We have been living in a small town called Beni Suef, about 70 miles south of Cairo since September 2004. It is less busy than Cairo and less polluted although the weather is the same!
For some background information about modern Egypt please see our selection of Webpages about Egypt
We are working in partnership with the Coptic Orthodox Church, we have been sent by CMS at the invitation of Bishop Ghobrial, the Bishop here.
Chris works for the Church teaching English. He teaches English evening classes to adults, as well as the Bishop.

Angela works in a Girls Home alongside one of the nuns from the Church. This can involve helping with English, cooking and discipline. There are also opportunities to run small groups tackling a wide variety of issues. Recently she has begun a 'Mums and Tots' group.



The nun in the Picture above is Sister Nardeen who runs the home.
Anna is very happy at St Mark's Language School. It is a
private school which teaches main subjects in English rather than Arabic unlike the Government Schools.

Despite the focus on English Anna reckons she only ever speaks Arabic at school!
Isaac is very happy at the nursery where Anna used to go. They both get on very well together and continue to keep us on our toes.

Apart from our 'day jobs' we also try to attend and get involved in Church activities, the traditions and services are both awe inspiring and hard to comprehend.

We attend and are involved in an English speaking group, the diocese youth meeting and various other events and conferences. As well as this we attend the Mass at the Cathedral on Sundays.


''Palm Sunday (pictured above) is very different when you
can pick/buy fresh palm branches and weave them how you want!''
This work is made possible by our Cms Supporting Churches in the UK to whom we are very thankful.
Although we are quite close to Cairo......

Beni Suef is not really a tourist spot - it is a very standard Egyptian town.

We are however not far from the Nile and the countryside which is lovely.


We are also not too far from St Anthony's Monastery which is the oldest in the world.
Picture above is of a Monk with Sister Makaria - the Head of St Mark's
Please pray as we continue to try
and be a blessing to the people of this town and the Church we feel
called to.

Related: Cms Supporting Churches, Chris Chorlton, Mission And Outreach
Last updated: February 19, 2008.
St Matthias Church, Burley Road, Leeds LS4 2DZ.
Tel: 0113 2304408
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Web page: http://www.stmatthias.co.uk/ChrisAndAngelaChorlton