CONFERENCE
A time to plant Pip Florit looks at the exciting ministry of church planting and highlights PCI’s upcoming conference, ‘A Time to Plant’.
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cross Ireland, society is changing at a rapid rate. From demographics, to attitudes, to family structures, to morals, there has been, and continues to be, a shift. Attitudes to faith have not escaped this shift. We live in an increasingly secular society where more people have less experience of church. Perceptions of church have altered, creating a difficulty in reaching out to those who have no first-hand experience of church. And so the divide between church and society, the sacred and the secular, Christianity and spirituality is getting wider. How can we bridge this divide? The town of Balbriggan is about 20 miles north of Dublin, a popular home for commuters and migrants, but a place with little gospel witness. A couple of years ago, members of Donabate
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Herald March 2020
Presbyterian Church, a church planted around 10 years ago, saw the need for outreach in Balbriggan and began to engage with the community. Over the past two years, they have started a home group, played football with locals and held an Alpha course in a local pub. Since January, they have been piloting a Sunday afternoon service and are excited to see where God will lead the community. Balbriggan is just one of the stories of churches popping up throughout Ireland
…churches that don’t necessarily look like we expect, but…are reaching people who may never have heard that God loves them…
– churches that don’t necessarily look like we expect, but churches that are reaching people who may never have heard that God loves them and wants to give them new life. Perhaps this gives you a lot of questions: How do we plant churches? What does the Bible say about church planting? How can the church reach out to people who have little knowledge of God? What is my part in church planting? If you are asking any of these questions, PCI’s church planting conference is for you. ‘A Time to Plant’ will take place on Saturday 9 May at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dundalk. From 10am to 4.30pm, there will be opportunities to hear from people who have been involved in church planting, both internationally and in Ireland. The conference will seek
