VOX January 2020

ISSUE 45 / JANUARY - MARCH 2020

FREE Equipping, Resourcing & Empowering Leaders Celebrating 10 years with Innovista Ireland

Building on a Great Legacy Exciting Changes at Scripture Union Ireland

YOU WELCOME US HOME

The debut EP from Sherry Hazlett-Gallen

Help us lift people out of poverty Wednesday 25th March National Coffee Morning with Spirit Radio For more information and to receive your free ‘Coffee Morning Pack’ call us on 01 878 3200 or email niamh.daly@tearfund.ie /tearfundireland

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CALLING FOR COFFEE MORNING HOSTS

EDITORIAL

Fit to Lead? he problem with “one size fits all” is that it usually doesn’t. You’ll know what I mean if you have ever tried to squeeze your hands into “magic gloves” that were anything but magical.

And yet, so often we gravitate to the obvious, especially when it comes to choosing our leaders. In the Myers Briggs personality type indicators, ENTJs are touted as good leaders because they are “self-driven, motivated, energetic, assertive, confident and competitive.”

Yet, if you scan through the pages of Scripture, it is evident that few of the leaders God appointed would have fitted the norm - by modern standards, they were too young or too old, hindered by lack of confidence, anxiety and illness or lacking the right ethnicity or pedigree.

I love the way that the Kingdom of God turns everything upside down (or perhaps we should say, the right way up). God chooses the unexpected, the insignificant, the small, the weak and the “foolish”.

Jesus Himself, a 30-year-old carpenter from an obscure backwater, modelled a style of leadership that shocked even those who followed Him. As a young leader, He chose to

T

God chooses the unexpected, the insignificant, the small, the weak and the “foolish”. serve rather than to be served and to exercise His (obvious) authority in humility and sacrifice, shunning the limelight and empowering others to do “greater things.”

As we begin not only a New Year but also a new decade, what kind of leadership is needed in our churches, in our communities and in our nation? And how can we value and release the leadership contribution of those God is choosing?

In this issue of VOX magazine, we celebrate with Innovista as they mark 10 years of Equipping, Resourcing and Empowering Leaders (page 12). We meet the new National Leader of Scripture Union who is Building on a Great Legacy (page 21).

And we highlight the diversity of what God is doing around the island - from Derry to Bandon - as different individuals and churches lead where they are!

SUPPORT VOX AND GET YOUR COPY DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR DOOR. VOX is a ministry run by a passionate team of volunteers and relies on donations to cover 50% of our costs. Donate as little as €12 and get VOX delivered to your home for a year for free!

www.vox.ie Ruth Garvey-Williams Editor (editor@vox.ie)

JAN - MAR 2020 VOX.IE

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CONTENTS 12

20 41 16 18 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 06 08 10 17

January - March 2020 Issue 45

Cover Story

Equipping, Resourcing and Empowering Leaders - Celebrating 10 years with Innovista Ireland Building on a Great Legacy - Exciting Changes at Scripture Union Ireland You Welcome us Home - The debut EP from Sherry Hazlett-Gallen

Features and Interviews

Leadership for a New Decade - What young adults want to say to older Christians Identity, Inclusion and Intersectionality - Highlights from Rubicon 2019 Jesus, the Church and Young People - A vision for disciple-making youth ministry The Search for Home - New resource helps Christians engage with the homeless crisis Military Training and Christian Transformation - what have they in common?

Hope Centre Opens in Derry - “The city is the report card of the church.”

The Methods have Changed but the Message has not! - reaching out with the Gospel in rural Ireland.

My Story - meet Bibi Brosman An Unhurried Life - Ana Mullan continues her series considering a better New Year’s resolution God’s Strategy to Change the World - getting to the heart of mission with CMSI

VOX: Shorts

VOX: World News Your VOX: Inbox Musings with Patrick Mitchell

19 41 44 46

EDITOR Ruth Garvey-Williams editor@vox.ie LAYOUT, ADVERTISING & DISTRIBUTION Jonny Lindsay jonny@vox.ie SUBSCRIPTIONS Ireland & UK: Min. €12 for four issues Overseas: Min. €20 for four issues Subscribe online at www.vox.ie.

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VOX SHORTS

OVER 200,000 CHILDREN ON HEALTH WAITING LISTS

New figures reveal that almost 215,000 children are waiting for surgical procedures, appointments or therapies across the country, with one in five waiting over one year.

• 90,000 children waiting for community health care services • 19,000 children waiting for speech and language therapy.

• More than 7,000 children and teenagers waiting to see a psychologist.

Children’s charity, Barnardos, described “blatant inequality” in how children access vital health services across the country, with what appears to be a lottery depending on where children live. The figures show that, for example, in north Dublin there are 1,469 children on waiting lists for follow-up speech and language therapy compared to zero for Dublin southeast and ten for Dún Laoghaire. Early intervention is essential, especially for a child with special needs or suffering from mental ill health. “If you have a waiting list, that means a child may be further back than they need to be in terms of their developmental trajectory,” a Barnados spokesperson said.

ACTION NEEDED FOR PENSIONERS

The charity Age Action Ireland has raised concerns that the current State pension system is not fit for purpose, with many older people surviving on incomes only just above the poverty line. A State Pension should lift older people away from social exclusion and enable them to grow old with dignity. Age Action has urged the Government to meet its commitment to benchmark the State pension at 35% of average weekly earnings to afford on-going certainty to this vulnerable group.

NO RELIEF FOR THE “WORKING POOR”

Social Justice Ireland reports that more than 689,000 people are living in poverty in Ireland, an increase of 36,000 people since 2008. Despite impressive economic growth and record levels of employment, there has been no relief for the working poor. The number has been consistently over 100,000 people for several years now, and there are currently an estimated 111,000 people living in poverty despite being in employment.

“Clearly, a rising tide doesn’t automatically lift all boats,” the charity stated.

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IBI OPEN DAY

Tuesday 21 January (daytime and evening) Have you ever thought about studying at Bible College but don’t know if it is for you? The Irish Bible Institute offers open days to provide a taster. You are invited to sit in on classes, talk to students about their experiences and chat to staff about what study options would be most suited to your needs. The January open day includes three classes on Communicating the Bible and Interpreting and Applying the Bible.

Find out more at www.ibi.ie.

MOMENTUM 2020

17 - 19 January Youth Leaders from across Ireland will gather at Ovoca Manor in Co. Wicklow for a weekend hosted by a dynamic partnership of agencies including Alpha Ireland, Innovista, Scripture Union, Youth for Christ, Christ in Youth and Dublin and Glendalough Youth Council. Momentum seeks to encourage, equip and excite Parish and Youth Ministry workers from all denominations to call their young people back to the family of faith. This year’s theme is “Followers First - in Him we live and move and have our being.” Speakers Ana and Sean Mullan will look at how we can inspire, equip and excite young people to follow Jesus by first being followers ourselves. Find out more at www. momentumireland.com.

