Tue 7 Pray for William Workman who has a stall in Athy Market on a Tuesday morning. Wed 8 Pray for Philip Whelton,Irish Mission Worker in Arklow,and his outreach to children and young people. Thur 9 Pray for BMI Transformission Missional Church Network meeting taking place in Ballymoney tonight. Fri 10 Pray for Gareth Parker,Community Outreach Worker in Ballyloughan Presbyterian Church,Ballymena,and the outreach café held in the church on Fridays. Sat 11 Pray for Linzie Cobain and the Nightlight team working in the Golden Mile area of Belfast tonight. Sun 12 Pray for Revd Stephen Rea, Home Mission Minister in Athy and Carlow Presbyterian Churches. Mon 13 Pray for Michelle Purdy, Deaconess in Ballygowan and Second Saintfield Presbyterian Churches. Tue 14 Pray for Revd John Kirkpatrick, Noel Agnew and Pastor Edwin Ewart who act as chaplains at the NW200 International Motorcycle Event. Wed 15 Pray for Eddie Spence, Community Evangelist with Ballygomartin Presbyterian Church in North West Belfast. Thur 16 Pray for Harry Moreland,Irish Mission Worker in Cork and Aghada,and the people he speaks to who visit the church. Fri 17 Pray for Rosemary Spiers, Deaconess in First Antrim Presbyterian Church. Sat 18 Pray for Revd John Kirkpatrick, Noel Agnew and Pastor Edwin Ewart who will be on duty today as chaplains at the NW200 Motorcycle Race. Sun 19 Pray for Revd William Hayes, Home Mission Minister in Mountmellick and Tullamore Presbyterian Churches. Mon 20 Pray for Heather McCracken, Deaconess in Alexandra Presbyterian Church,North Belfast. Tue 21 Pray for Keith Preston and the outreach at the International Meeting Point in South Belfast.
Wed 22 Pray for David Morrison, community Outreach Worker in Donaghadee. Thur 23 Pray for Sally,Ann,Isobel and Billy who will be packing the June/July issue of ReachOut over the next few days. Fri 24 Pray for John McCandless, Community Outreach Worker in Mountpottinger and his outreach to men today. Sat 25 Pray for the ‘In Good Company’ bookshop and drop-in centre in Mullingar,operated by Mullingar Presbyterian Church. Sun 26 Pray for Revd Danny Rankin, Minister of the Urban Mission congregation of Strand in East Belfast, meeting in the local Primary School today. Mon 27 Pray for Sonya Anderson, Deaconess in Shore Street Presbyterian Church,Donaghadee. Tue 28 Pray for Philip Houston, Community Outreach Worker with Rathcoole Presbyterian Church. Wed 29 Pray for Michael Sentance, Community Outreach Worker,and the team involved in street outreach today. Thur 30 Pray for the BMI Executive Staff:David Bruce,David Thompson, Robin Fairbairn,Nehru Dass and Lorraine Beatty. Fri 31 Pray for the BMI Administrative Staff:Mandy Higgins,Marianne Trueman,Elaine Huddleston,Evelyn Craig and Laura Whitcroft. JUNE Sat 1 Pray for Revd Donald Watts,Clerk of the General Assembly,and Revd Trevor Gribben,Deputy Clerk,as they make final preparations for the General Assembly next week. Sun 2 Pray for William Workman and the monthly evangelistic outreach service held in Athy tonight. Mon 3 Pray for the opening night of the General Assembly in Londonderry tonight. Tue 4 Pray for the new Moderator Revd Rob Craig as he begins his year in office.
