Photogallery

This “photo gallery” represents a brief pictorial overview of the combined activities of The Ark Community, and the diverse Ministries of our Community Companions. It is our hope that our Community will always be a servant of the Kingdom of God found in the universal Church … not made with hands, but of flesh and blood.

Photo 1: Some of the Ark Community Companions together with Tom Ingles (www.psalmody.org), at the Charismatic Catholic Praise & Worship Conference, Bari, Italy (2005).

Photo 2: (Left to right) Silvano Lilli (President of an Italian Evangelical Denomination CEIAM) together with Ray Bevin (Wales), Mark Hodgetts (South Africa), Tony and his Son, Daniel in Rome, 2005 buildings relationships with the Italian Evangelical Church.

Photo 3: Cross of the Scriptures at an Early Christian Celtic settlement in Ireland, Clonmacnoise, in County Offaly. St. Ciaran founded this Monastery here 548/9 AD. This Celtic-Cross stands 4.6 meters tall (15 feet). Celtic Monks used these Standing Crosses as the meeting place to instruct the Community (Clan) and celebrate their Christian faith. The carvings on the Crosses served as the pictures to illustrate the Gospel for the majority who were illiterate.

Photo 4: Another brilliant example of a Celtic-Cross at Clonmacnoise, Ireland (2004).

Photo 5: A joint celebration of some of the Ark Community Companions from South Africa and Italy, New Year 2004. This celebration was held in the Evangelical Lutheran Chapel at Capri, Italy. (Thanks Holger – Lutheran Pastor).

Photo 6: Here is the Evangelical Lutheran Chapel we use in Capri, Italy. The Lutheran Church have been very generous in allowing us, The Ark Community, freedom to use the Chapel whenever we need it, which is weekly!

Photo 7: This Phillip Shapiro with his two young sons, who is Founder of “Build the Future” a ministry which ministers to the various needs of those less fortunate. His ministry is dedicated to Social Development. Phillip has been a close Community Companion since the beginning and a personal friend of Tony (our Community Founder) since 1993. Tony and Phillip also studied together at the same Christian College. Philip can be reached on buildthefuture1@gmail.com.

Photo 8: Phillip’s friends! (Build the Future). A good friend once said, “It is more blessed to give, than to receive.” (Jesus Christ). When one experiences the warmth and appreciation a blanket can give a child, these words find their true meaning. Nothing can reward us like the joy of giving to others. Saint Francis said it in another way, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words.”

Photo 9: Just look into the eyes of this Franciscan Brother and see the love of God …! It was a privilege meeting and hearing him speak. Tony met him at an Ecumenical Conference in Italy 2005.

Photo 10: Here’s Peppino’s House, Isle of Capri, Italy. This is one of the Ark homes we use as our Community Retreats. Our retreats are open to all, and are advertised on our Community Calendar page, on the Homepage of our Website. Retreats are an excellent way of getting focused on God without the distraction from our “normal” daily routines. On retreat we live the rhythm of the day together, praying, eating, worshipping, learning, sharing and receiving … all together!

Photo 11: Here we are in Italy, Capri, some of our Community Companions having an AGAPE meal together, December 2004. Getting together is always a special time of celebration, as we have Companions dispersed in South Africa, Italy, England, Ireland, America, Switzerland, Norway and Germany.

Photo 12: As a Community we do many things together. We often holiday together, go on retreats together, etc. Here some of us went on a Celtic Retreat together in the North-East of England. This is a photo of (right to left), Enrico (our Webmaster), Adele and Maria (our translators), together with Emiliana (Tony’s wife) at the Durham Cathedral, where the Celtic leaders Cuthbert (AD.634-687) and Bede (AD.673-735) are buried.

Photo 13: Joint celebration of two Christian Celtic Communities, the Ark Community and Agape Community, celebrating the Ordination of their Priests – Gerard O’Flaherty, George Booty, and Tony Palmer (taking the picture). Milton Keynes, UK April 2005. The Ordinations were presided by Archbishop Robert Wise (far right).

Photo 14: The Celebration of Diversity – Brothers in Christ together in the Unity of the Faith in Jesus Christ. Here’s an Albanian Orthodox Archbishop, Roman Catholic Priest, Greek Catholic Canon, Romanian Orthodox, American Evangelical Pastor together with Tony (Anglican Episcopal), in Bari 2005. Although we still live in a “denominational world” the walls are no-longer strong enough to keep us from each other… things are changing, we are privileged to live in this generation and witness the crashing down of the walls like Berlin and “Denominationalism”.

Photo 15: Acres of Love picnic 2006. Acres of Love (www.acresoflove.org) is an organisation devoted to caring for children who are affected or infected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Our Community has “partnered” with Acres of Love, to financially assist their program of “Forever Homes”. The Founders, Ryan & Gerda Audagnotti are personal friends of Tony & Emiliana since 1998. Tony was the Development Director in South Africa (2001-2004) and continues to represent their interests (Fundraising) in Europe. Acres of Love have a fantastic caring program, very comprehensive, including Anti-retroviral (HAART) therapy. They can be contacted on ryn@acresoflove.org.

Photo 16: Some of the Ark Community Companions meetings in South Africa, July 2005. Tony (blue checkered shirt, centre), flew down to give feedback to some of the Founding Community Companions, concerning the Mission work he is doing in Europe.

Photo 17: This is Rev. Sergio & Karon da Silva, Community Companions who have recently accepted the “call of God” to Mission in Cork, Ireland. Sergio and Karen were previously the Directors of Jerry Savelle Ministries (JSMI) South Africa. Their ministry is orientated towards Marriage Seminars and Abundant Life teachings. Sergio can be contracted on kase.ministries@gmail.com.