TEARFUND NATIONAL COFFEE MORNING Groups around the country will host coffee mornings on Wednesday 25 March to support the work of Tearfund Ireland in lifting people out of poverty.

Call in to one of the events or plan your own.

Visit www.tearfund.ie for more info.

4 CORNERS FESTIVAL 2020

31 January – 9 February The 4 Corners Festival seeks to inspire people from across Belfast to transform their city for the peace and prosperity of all. It consists of innovative events designed to entice people out of their own ‘corners’ of the city and into new places where they will encounter new perspectives, new ideas and new friends. The theme of this year’s festival is ‘Building a city of grace’ and comprises a range of events featuring discussion, music, prayer, drama, poetry and storytelling in venues across Belfast. Find out more at www.4cornersfestival.com

“EMBRACING CHANGE”

Join a one-day faith-inspiring conference hosted by The Irish Association of Christian Counsellors on Saturday 28 March at the Riasc Centre, Swords, Co. Dublin. Open to all those involved in the helping professions, including counsellors and those in pastoral care.

Keynote presenter, Michael Ferris, will give his inspiring workshop on ‘Soul Care’ and his unique presentation on “Journey to the Potter’s House” using his potter’s wheel. The conference costs €50 per person (including lunch) and runs from 9.30am to 4.30pm. Book online at www.iacc.ie.

VOX MAGAZINE

TOWARDS REVIVAL

Towards Jerusalem Council 2 Ireland (TJC2) facilitated meetings in Dublin and Drogheda for Messianic Jewish leader Matthew Rudolph in October. Matthew leads Gateways Beyond International, (www.gbcy.org) a family of messianic missional communities with bases in Israel, Cyprus, Switzerland, Germany and the US. These communities draw inspiration from the Book of Acts and the Irish Celtic church. Matthew has a passion for honouring authentic Celtic Christian spirituality and its impact on Ireland and throughout Europe. Gateways brought the leaders of their communities to Bray for a three-day Convergence, held in Cornerstone Church. This was a real blessing to Irish leaders who participated.

Matthew led a seminar in South Dublin entitled Towards Revival in Ireland. He shared his understanding that the 250 High Crosses and the 90 Round Towers on Monastic sites are memorial stones to the move of God’s Holy Spirit through the Irish Celtic Church. However, “we don’t live in the shadow of their history but in the shout of their testimony.” In other words, we draw inspiration from the testimonies of the past to enable us to accomplish today what God is calling us to. For further information email tjc2ireland@gmail.com.

BLUE CHRISTMAS

Parishes and churches across Ireland helped to acknowledge the pain of grief and loss during the Christmas season through a number of sensitive “Blue Christmas” services and events. People who are ill, grieving, or suffering in different ways can feel all the worse when we’re surrounded by noise and celebration.

Blue Christmas Services provide a quiet, reflective space where people can find support and comfort, without having to adopt a false sense of Christmas cheer.

ADVENT SHEEP TRAIL

During Advent 2019, visitors to Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, were invited to experience a creative prayer pilgrimage by following the “sheep trail” featuring lovingly hand-knitted sheep from across the diocese and as far afield as Canada! Open until Christmas Eve, the trail included seasonal Advent reflections for parish, school and community groups and individual visitors.

MV LOGOS HOPE TO VISIT IRELAND

Logos Hope (OM Ships) will return to Ireland this year with visits to Cork and Dublin, hosted by OM Ireland and supported by local churches. The unique floating bookfair offers over 5,000 titles, providing many visitors their first-ever opportunity to purchase quality educational and Christian literature. In each port, the ship’s crew join local churches to share hope and show God’s love to people whatever their circumstance or background.

Cork: 27 May - 9 June | Dublin: 17 - 30 June Find out more at www.om.org

STREET PREACHER COMPENSATED FOR ARREST

A Christian street preacher is to receive £4,000 in compensation from British Police after being arrested and detained in a cell for almost six hours in the north of England in 2018. The Christian Institute, which defended the man, said that the police failed to tell him the charges at the time of his arrest and “left him in limbo” for six months before informing him that he would not be prosecuted due to lack of evidence. The street preacher is donating the full amount of the settlement to the Christian Institute’s Legal Defence Fund to support the organisation in helping more Christians “fight for religious liberty”.

ASYLUM SEEKER NOW CHURCH OF SCOTLAND MINISTER A former asylum seeker who escaped Islamic extremists in his native Pakistan has been ordained as a Church of Scotland minister. Raheel Arif was serving as the vice-principal of a secondary school in Pakistan when he says a plot to have him arrested for blasphemy was mounted against him. He was the only Christian out of a staff of 52 at the school and while the blasphemy plot failed, his enemies succeeded in having him demoted. Eventually he fled to Scotland in September 2011 with his wife and two children, after they received threats from extremists.

ACTORS WANTED

A new Christian theatre production “Forever Mine” is seeking professional actors for an Ireland tour in 2020. There are three possible roles for male actors (aged 25 - 40). Email for more info or send CV to forevermineproduction@gmail.com.

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WORLD NEWS

WHAT DOES 2020 HOLD FOR PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS?

Over 200 million Christians around the world begin 2020 with the threat of increased persecution hanging over them. David Turner (Director, Church in Chains) points to some of the countries to keep an eye on in 2020.

CHINA For the past two years, President Xi Jinping’s Sinicisation policies have been strictly implemented with a dreadful effect on the followers of all religions in China. Unlike previous religious crackdowns, this one is being driven by a clear ideological objective – to force all religions to change their core beliefs and practices to conform to a Chinese Communist Party version of their religion. This harsh crackdown has been most clearly seen in the internment in detention camps of over one million Muslims from the ethnic Uighur minority in their homeland of Xinjiang province.

However, Sinicisation has also had a severe effect on China’s Christians – over a million Christians belong to thousands of churches that have seen crosses forcibly removed, children banned and pastors and leaders arrested.

Hundreds of churches have been closed. The crackdown is expected to continue in 2020, with further church closures and other measures designed to promote loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party above God. INDIA In India, the number of violent attacks on Christians by Hindu extremists has risen for the fourth year in a row. While fullyear figures for 2019 are not yet available, 349 incidents of persecution against Christians were recorded from January to September (an average of nine per week). Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s re-elected government has shown no sign of taking effective action to halt the attacks. Indeed, the prospect is of more attacks in 2020 as Hindu extremists are further emboldened to continue their hate campaign in pursuit of their “Hindus only” vision for India. Another threat hanging over the church in India in 2020 is the prospect of the introduction of a national “anti-conversion” law. Such laws already exist in seven Indian states, where they have led to increased violence against Christians.

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PAKISTAN Christians in Pakistan would dearly love 2020 to be the year that the country’s notorious blasphemy laws were reformed but they do not hold out any hope as the year begins. The final resolution of the Asia Bibi case in May 2019 (when the innocent Christian was allowed to leave the country six months after being acquitted of blasphemy) was broadly welcomed outside Pakistan but inside the country Muslim fundamentalists remain vehemently opposed to any changes in the blasphemy laws, under which innocent Christians and Muslims continue to suffer because of misuse of the law to make false accusations.