Daily Reading Plan Provided by
E M ! LL UT PU O
Daily Prayer Diary May/ June 2013
Connect April - May 2013
APRIL 2013 8 Apr 1 Corinthians 1 9 Apr 1 Corinthians 11 v 2-16 10 Apr 1 Corinthians 11 v 2-16 11 Apr 1 Corinthians 11 v 17-34 12 Apr 1 Corinthians 11 v 23-32 13 Apr 1 Corinthians 12 v 1-11 14 Apr Psalm 47 15 Apr 1 Corinthians 12 v 12-20 16 Apr 1 Corinthians 12 v 21-31 17 Apr 1 Corinthians 12 v 31–13 v 7 18 Apr 1 Corinthians 13 v 7-13 19 Apr 1 Corinthians 14 v 1-26 20 Apr 1 Corinthians 14 v 26-35 21 Apr Psalm 48 22 Apr 1 Corinthians 14 v 36-40 23 Apr 1 Corinthians 15 v 1-11 24 Apr 1 Corinthians 15 v 12-20 25 Apr 1 Corinthians 15 v 20-34 26 Apr 1 Corinthians 15 v 35-58 27 Apr 1 Corinthians 16 v 1-4 28 Apr Psalm 49 29 Apr 1 Corinthians 16 v 5-18 30 Apr 1 Corinthians 16 v 13-14 MAY 2013 1 May 1 Corinthians 16 v 19-24 2 May 1 Corinthians 11 3 May Nehemiah 1 v 1-3 4 May Nehemiah 1 v 4-11 5 May Psalm 50 v 1-15 6 May Nehemiah 2 v 1-8
7 May Nehemiah 2 v 9-20 8 May Nehemiah 3 v 1-32 9 May Nehemiah 4 v 1-23 10 May Nehemiah 5 v 1-19 11 May Nehemiah 6 v 1-19 12 May Psalm 50 v 16-23 13 May Nehemiah 7 v 1-73 14 May Nehemiah 7 v 73; 8 v 12 15 May Nehemiah 8 v 13-18 16 May Nehemiah 9 v 1-25 17 May Nehemiah 9 v 25-37 18 May Nehemiah 9 v 38–10 v 39 19 May Psalm 51 20 May Nehemiah 11 v 1–12 v 26 21 May Nehemiah 12 v 27-47 22 May Nehemiah 13 v 1-14 23 May Nehemiah 13 v 15-22 24 May Nehemiah 13 v 23-31 25 May Nehemiah 13 v 31 26 May Psalm 52 27 May 2 Peter 1 v 1-4 28 May 2 Peter 1 v 5-7 29 May 2 Peter 1 v 8-15 30 May 2 Peter 1 v 16-21 31 May 2 Peter 2 v 1-9 JUNE 2013 1 June Psalm 53 2 June Psalm 54 3 June 2 Peter 2 v 10-22 4 June 2 Peter 3 v 1-7
Taken from Explore, published by The Good Book Company. Available from Christian bookshops and www.thegoodbook.co.uk/explore Also available as a mobile App from the App Store and Google Play.
Discipleship in the Deep South David Boyd Irish Mission Worker Dublin
O
ver 20 years ago I was asked by my then minister to lead a Navigators 2:7 Discipleship Group.The experience of seeing how God worked through that group convinced me that an intentional discipleship process was,by some distance,the best way to develop mature and equipped followers of Jesus.It also changed the course of my life and eventually led me to join the Irish Mission. When I came to work in Dublin and started to see people being converted through an Alpha Course that I was running,I began using that same Navigators 2:7 Discipleship Course as a follow-up.So when I was invited to attend a two-day conference on Life on Life Missional Discipleship,presented by members of the ministry team of Perimeter Presbyterian Church from Atlanta,Georgia,I was intrigued. I immediately realised that there was something different about these people. They had put an enormous amount of work into studying Jesus’methods of ministry,and as a result had made the discipleship process the focus and centre of their church life.I began to get really excited. As they described how they go about discipling people,I got a glimpse of a more focused and intense discipleship experience than anything that I had seen before.The more I heard,the more convinced I became that this was the way the church was meant to function all along.
continues inside >>
Daily Prayer Diary April / May 2013 APRIL Mon 8 Pray for Muriel Cromie, Deaconess in Belfast City Hospital and Ballygilbert Presbyterian Church. Tue 9 Pray for Brian Simons and his outreach at the Dock Café in the Titanic Quarter on Tuesdays. Wed 10 Pray for Billy Patterson and the Hotel Bible Study taking place tonight in Drogheda. Thur 11 Pray for the ‘In Good Company’bookshop and drop-in centre in Mullingar operated by Mullingar Presbyterian Church. Fri 12 Pray for Stephen Young, Community Outreach Worker in Ahoghill,and his outreach to people with addictions on Friday mornings. Sat 13 Pray for the Nightlight teams working in the Golden Mile and Odyssey Arena tonight. Sun 14 Pray for Revd Stephen Richmond,Home Mission Minister in Donegal Town Presbyterian Church. Mon 15 Pray for Margaret Robertson, Deaconess in Gardenmore Presbyterian Church in Larne. Tue 16 Pray for the Alpha Course that Revd Janice Browne from Rathmullan, Milford and Kerrykeel is helping to run. Wed 17 Pray for the Alpha Course starting tomorrow,being run by Maynooth Community Church. Thur 18 Pray for BMI Rural Mission Network meeting taking place in Moy Presbyterian Church today. Fri 19 Pray for Tom Dowling,Irish Mission Worker in Kilkenny. Sat 20 Pray for Andrew Dawson, Family and Community Worker with Newington Presbyterian Church in North Belfast. Sun 21 Pray for Revd John Faris,Home Mission Minister in Cork and Aghada Presbyterian Churches. Mon 22 Pray for Julie Peake, Deaconess in Portrush Presbyterian Church. Tue 23 Pray for Keith Preston and the outreach at the International Meeting Point in South Belfast.
