practice where full time professionals research while continuing on in their professions (I will explain more on these offerings in my next newsletter.) The job of the dean is to coordinate and oversee all this, which entails working with the students, OCMS faculty, staff, a host of supervisors, and two universities.

To do this job well requires extensive program support. Thus, the PC(USA) has established an Extra Commitment Opportunity account (ECO) that will help Tom attend key conferences and academic forums and communicate about work and mission of OCMS to supporters. It’ll also provide help to students from poor countries who are key future global leaders and scholars of the church. Below is information on how to contribute to this account.  Please note that there are two ECOs associated with us—one for our salary and living support and the second for the program support mentioned above.

Judy and Emma arrived on June 24 after visiting family and friends in California and Colorado gathering our winter clothes. Good thing! The temperature has been rainy and in the 50s to 60s for most of June. Joe and Paul will visit in August. Joe has spent the summer on a paid internship studying civil rights issues in South Carolina.

Paul is working as a counselor at Camp Rockmont in Black Mountain, North Carolina. It was a joy to learn that one of our executive board member’s sons is at Rockmont this summer.

Blessings

Tom, Judy, Joe, Paul and Emma

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 97

How to support the Harveys

Individuals may direct their contributions to one or both of our ECO accounts.

For salary and living support write our name and the ECO number (E200357) on the subject line of the check. Or click the "give" button below to contribute online.

For program support, write our name and the ECO number (E052057) on the subject line. Or click the "give" button below to contribute online.

Churches and presbyteries should give to our Directed Mission Support account, D506421. Put our names and account number on the check and send it to your normal receiving site or:

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
Church Remittance Processing
P.O. Box 643678
Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3678