MIDDLE EAST In the Middle East, conflict, instability and lack of security continue in Iraq and Syria, leaving Christians displaced and seeking to emigrate. However, Egypt – which has the region’s largest Christian population – has seen great improvements for religious freedom in two areas: the virtual cessation of terrorist attacks on Christians; and the continuing progress in government licensing of churches. Over 1,000 churches have been approved in the past three years by a government committee set up to address the long-standing problem of churches being unable to obtain permits for their buildings.

“I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH” While the prospect for the worldwide Church is of further persecution, it is also true that the Church continues to grow and the Gospel continues to be preached in China, India, Pakistan, across the Middle East and elsewhere as foretold by Jesus to his disciples. Find out more at www.churchinchains.ie.

LOGOS HOPE COMES TO IRELAND

Cork: 27 May - 9 June Dublin: 17 - 30 June

Since 1970, OM’s ships have visited over 150 different countries and territories and welcomed over 48 million visitors on board.

Operation Mobilisation Lacken House Rahara Co. Roscommon F42 PV24

We are excited to announce Logos Hope will be visiting Ireland in 2020 and we want you to join us in this exciting and unique ministry.

Let’s explore together the special opportunity that Logos Hope’s visit could present to the Church this year.

t: 090 662 3964 e: info.ie@om.org w: www.om.org

LOGOSHOPE2020.ORG JAN - MAR 2020 VOX.IE

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The Story That Changed Everything

Five years ago, I heard something that changed my perspective on crisis pregnancy. I was taking a class on pastoral care through my denomination and a fellow classmate shared his story. Years previously, he had a platonic friend who found herself pregnant.

She decided that she was going to have to get an abortion because she didn’t have enough money in her pay cheque every month to support another person. He asked her, “How much are you missing every month?” She told him, and he said he’d cover that amount for her so that she wouldn’t have to get an abortion. He sent her a cheque every month for that amount. She did not get the abortion.

At the time I heard his story, the woman’s little girl was around 12 or 13 years old. Mother and child were doing well, and he was still sending them a little money sometimes for extra expenses. I was floored. He didn’t wait for the experts. He didn’t criticise her. He didn’t assume someone else would take care of her. He simply did what he could for his friend and he didn’t abandon her the minute her child was born. He continued to be a friend.

He recognised two things that I think we should all know: (1) it doesn’t take an expert to give support and (2) a crisis in an unplanned pregnancy doesn’t end with the birth. After four years of pondering this story and wondering how people like me could support women in crisis pregnancy, I felt God was leading me to start Zoe Community.

Last year, we recognised areas where we could make a difference: training volunteers and connecting women to support.

A year on, we now have a board of directors and are ready to file our application for charity status. We also have a new website www.zoecommunity.ie and we are planning the first training opportunity for volunteers in the spring.

You don’t need to wait for the experts to help women in crisis.

If you are passionate about supporting women and want to listen without criticism, your presence could make a massive difference in the life of another. If you want to sign up for training, sign up to our newsletter, send us an email, follow us on social media or go to our website www.zoecommunity.ie There has to be more we can do! We can all learn to listen and respond, if we are willing.

Katy Edgmon, Dublin

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Equipping, Resourcing and Empowering Leaders CELEBRATING 10 YEARS WITH INNOVISTA IRELAND

F

or a decade, Innovista Ireland has provided practical leadership training programmes, workshops and coaching to enable leaders to flourish and to launch innovative mission initiatives. From the intensive Tempo Course to one-off workshops and conferences, the small Innovista team has invested in the lives of hundreds of people across Ireland. To celebrate this milestone, we spoke to Ireland Director Sam Moore and to some of the individuals whose lives have been enriched through Innovista’s ministry. Find out more on www.innovista.ie.

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SAM MOORE Director of Innovista Ireland “In the face of a leadership crisis in Ireland and an emerging generation of disillusioned young people, we want to be a part of God bringing the hope of the Kingdom transforming communities, churches and society with the good news.”

These are words I wrote ten years ago. In a decade everything has changed and nothing has changed. More than ever we need churches and followers of Jesus who bring the transformation of the Kingdom to every community on this island. More than ever, we need leaders of integrity who, in the words of our schools’ leadership programme, “positively influence people by serving them and making their lives better.”

In the survey of 18-30-year-olds carried out by VOX a few years ago the clarion call of that generation was for the church to engage, serve and transform local communities. The young adults asked to be equipped and to be

released. That’s why Innovista Ireland is here – we equip people with the practical skills to serve and transform their communities with the hope of Jesus.

Innovista walks alongside churches, teams and leaders and provides support, coaching and practical training.

In the words of one church leader “70% of what I do I wasn’t trained for, Innovista is helping fill that gap.” We also provide a leadership programme for schools called RISE that churches can deliver in their local community.

VOX MAGAZINE

As I look back over the last 10 years of Innovista working in Dublin and the North West, I’m blown away by the ways we have seen God at work, by the ways in which we have been privileged to support and equip others as they work to see God’s Kingdom come where they are as it is in heaven.

We’ve equipped leaders (many wouldn’t call themselves leaders) to start all sorts of mission initiatives from community cookery classes to homework clubs. We’ve been privileged to experience the unity Jesus prayed for in John 17 as churches and organisations have partnered and collaborated, putting the Kingdom ahead of their own agenda.

Looking back causes me to look forward. What will Ireland look like in another ten years? What will the church in Ireland look like in ten years?

What stories will we be telling of God’s Kingdom breaking through? How do we need to start equipping people now for that future?

JOHN-MARK MULLAN Church leader from Coleraine, NI We asked for help from Innovista at a key “crossroads” moment in our journey as a church. The church was growing, and we were starting to overflow the space in which we meet - a good problem to have but one that required some creative thinking and discernment about the way forward. Sam from Innovista came in and worked with our leadership team, leading us through a process of reflecting on our journey up to this point, and clarifying some of our “core values” - those things that are really important to us as a church, and which we want to guard and deepen as we go forward.

We then found that we were able to be quite decisive in ruling out some options for the

future, which would have done violence to our identity and values. This cleared the way so we were then able to make positive decisions about the way forward, without anxiety and with a strong sense of unity. Innovista helped us think clearly and strategically, and helped us both to listen to each other as a team and also to listen to God. Some of our team also had oneto-one coaching from Innovista. This has been helpful in identifying areas of struggle or weakness and strategies for developing in these areas, and on the positive side in identifying areas of strength, and “dreams and visions” for the future. It has helped to clarify priorities and to work with a stronger sense of purpose and joy.

RUTH KINGSTON Nurse and youth worker in Cork I am a nurse living in Cork city and I’m part of a local church here. But I have a huge heart for west Cork so I’m also involved in a youth project in Ballydehob, a small village in the south west of the county. Eventually I’d like to move out of the city and back to west Cork.