Wed 24 Pray for Michael Sentance, Community Outreach Worker at the International Meeting Point,and his street outreach on the Lisburn Road today. Thur 25 Pray for Christoph Ebbinghaus,Convener of the Board of Mission in Ireland and Minister of Kirkpatrick Memorial Presbyterian Church in Belfast. Fri 26 Pray for Billy Hamilton,Minister in Claggan & Orritor,and members of the congregation involved in outreach at the Cookstown 100 Motorcycle Race today and tomorrow. Sat 27 Pray for the BMI Worship Panel ‘Big Sing’event taking place today in Assembly Buildings,Fisherwick Place, Belfast. Sun 28 Pray for Revd John Woodside and the growing Home Mission congregation in Drogheda. Mon 29 Pray for Jackie O’Neill, Deaconess in Joymount,Carrickergus. Tue 30 Pray for the Administrative Staff in the BMI office:Mandy Higgins, Marianne Trueman,Elaine Huddleston, Evelyn Craig and Laura Whitcroft. MAY Wed 1 Pray for Billy Patterson who leads the Hotel Bible Study in Drogheda tonight. Thur 2 Pray for the Evangelical Bible Study tonight led by Tom Dowling,Irish Mission Worker in Kilkenny. Fri 3 Pray for Stephen Young, Community Outreach Worker with Brookside Presbyterian Church, Ahoghill,and the outreach to men on Friday mornings. Sat 4 Pray for Brian Simons and the Nightlight team working in the Odyssey Arena in Belfast tonight. Sun 5 Pray for Revd William Montgomery,Home Mission Minister in Fermoy and Cahir. Mon 6 Pray for Tracey Nicholl, Probationary Deaconess in Ballywillan Presbyterian Church,Portrush.
Apathy, athiests and Buddhists in Ahoghill
Meet with God
Stephen Young – Ahoghill Community Outreach Worker
Sharon Heron, Deaconess Strand Presbyterian Church
These past three months have been pretty hectic since starting as Community Evangelist in the Ahoghill area.I have been visiting within the congregation,doing door-to-door and street evangelism,where there have been many challenges such as apathy,atheists,Buddhists, people with addictions,and also many who think just because they're being ''good'' that they don't need the Lord.Pray that God would move in lives of these people. We're also in the middle of a Christianity Explored course which has been going really well,we pray that God would save souls through this too. There's also a group of young boys who come into the church hall on a Thursday night to play football.Most of these boys have no church connection.The Brook Cafe is on every Friday morning for anyone in the community to come in for a cup of tea,a bite to eat and a chat,but more importantly we get to share God's word with them. Our aim is to bridge the gap and build up a relationship with the lost and we pray that people would come to know Jesus and be saved and all would done for the glory and honour of God.
Ossory Park outreach Bible study Tom Dowling Irish Mission Worker, Kilkenny Over the past couple of years we’ve started running Christianity Explored Courses in Community Centres in Kilkenny city.Our most recent one was run in the newly opened Ossory Park Community Centre. During the course we had anything from 8 to 14 in attendance each week.The evening started with a cup of tea/coffee,then a short Bible study, followed by the Christianity Explored DVD. This is followed by a time for questions and a look at some relevant Bible verses. As far as I can remember,this is the first time that we’ve run a course where numbers were bigger at the end than at the start! Those who came seemed to enjoy it,and when the course ended three weeks ago we decided to rent the hall for another 10 weeks to run a follow-up Bible study.
