US Bishop to be SAMS/CMS South American director: CEN 8.22.08 p 5.

The Church Mission Society (CMS) and the South American Missionary Society (SAMS) have called the Assistant Bishop of Pittsburgh to be is Mission Director for South America.

Bishop Henry Scriven will join CMS/SAMS on January 1 to oversee its South American work. Bishop Scriven a former SAMS missionary in Argentina and Spain and the former Suffragan Bishop of the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe will return to England after six years in Pittsburgh.

Writing to the diocese on Aug 15, Bishop Scriven said he and his wife had “enjoyed living and working [in Pittsburgh] more than any of the other 12 places we have lived in the last 33 years of marriage. We have incredibly gifted clergy and lay leaders and I know realignment will bring fresh incentive for mission, both local and worldwide.”

He added that his decision to return to England was not related to Pittsburgh’s political battles with the American church. “My decision does not reflect any change of heart regarding realignment or my confidence in the vision and leadership of the diocese,” Bishop Scriven wrote.

In addition to the opportunity of guiding SAMS at this new stage of its corporate life, Bishop Scriven noted the “major pull” of being “nearer the family.” The bishop’s children and grandchildren reside in the UK.

CMS and SAMS are working towards a merger by January, subject to final negotiations and decisions by their respective governing bodies. Bishop Scriven will initially work in a leadership role within SAMS but it is planned that he will ultimately become the Mission Director for South America in the Oxford office of the new mission agency.

Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan stated he was sad to see Bishop Scriven go. “We will miss Henry’s grace and humor, his international insights, his leadership of our diocesan networks, and his pastoral caring,” he said.