I think I did the very first Tempo training course in Dublin. I was involved with Urban Junction at the time and doing youth ministry in Blackrock so it was very easy to put the training into practice.

It feels like a long time ago now, but I can still remember the importance of drawing up the next generation of leaders and mentoring them. That has remained important to me and my heart is to disciple others and spur people on to use their God-given gifts. God uses all of our experiences and pulls them together to form a tapestry and I can see how the Tempo training has contributed to my journey.

I’ve learnt to obey God even in the call to Ballydehob. It is not convenient to be commuting across but on Tempo, I learnt about the importance of investing

I LEARNT ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF INVESTING FOR THE LONG TERM AND SEEING GOD AT WORK CONTINUALLY, NOT JUST IN THE PROJECTS WE RUN. for the long term and seeing God at work continually, not just in the projects we run.

We are all part of the body of Christ and we are all leaders in our own sphere of influence. It is so important to be able to take somebody under your wing. In nursing, it is an attitude of heart to want to help somebody in their journey, whether it is supporting somebody who is sick to help them get better or mentoring younger colleagues.

In churches too, there is such a joy in serving and investing in people. Younger people have so much to offer and you are pulling out gold when you encourage them to lead and grow.

SAM CRAWFORD Youthworker in Strandtown Baptist Church, East Belfast I studied theology and anthropology at Queens University and then ended up as a youth worker. It was initially supposed to be a temporary thing but it ended up growing and I’ve been here nine years!

I did the Tempo course six or seven years ago. Before that I hadn’t done any formalised ministry training (aside from academic studies).

Having the time to JAN - MAR 2020 VOX.IE

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stop and think and doing it with others was really helpful.

For me it helped shape a lot of what I was doing, especially the process of working through developing a vision and figuring out how to communicate.

Sharing the vision with the group was a helpful way of clarifying what I wanted to do and it was inspiring to hear other people’s stories.

We run a Friday night youth programme aimed at building up the young people within the church and a standard youth club. We also run small groups for young people, one-to-one mentoring and a leadership development strand to raise up young people to lead in different areas. Tempo helped shape the way I think about passing information on to younger people. We began to work on building up the young people themselves to reach out rather than trying to do everything ourselves. We’ve been really fortunate that we have a great team of 25 volunteers who help out in different ways. Tempo inspired me to decentralise my leadership by encouraging others to speak and to get alongside the young people.

We have between 25 and 40 young people and they benefit from a high ratio of adults involved. One of our challenges is to support the leaders who are younger.

As a youth minister, I recognise

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this is a long-term ministry and entertainment won’t set the young people up for the future. Many of them leave to head off to university and when they move away it can be a shock to the system. We want to prepare them for that. At the heart of what we are trying to do are three core areas: Community, Discipleship and Mission. We talk about a place to belong, a place to change and a place to serve and we try to keep a healthy balance between those three areas.

ASHLEIGH LEA Working with the School Completion Programme in Dublin My journey with Innovista began in 2011 when I did the Tempo course in Belfast. Part of the course involved thinking about the vision for something we’d love to do. For me, that was and still is working with young people from areas of social and educational disadvantage. Over a few coffees and chats, Sam Moore and I discussed the possibility of me coming to Dublin as an intern to pilot the “Future Leaders” programme, which later became RISE. I arrived in Dublin in September 2012.

Over the next five year, we saw RISE grow and develop in its content and in how it helps young people across Dublin to identify and experience being leaders of positive change in their communities.

During these years, I began to recognise how much I enjoyed working within the school environment.

Through Tempo, I was able to identify my desire to work with teenagers and through RISE, I gained great experience and understanding of being in the

school and classroom. And I loved it.

I decided to go back to college and re-train as a secondary school teacher with the hope of being able to work with teenagers who struggle with being in school, and all that it brings.

In August 2019, I started a job as a project worker with the school completion programme in Dublin, which aims at working with the young people and their families who are most at risk of early school leaving.

I am absolutely loving it! It feels like a beautiful blend of my education and youth work experience. I even get to work in one of the schools where Innovista still delivers the RISE programme. My time with Innovista was so fundamental to my growth in skills, experience and confidence that have led me to where I am today.

EOGHAN HEASLIP Minister at St. Catherine’s Church, Dublin I was invited to attend and contribute to a “Learning for Life” Conference about two years ago. It gave me an insight into Innovista’s work and I was blown away by the experience.

Participants of all ages came from a wide range of different denominations.

More recently Sam Moore came to do some specific training with our staff team as a church. The challenging questions enabled us to have an honest conversation about where we are at as a team. It was hugely valuable and a boost for us all.

As church leaders it is essential for us to develop key leaders within our congregations.

AS CHURCH LEADERS IT IS ESSENTIAL FOR US TO DEVELOP KEY LEADERS WITHIN OUR CONGREGATIONS.

Keynote Speakers: Bill Johnson Andrew Cannon Robby Dawkins Jean-Luc Trachsel and others Tim & Sue Eldridge Co-Hosts of ELA Venue: Life Church Bradford BD3 0EQ Dates: 27-29 July 2020 Book: europeanleadersalliance.org JAN - MAR 2020 VOX.IE

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LEADERSHIP FOR A NEW DECADE

VOX magazine’s “Young Adults” survey at the end of 2015 provided a challenging insight into the relationship between Millennials and the Church. With responses from over 700 18 - 35 year olds, the research provided far more data than we were able to publish at the time. So as we consider how we equip, release and empower a new generation of leaders, we took a look back at some of the (previously unpublished) comments from that survey. Here the young adults address older Christians and church leaders.

Most church leaders and older Christians have been faithful to their calling and context. The challenge is for younger Christians to help adapt Christian faith for the dramatic changes of the technological and Internet revolution.

Give young people a chance to fly but be a good kite string for them. Just because God did it that way (whatever that way was when you were younger) doesn’t mean He is doing the same thing today. In fact, the Bible says He is doing a new thing!

Sometimes I feel you need to give young people a chance to surprise you in doing God’s work in leadership. While experience can be important, fresh ideas and energy should be used.

There were no good old days. Ireland has always been a complex and tragic place for the message of Jesus. We don’t want to return to any stage in our past. We want to discover the new thing that God is doing, not reheat the leftovers of days gone by. We are ready to lead.

God is bigger than our understanding and I feel leaders often shoot down ideas just because they have never personally experienced it. We shouldn’t be so quick to write off how God may be speaking to someone else. God is a creative God and loves to amaze us.

We need to learn from you. You have so much wisdom that so many of my generation are missing.

We need mentoring and discipleship and guidance.

Don’t judge young adults. We have enough people looking down on us without the church rallying against us too. Be an encouraging voice.

Thank you for giving us shoulders to stand on and for the ground you cultivated ahead of us. And thank you for the opportunities you give us to continue what you started. Keep giving our generation the space to make mistakes and learn from them. And keep entrusting us with responsibility and leadership.