Over the last number of years Strand has been very involved in reaching out to the migrant community. It started with one Polish mummy attending our mother and toddler group,and has gradually grown to establishing relationships with families from Thailand,the Philippines,Lithuania and Poland. Through various programmes and spending time with the families we have fallen in love with our migrant community. God has put a desire in our hearts and a longing to see our friends come to faith in Christ. Although we had invited these families to church on many occasions,there wasn’t much success.They found the language barrier very difficult. To our amazement,a Polish family approached us for prayer concerning a young man who had had a very serious accident. We were able to meet with the family and pray,and offered prayer for the young man the following Sunday at our morning service. We were overwhelmed when over 40 Polish people attended our morning service. The young man was not expected to survive.Today he has made a full recovery. Our minister,Danny Rankin,had upon his heart to establish ‘Meet with God’. He wanted to give the migrant community an opportunity to hear more about God, and to learn more in an informal way. We meet every fortnight with about five families,and have an opportunity to bring prayer requests and share in much conversation afterwards over coffee. It is a very family orientated meeting with many scooters and volley ball games. We count it a privilege that God has opened a new door of opportunity and we ask for prayer as we continue to share the gospel.
Our family is growing Roberta Irvine, Deaconess Greystone Road, Antrim On Sunday morning the teenage girls met for their discussion in the corridor. Well,our family is growing and there was no space anywhere else! This meant constant flux and hard floors and well,the room was rather long and narrow. As the congregation flooded out for coffee time one girl said in the softest of voices that there were still lots of questions after reading her chapter. Her voice was low but the message was clear. Please pray that we would be perceptive to these small,quiet moments as they often speed past us. •The small questions swept away by expediency or indifference. •The small worries which fed the bondage and fuelled the fires of dissension.
Last Thursday there were 16 of us there.Over the 10 weeks,we’re studying the first five chapters of John’s gospel.
•The small details lost in seas of bigger dramas and louder voices.
Please pray that as we do this,God will be at work in our midst,and be glorified.
In truth,pray that we will not ignore God.
•The small moments which the spirit would use but the flesh dismissed.
Discipleship in the Deep South continued from front page They gave us three simple reasons why we should do Life on Life Missional Discipleship (LOLMD): 1.Jesus did it 2.Jesus had no other plan to reach the world 3.Jesus commanded us to do it THE MAIN THING For Perimeter,discipleship was not simply a bolt-on extra for an already full church programme,an option for the “really spiritual”folk.Making disciples had become the reason for their existence.They took Jesus’command in Matthew 28 seriously,studied His life to learn the principles behind how He discipled,and applied those principles to their own context. They had made the main thing, the main thing. When they invited me to come to Atlanta for a three-and-a-half week Discipleship Intensive I thought there was simply no way I could manage that. Then,as I thought about it I realised that I had never taken a Sabbatical in my 16 years of service with the church,and this would really be an opportunity to go and study something that I was passionate about.The BMI shared my enthusiasm and approved my application for a sabbatical and I was on my way to Atlanta. The ensuing three-and-a-half weeks were truly an intense experience as I worked through all the aspects of LOLMD with 40 other pastors from places like China,India,Australia,South Africa,Poland,Kazahkstan,Brazil and Guatamala. Some of these people were much further along in the process,and it was tremendously encouraging to hear of LOLMD groups up and running in lots of different locations around the world. MONDAY NIGHT FOR MEN What I found really exciting was attending Perimeter’s Monday Night for Men, when the men’s discipleship groups all meet.Perimeter currently has 116 men’s discipleship groups in operation,and 86 women’s discipleship groups.Having come from an environment where it is difficult to get men to participate in any church meeting,never mind discipleship,this was inspiring. The senior pastor told us that he introduced discipleship when he came to the realisation,as he put it,that the church was a mile wide and an inch deep.He believed that what they needed above all else was to deepen the congregation’s spiritual experience,and the most effective way to do that was through discipleship.Then,when they got their discipleship process up and running,and leaders started to develop and multiply out,growth started to happen without them even thinking about it.It was a natural by-product of good health. It seems to fly in the face of conventional church growth thinking which majors on evangelism.Perimeter would argue that if you go deep and achieve a healthy congregation,then they will evangelize as a natural part of their discipleship process.A congregation of 6,000 people and a record of planting 32 churches in the Atlanta area would seem to go some way to corroborating that claim. THE WAY JESUS DISCIPLED We shouldn’t really be surprised at that.The way Jesus discipled the Apostles wasn’t the twenty-first best way to reach the world,it was the best way.That’s why he did it.That’s why he didn’t have a Plan B.That’s why he commanded us to it.