Photo 18: Some of the Community on a Celtic Retreat in North East England, at the Northumbria Community, (www.northumbriacommunity.org), November 2005. This is the Chapel of Incarnation!

Photo 19: Here is a photo of the “Chapel of Incarnation” on the property of the Northumbria Community, “Nether Springs” (NE England). The delegates from our Community spent many hours celebrating, singing and praying on their knees in here. Upon their departure from “Nether Springs” they were greeted with tears. We were also told that we would be missed, as the Northumbria Community were woken up every morning by our early morning worship in the Chapel. Sorry guys! You’ll have to settle for the crowing chickens again!

Photo 20: A group photo during the Celtic Retreat at the Northumbria Community. Kneeling in the front is Rev. Roy Searle, one of the Northumbrian leaders and President of the Baptist Union, UK. The retreat theme was “New Monasticism” and ‘Emerging Church”. Northumbria Community have had a deep influence on our development as a Community. Their spirituality and monastic daily rhythm is very inspiring and effective in “stilling the soul”.

Photo 21: The Ecumenical Delegation of which Tony is a member of. Tony’s role in this delegation is as Canon to Arch Bishop Robert Wise, Head of the Ecumenical Office of the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches (CEEC), within the Celtic Anglican Tradition (www.theceec.org).

This delegation represents the Roman Catholic, Anglican Episcopal, Evangelical and Orthodox Churches. We are working for Unity as Christ prayed for in John 17:20-23.

Photo 22: (Left to right) Rev. Tony Palmer, Archbishop Mario Paciello (Roman Catholic Church), Archbishop Robert Wise (Anglican /Episcopal CEEC) and Prof. Matteo Calisi (International President of the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Communities). Tony and Robert were delegates at the Roman Catholic Church annual Eucharist Conference (Bari 2005). This is an honest desire to work towards co-operation and joint ministry. Because of meetings such as these, good relations have opened the doors for us to minister to various Catholic Congregations.

Photo 23: A good friend of ours, “lost in worship”, Bari, Italy. Reminds me of that hymn, “I just want to be where You are.”

Photo 24: Vatican City, St. Peter’s Square, Pentecost 2006: Here you can see 400 000 Born-Again, Spirit-Filled Catholic Christians singing, “Come Holy Spirit.” We sang with them, we were there, we took this picture! This was one of those occasions where, “Seeing is believing”.

Photo 25: This is a Communion Altar, taken from the Website of “The Mass”. Check out their site www.themass.com to see how these people are experimenting with “Liturgy” and the use of multi-media during a Church Service.

Photo 26: This photo was taken when our Community introduced Kenneth & Gloria to the Roman Catholic Church in Italy. This introduction lead to Kenneth & Gloria being invited to be the Main Speakers at the Annual Catholic Charismatic Praise & Worship Conference, Bari, Italy 2006. This was the first time ever Ken & Gloria had ministered in Italy or at a Catholic Meeting. In this photo there are Brothers and Sisters from the American Non-Denominational Church, UK Anglican Church, a RCC Jesuit Priest, Ken & Gloria and Celtic Anglican. Gloria has already accepted another invitation to return to Italy and minister together with the Evangelical Church of Italy (May 2007).

Photo 27: Gloria Copeland ministering in Italy, at the 2006 Roman Catholic Charismatic Praise & Worship Conference. Emiliana is interpreting. This was the morning of Gloria’s “Healing School” after which she got to “lay-hands” on almost 300 people for healing.

Photo 28: No, this is not an Operative of El Qaeda! It’s Maria, one of our bravest Community Companions on a Celtic Retreat to “Holy Island”, Lindisfarne, Northumbria (N.E England), 2005. We believe she is still in hibernation! … somewhere.

Photo 29: Tony on a pilgrimage of St. Cuthbert’s Way, en rout to the cave traditionally accepted to be his place of hiding (N.E England). Many of our Community Companions try to go on retreats like this, in order to stretch their understanding of our 2000 years of combined Christian history. It is an enriching experience to consider and experience our rich history as a Church. We have much to thank God for!

Photo 30: Here is the rest of the “gang” on pilgrimage on St. Cuthbert’s Way (N.E England). Note the good shepherd “behind” his sheep!

Photo 31: An original Oil-on-Canvas, donated to our Community by some very special people from Padova. The Author is Graziano Gaffarelli, an Italian Artist from Veneto (region of Venice).

Photo 32: This photo was taken in Fort Worth, Texas, USA at the KCM Head Office, 2005. Here is Kenneth & Gloria Copeland with Matteo Calisi, who is the International President of the Catholic Fraternity of Charismatic Covenant Communities and Fellowships (www.catholicfraternity.net). In Italy, like many other Countries of the world, a deep division exists between different Christian Churches. This division disables the Churches form ministering to each other. Therefore the “truth” that one denomination has can not be shared with who “don’t have”, leading to further division. However if we could lay our differences aside in order to minister to each other, we can heal and complete each other’s faith. But this takes patience and sustained effort; therefore we ask you all to pray for this work.

Photo 33: Pastor Tinus Marais, Head of “From the Heart Church Ministries”, South Africa. Tinus and Tony have been friends since Bible College days and have worked together on various projects, benefiting Tinus’ Church and Bible School. Tinus is one of Tony “Anam Chara”, Soul-friends.

Photo 34: Kenneth Copeland and Tony together in Brighton, UK, 2005.