Please spend time teaching and mentoring those who are younger. We don’t need to make the same mistakes if we learn from your wisdom and experience. But you must be real - there is no point in teaching us one thing but living another.

Release more. Learn to delegate.

Don’t underestimate young people. Don’t isolate us in youth activities - join us and encourage us to join in your activities. Teach the truth. Young Christians are swimming against the tide and it often seems that Christian leaders are unwilling to support us.

We want to connect with you and be mentored by you. We respect you and know you have wisdom to share with us; please do! Let’s be friends.

Give us responsibility and expect more than you do. Challenge us on our sin and call us out on our shortcomings. One morning a week won’t turn us into the faith-filled people you want to see. You need to invest in us and encourage us to invest into others.

Thank you for paving the way for us. Be patient with us as we figure out our way.

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Photo: Agape

Musings...

VOX MAGAZINE

on the Unique Character of Christian Leadership With Patrick Mitchel

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feel ambivalent about the word ‘leadership’. I’ve been involved in leadership for a long time in Christian organisations and in church. I have made plenty of mistakes and am continuously wrestling with the unique character of Christian leadership. Unlike any other form of leadership, Christian leadership is shaped by life in the Kingdom of God.

MODERN LEADERSHIP

In our culture ‘leadership’ often carries images of a courageous individual forging a path for others to follow. Leaders discern priorities and set vision. They decide how an organisation will achieve the vision and so the ability to evaluate, plan and make things happen is seen as intrinsic. This understanding requires the leader to be a particular type of person: a charismatic personality; a skilled manager who can co-ordinate resources to achieve strategic objectives; a creative communicator; and decisive in determining the way forward.

In other words, this sort of ‘take-charge’ leadership is all about exceptional people who have superior ability to achieve goals. Such leaders are given significant power and are trusted to use it for the benefit of the business.

The trouble is none of this describes leadership in the New Testament! My ambivalence comes from the feeling that much Christian leadership practice is shaped more by modern leadership’s preoccupation with the unique individual getting results than it is by the Bible.

WHAT CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP IS

It is surprising how little detail the New Testament has in relation to what leaders actually do. They are to be able to teach (2 Timothy 2:24-25) and provide oversight (1 Peter 5:2; Hebrews 13:17). Most detail comes in Ephesians and there the emphasis is not on natural talent but on Christ’s gifting of specific people to “prepare God’s people for works of service” in order to build up the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16).

Rather than modern leadership’s obsession with the unique ability of an outstanding individual, the New Testament is far more concerned about who leaders are as examples of mature Christian character (Hebrews 13:7; 1 Peter 5:3). They are to be trusted, hospitable, gentle, free from greed and ambition (1 Timothy 3; Titus 1).

There is nothing unique about Christian leaders – they are simply to display Kingdom qualities. Paul commands all believers to “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21). His overriding concern is that believers unite as one in Christ under His Lordship – it is Jesus they follow not their leaders. Every Christian is first and foremost a follower – and that includes leaders.

The New Testament authors are of one voice – there are no levels of superiority and status within the body of Christ. [And all of this means that there is absolutely no logical reason why leadership should be gender-specific. Women, just as much as men, are called to display the same Kingdom characteristics].

The New Testament is far more concerned about who leaders are.

WHAT CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP IS NOT

Jesus warns against leadership within the Kingdom of God aping the Gentile world’s leaders, who use their power and status to “lord it over” others (Mark 10:42-43). Instead He deliberately inverts any hierarchy, “the greatest among you should be like the youngest” (who had least status, Luke 22:26).

While Paul has plenty to say about leadership, he is also deeply counter-cultural and fully in line with Jesus. It’s remarkable how Paul consistently does not address leaders of the churches to which he writes, even when the church has serious problems. Rather he talks to the whole community, teaching them to act with one mind together as disciples of the Lord (e.g. Romans, Corinthians, Philippians, Ephesians, etc.). In these letters Paul never tells church members to fall in behind the vision of their leaders nor does he exhort leaders to take charge. In fact, like Jesus, he deliberately rejects controlling leadership or reliance on magnetic personalities (1 Corinthians 1:18- 2:5).

WHAT DOES ‘SUCCESS’ LOOK LIKE?

Such leadership is simply unparalleled in the world. Rather than ‘success’ being measured by achievements (such as the size of our churches), the job of Christian leaders is to use their God-given gifts to help the church to grow and “build itself up in love as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:16). Love is the church’s most fundamental purpose and is therefore what Christian leadership is all about.

I’m not ambivalent about that vision of Christian leadership!

Dr. Patrick Mitchel is Senior Lecturer in Theology at the Irish Bible Institute. You can follow his blog at www.faithinireland.wordpress.com.

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Identity, Inclusion and Intersectionality Highlights from Rubicon 2019

Many social justice problems such as sexism and racism are often overlapping, creating multiple forms of social injustice. Speakers at the Rubicon Conference in 2019 explored issues of inequality and exclusion, and looked at how God’s people are called to respond. Here we bring you a few highlight quotes from a challenging day.

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peaker and activist, Lisa Sharon Harper is the founder of Freedom Road and author of several books including the award winning work “The Very Good Gospel.”

When we govern in ways that crush, exploit and exclude people made in God’s image, we are actually declaring war on God. Leadership is not domination; it is servanthood, cultivation and protection.

Aristotle introduced the concept of western supremacy - to be a full human being meant to be male, white & able bodied.

If you were not those three things, you were not fully human.

We cannot say we follow Jesus if we bless the few at the expense of the many.

The top 10% of Ireland’s population receives 25% of the nation’s income. The

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bottom 40% only receives 22%.

There are ways to level the playing field but it is not enough for you to have pity on a disadvantaged team.

You need to change the structure or the rules or both.

As a race relations expert, equality advocate and university lecturer, Dr Ebun Joseph was the founder of the first Black Studies module at UCD: Trying to fight exclusion is like trying to fight darkness.

Darkness only goes when we turn on the light.

Exclusion only disappears when we include.

Scientifically it has been proven that we are all the same and yet we live in a society that still defines us by the colour of our skin.

Race and racial thinking still affect the lived experience of people in Ireland.

If you are not impacted by race it means you are advantaged by race.

Dr Rosaleen MacDonagh is a playwright and activist with multiple degrees from Trinity College Dublin. As an Irish Traveller who is also wheelchair-bound, she spoke powerfully from her own experience of racism and exclusion: I grew up experiencing hostility towards Travellers.

We were always on the edge of the town, the edge of the system. And unfortunately we are still there on the edge.

Racism has become normalised in our everyday language and encounters.

In Ireland, they may want a black person but they certainly don’t want a traveller.

Who is in our friendship circle? Who are we being taught by and influenced

by? The challenge is to push beyond our comfort zone.

I want to have a diverse group of people around me.

Other speakers highlighted the challenges faced by those who are trapped in poverty or disadvantage, and called for a church that is willing to listen and learn: Imagine you were defined by the worst decision you have made in your life.

- Debs Walker We need to stop talking about being a voice for the voiceless. People have a voice but we don’t want to hear it. We need to pass the microphone and listen!

- Jenn Clark Even the best churches are a long way away from seeing spiritual input from those who communicate in a different way or don’t look like us. God subverts the world’s definition of weakness and inferiority.

- Kate Bowen Evans

CONFESSIONS OF A FEINT SAINT

VOX MAGAZINE

As the years roll by…

By Annmarie Miles

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020! Can you believe it? I don’t want to wish my life away but being in a new decade reminds me that just two years from now, I’ll be preparing for my own new zero. 50 is looming large on my horizon. Now I know what you’re thinking – two years, bags of time. You’re right of course. In fact, when I was growing up, if ever we discussed an event more than a fortnight away, my father would say, “Sure we could be dead by then.” Thanks, Daddykins, for that happy thought.

I shared about two friends of mine who are doting grandfathers, last time, and as I get older, I feel a level of grandparent grief. I spent years watching my friends and family become parents, and now they are becoming grandparents – the loss hits me again. Day to day I’m happy and God has given me great contentment over the years but, every so often, the things He hasn’t given me are sharper in focus.

As the saying goes, age is just a number, and for many, simply a state of mind. I believe this until I kneel down and try to get back up again. I’d like my mind to give me the dexterity of a 20 year old. Sadly, as I clamber to my feet, ouching and oooching, it doesn’t happen.

I spent time with a dear old friend recently. She is 85. She used to preach, teach and counsel regularly. In her heart she’d love to continue but her body won’t let her. She has had two strokes and a serious infection in the last couple of years.

She is currently having treatment for skin cancer and macular degeneration in both eyes. And yet when she prays, the room lights up. When she listens to me pour my heart out, and responds to my words, she lifts my spirits. I meet with her and I think, YES LORD! Let the years come. Let the years bring with them maturity and understanding and grace and contentment and wisdom and a prayerful heart. She makes my latter years something to look forward to.

If that’s the benefit of old age, then bring on the zeros. At the rate years are passing, I’ll be 50 in no time. It feels like the new millennium was about five years ago. I think I still have the bunting. Not sure I’ll get a chance to use it again. I wonder, now that we’re in the 20s again, if the Charleston might make a comeback? It looks like fun. What a shame I haven’t got the knees for it.

“I believe this until I kneel down and try to get back up again.”

Annmarie Miles is originally from Tallaght and now lives in her husband Richard’s homeland, Wales. As well as VOX articles, she writes short stories, and is working on a book about her journey with food, weight gain, weight loss and God. Visit her blog at www.auntyamo.com. On Twitter she is @amowriting.

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FAITH

BUILDING ON A GREAT LEGACY

Exciting changes at Scripture Union Ireland

Gareth Lynch is the new National Leader of Scripture Union Ireland. He spoke to VOX magazine about his excitement for this new role and for the work of Scripture Union:

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ELL US ABOUT YOURSELF:

I am originally from Mullingar, in the Midlands. I was a missionary kid and lived in Nepal for eight years until I was 12 years old. My parents worked with the Nepal Leprosy Trust. I completed my secondary school education in the Midlands and when I went to college, I had every intention of being a zookeeper. My work over the years has been everything from builder’s labourer, to financial services, to managing a Christian Retreat Centre. I never did end up as a zookeeper! I am married to Sharon and we have two young boys who are full of energy and keep us entertained.

WHEN DID YOU TAKE OVER AS NATIONAL LEADER OF SU?

I became National Leader in August 2019. I am the first National Leader (in title anyway) - my predecessors were General Directors. I took over the role from Jim Donnan who was the SU’s Director for over 20 years. I’ve

friend. So many doors have been opened during Jim’s time and Ireland is a different nation. Jim allowed SU to move with the times and has left a great legacy for us to carry in this next chapter. Jim is a great man for paperwork so he ensured that I was well versed in everything I needed. I’m extremely grateful to the SU team, council and volunteers for their support during this transition.

HOW DOES YOUR FAITH SHAPE THE WORK THAT YOU DO?

I really wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing without God in my life. This is both a huge responsibility but the lightest of loads, knowing that God only wants the best for me, won’t give me more than I can carry and that, though what I can offer is insignificant, He chose me. With that knowledge, I seek every day to be Christ-like and allow this to inform and guide my interactions and decisions.

TELL US ABOUT SCRIPTURE UNION

The purpose and mission of Scripture Union Ireland is to work with churches, parishes and schools by creating opportunities for children and young people to have an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ and grow in their faith, through engagement with the Scriptures, so that they may serve their community and influence their world. To simplify this further, our heart is to come alongside churches, parishes and partners all over Ireland to equip them for mission in their community. We believe

I’M EXCITED ABOUT THE INCREDIBLE LEGACY AND FOUNDATION OF MINISTRY THAT SU HAS AND THE TANGIBLE SENSE THAT WE ARE ABOUT TO LAUNCH INTO SOMETHING INCREDIBLE. really valued Jim as a General Director during my time with SU (I joined in 2016). We have always had an excellent relationship and I think of him as a 20

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our future is in more intentional collaboration with these partners, after all, we’re called to the great CO-Mission.

TELL US THE HISTORY OF SCRIPTURE UNION IN IRELAND?

Scripture Union was founded in 1867 and established in Ireland in 1896. In 1867, Josiah Spiers started “Special Services” for children in Islington, London. This idea grew rapidly to become the Children’s Special Service Mission (or CSSM). While on summer holiday at Llandudno beach in North Wales, Josiah drew the Bible text, “God is Love” in the sand for children to decorate. The enthusiastic response of the children started the first of many missions for children and families. In 1896, the Irish ministry of Scripture Union was born in Greystones – then known as the Greystones CSSM it became an annual event. CSSM still happens annually in Greystones and Dun Laoghaire. Some 600 children, young people and families from the local area and beyond attend this mission.

From small beginnings Scripture Union Ireland has grown to have a staff team of 11 and over 200 volunteers.

We also have a retreat centre at Ovoca Manor in Wicklow. In 2019, SU worked directly with 10,000 young people through 25 camps and worked with over 100 schools residentially at Ovoca Manor and through in-school retreats.

Additionally, countless others will have experienced one of our many resources such as NUA, “It’s Your Move” or “Luke the Book”.

VOX MAGAZINE

WHAT EXCITES YOU ABOUT YOUR NEW ROLE IN SCRIPTURE UNION?

I’m excited about the incredible legacy and foundation of ministry that SU has and the tangible sense that we are about to launch into something incredible.

Being a Christian organisation in secular Ireland has many challenges. In the light of this, I am excited to see how God will use and direct us.

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR 2020?

Scripture Union Ireland has entered an exciting new chapter with a new leadership team, a new structure and a renewed vision. This leaves me with no doubt that there will be a lot of new things: new ways of doing things, new ideas, new relationships and new opportunities for ministry. The SU team is excited and we are encouraged when we see that same excitement stirring in the church and the many ministries we partner with!

NUA: ORIGINS

HOW DOES SU SERVE THE IRISH CHURCH?

Today SU serves the Church by providing resources such as the NUA film series or making our retreat centre Ovoca Manor available at a low cost for church and youth groups. We want to do so much more! We want to come alongside churches and equip them to engage in mission, particularly in schools, by providing resources, training, support and experience. Scripture Union Ireland and the many organisations we partner with have many open doors, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES SU’S WORK MAKE IN THE LIVES OF INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS?

This feedback came in from a parent after a school retreat in 2019, “She came home so uplifted and the couple of

As part of our NUA film series, we are also launching a new film series in March 2020 called NUA: Origins.

This series is geared towards a younger age group, 11-14 years. The project will involve eight episodes looking at the nature of God and His Creation, the meaning of Jesus’s death, Jesus’s Resurrection, Prayer, the Bible, the work of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ Church and living as a Christian. This will be another resource available to teachers, youth leaders, parish workers and individuals, that will help reach young people and encourage them to explore their faith. days have opened her mind and heart.

She has struggled with religion, had no strong sense of faith and labelled herself as an atheist. We had a lovely conversation last night and she is now filled with such appreciation for her time with you as she felt it was so peaceful and relaxing (her words not mine) and that she is thinking more about beliefs and faith.” When a parent takes the time to contact us, it becomes really special and uplifting.

We work with many young people who have not stepped inside a church and are very dismissive of faith and are often very vocal about the fact. To see God soften hearts time after time and allow young people to become engaged in conversation about who Jesus is and what He did for them is why we do what we do. It keeps our team motivated to keep pushing on.

HOW CAN CHURCHES OR INDIVIDUALS GET INVOLVED/ PARTNER IN SU’S WORK?

SU is a volunteer organisation and without that dedication from people to give freely of their time, we would not exist! As a volunteer-led organisation, we exist to equip and resource people to do mission. We want to see young people engaging with their faith often, through different avenues, so if you and your community have a missional heart and would like to explore getting involved with youth ministry, we’d love to hear from you.

There are many opportunities in your area, from assisting at a school retreat, running clubs, leading on an SU camp or assisting with some of the many maintenance requirements at our retreat centre, Ovoca Manor. Find out more at www.scriptureunion.ie.

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Jesus, the Church and Young People A vision for disciple-making youth ministry

Based in the cross-border North West of Ireland, a dynamic youth ministry is seeing exciting new developments. Here Andy Lamberton and Clodagh Dickson tell us about the work of Exodus in the North West .

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emories of our founder and chairman Norman Lynas (who died in November) are very much in our thoughts at the moment. Exodus was first established in Portstewart in 1997.

Norman and his wife Lynda wanted to find a positive alternative to the nightclub scene so that young people could celebrate and enjoy themselves in a healthy way. He was inspired by Exodus 3 when God commissioned Moses to bring His people out of slavery and into His promised land. For Norman and Lynda the “Egypt” of the 90s was the nightclubs. Today, there are different types of slavery for young people problems like anxiety and isolation.

We cannot over-emphasise the difference the smartphone has made in the everyday lives of our teenagers.

If you were going to reach a different culture, you would need to learn their language and their customs. In the same way, our young people are from a

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different culture! Exodus seeks to be a resource to help local churches to reach out to them.

For example, one of the programmes we offer involves taking young people on discipleship trips to Eastern Europe after a small group journey. We call these Exodus Teams. During these trips, many of the young people do a two-day retreat without running water, electricity or smart phones.

I remembered asking the question, “Do you think society would be better without the Internet and social media?”

They all agreed! But they couldn’t even imagine life without them. Even the 15-year-olds understand that smartphones are hugely destructive but they think, “I won’t get on in life without this.”

For 16-weeks leading up to a mission in Eastern Europe, the young people meet each week in a small group. As they start praying together, learning from the Bible and sharing, transformation begins to take place. It is so exciting when a young person turns to a friend in need and naturally says, “Let’s pray about that.” You can often notice the evidence of discipleship in the mix of conversations as well as those defining moments.

EXODUS IN THE NORTH WEST

In 2014, Exodus North West was launched to serve the city of Derry as well as county Donegal and beyond.

Ultimately our heart is for the whole of Ireland, to see many young people experiencing this full life that Jesus offers and acknowledging Him as their king.

At the launch service, the European CEO of Exodus said, “Maybe there is somebody here who could bring the vision into Sligo.” Two-and-a-half years ago, local churches in Sligo phoned to ask if we could develop the ministry there. Today we have a new worker (Claudio Barguena) who is based in Sligo and supporting the local churches to develop disciple-making youth ministry across the region.

REACHING AND DISCIPLING YOUNG PEOPLE The landscape in the North West is very different to Coleraine or Portstewart where there are often churches on every corner. But in all these places, there are young people who are looking for life and so we hold tightly to three things.

Firstly, we believe in Jesus. Whatever is going on in a young person’s life, it is incomparable to the difference Jesus

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makes. He is the best. As Christian leaders we can sometimes forget that the Gospel still works and it is only the Gospel that works - it is only Jesus who brings life and life in all its fullness.

There is no other option. Underneath that there are two beliefs that help position Exodus as part of the Body of Christ: We believe in young people and we believe in the local church.

WE BELIEVE IN YOUNG PEOPLE

Discipleship is a Christ-life transformation that touches every part of who we are and leads to each disciple becoming a disciple maker. We really want to inspire and empower young people to become Christ’s ambassadors to their friends and family.

If God is going to reach this new generation, we need to train, equip and inspire young people themselves to be missional. At the moment, we are working with 40 young people aged 15 to 18 who are learning how to relate to their friends in their football club, or choir, in their school or college. We equip them to be ready to share their story and invite their friends to “come and see.”

Ultimately if you were reaching a new culture, you would have to do things differently and to try new things; you cannot go on autopilot. The same holds true for our young people! If you are a church leader who is wondering how to reach out to young people and a young person comes in with new ideas, please believe in their intentions and their heart, even if the ideas seem odd.

Allow them to run with things.

Young people need depth. We will turn them away if we make the Gospel too easy. Instead of the chaos of the world, they need the rhythm of discipleship. Instead of the isolation of the world and of their bedroom, they need to experience the presence of God in the company of (ordinary) saints.

Young people also need to understand that life in Christ is adventurous - it is amazing and it lasts for all eternity. If you begin to think about that, you will be blown away.

Jesus made disciples through deep relationships that were missional and adventurous. Our small group programme is not just a Bible study. We even get on planes and go somewhere and come back to learn more about Jesus.

WE BELIEVE IN THE LOCAL CHURCH

can watch a YouTube clip, but meeting with someone face to face is what really helps transformation to take place in people’s lives.

Recently Exodus worked with eight other organisations and denominations to launch a new app called “Walk with Me” aimed at helping people to support and mentor young people.

The app provides questions a mentor can ask as they meet up with young people.

A lot of local churches want their older Christians to have connection with younger Christians but are scared of safeguarding issues.

With the App comes a website that means you can formalise the mentoring process to ensure young people are kept safe.

It runs through the church’s own safeguarding policy.

Our vision is to see the church in the North West making disciples naturally.

That may take more than 50 years. I hope we will be seeing young people who have Jesus’ vision for discipleship ingrained in their DNA, who go on to become church and community leaders bringing hope to this broken world and life to the Body of Christ.

As an organisation, we are here to stand with the Body of Christ.

Whether that be in providing a team experience or helping launch mentoring, or facilitating a learning community around youth ministry and disciple making. We long to serve local churches to see generations of young people boldly following Jesus and becoming lifelong disciple makers. Please feel free to get in touch. www.exodusonline.org. uk.

JESUS MADE DISCIPLES THROUGH DEEP RELATIONSHIPS THAT WERE MISSIONAL AND ADVENTUROUS.

Ultimately we want to see the church stepping closer to young people and young people stepping closer to Jesus.

One of the main roles of the church is to pass on faith to the next generation. The church needs these young people. They bring new life and fresh creativity to our congregations. They have a contribution to make and they can do this with great energy and depth.

Mentoring is vitally important in this. We need to understand that what young people need most from their church is not enough entertainment to keep them settled but deep friendships that encourage and support them to live lives of faith. Exodus encourages older Christians to support and mentor young people. We are not perfect examples but we are real examples of what it means to love and follow Jesus. Character is measured and developed in years not weeks and so we need to mentor people over a long period of time.

We are hoping to inspire churches to understand what young people need and to help them in their discipleship journey. They don’t need a sage on the stage but a guide by their side. Anyone

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REALITY

The Search for

HOME

New resource helps Christians engage with the Homelessness Crisis

I N S I X MO N T H S A

BY DR KEVIN HARGADEN

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ur friend lives in a one-bedroom flat in an unfashionable part of Dublin. She just about has the proverbial space to swing her cat. She has lived there since the pit of the economic crash, which is why the rent is still affordable.

In the flat next to her, which is the exact same size, six people find their home. She understands that this is legal, because they are all on short-term agreements of either six weeks or three months. Her rotating cast of neighbours come from all over the world but are never from Ireland. They are here to do a job, to complete a course, to learn a little English. They have no rights and they know it.

Irish society is obsessed with property. This is true in an almost comical fashion for the affluent. The colour-rich property supplements that regularly accompany newspapers detail glorious attic conversions in Dalkey, or creative renovations in Oranmore with prose so purple that one wonders if it is satire. (It never is.) Asset-price bubbles are not enriching but the middle-classes welcome news of increasing prices and extol them at dinner parties as if it was good news from the heavens above.

The concern that the less well off have about property is less ripe for amusement. In one of the wealthiest nations in the history of humanity, we have over 10,000 people officially homeless. It has been that high for most of 2019 and nothing that the Government or civil society is doing will lower it significantly. The official figures hide the much more alarming

reality. For one thing, many people do not realise the Government’s numbers exclude rough sleepers. Too often, the numbers are cited without recognising what they imply.

Almost 4,000 children are without a home. They try to do their homework on the beds in hotel rooms. They never see their parents cook a meal. They have nowhere to bring their friends to play.

Children can suffer life-long educational, emotional, and social consequences from even a short period of homelessness.

Imagine the trauma endured by their parents and guardians trying to care for them as they are bounced from facility to facility, town to town, with no stability and the constant anxiety that things could still get worse.

Yet these situations only scratch the surface of the problems we face.

800 people who have received asylum cannot leave Direct Provision because there is nowhere for them to go. The Government pays subsidies of over â‚Ź2 million a day to private landlords and vulture funds to massage the figures while committing considerably less to building public housing.

There are around 70,000 households on the housing waiting lists, which conservatively could amount to a quarter of a million people in need of provision.

There are uncountable numbers of adults living in less-than-ideal situations with their parents because they cannot

W HEN FAC ED W IT D E C I SI O N S BECOME MO

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afford rents. About 40,000 mortgageholders have not been able to make a payment in the last two years. The Central Bank estimates that at least half of them will be evicted. On any given night, there are more homes in Dublin available to let to tourists on Airbnb than there are homeless people but our society prioritises the right to make profit more than the responsibility to house your neighbour in need.

The Government has not even begun to account for the people living in emerging tenements in our cities or the license-holding arrangements as operate next door to our friend.

Finding a place to live in Dublin is more expensive than any city in the European Union except Paris. This is not just a problem afflicting our capital.

The Government has had to extend rent pressure zone regulations in places as small as Macroom because of sky-

IN ONE OF THE WEALTHIEST NATIONS IN THE HISTORY OF HUMANITY, WE HAVE OVER 10,000 PEOPLE OFFICIALLY HOMELESS. 24

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OUR SOCIETY PRIORITISES THE RIGHT TO MAKE PROFIT MORE THAN THE RESPONSIBILITY TO HOUSE YOUR NEIGHBOUR IN NEED. LOT CAN CHANGE

TH HO ME LE SS N E SS O RE B LACK A N D WH I T E

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rocketing costs. This is not just a problem afflicting renters. In 1988, the average home cost €119,652. In 2018, that figure had risen to €249,472. That’s a 108% increase in cost. But in the same period of time average earnings (and almost 2/3s of people earn below the average) grew from €32,487 to €38,878, a 19% increase in income. (All these figures are adjusted for inflation, to aid direct comparison.)

It does not take a mathematician, an economist, or even a social theologian to tell you that this is a system that unjustifiably favours the wealthy.

NO PLACE TO LAY HIS HEAD

In the Gospels, we are told that Jesus was a tektōn. We traditionally translate that as carpenter, but it had a broader usage. He was a skilled labourer who would be employed in construction.

In the economy of the Roman Empire, the tektōn typically took contract work, travelling commonly, following the building jobs far and wide. In modern terms, Jesus was a member of the precarious working class. Before taking up His ministry, He had no security.

He had no rights. His position in society was not in the comfortable middle-class but with the people who live six to a room on short-term contracts, wherever the work can be found.

When He took up His ministry, He forsook even that.

The Son of Man had no place to lay His head. We worship a homeless God. We are bound, therefore, to care about those who have no homes, or who are holding on to home by the skin of their teeth, or share their home with many others, sleeping on a rota because there are not enough beds to go around. Our friend’s neighbours should not have to live as they do. When we see them, we should not look away. We are encountering people who look just like Jesus.

NEW RESOURCE

Since 2016, the Irish Council of Churches and Irish Inter-Church Meeting have been studying the housing and homelessness crisis. What we discovered when we started reading the Bible with the crisis in mind is that the search for home is at the very heart of the narrative of our Scriptures. Our sacred text begins with eviction and ends with a homecoming. To unpack the implications, we decided that along with a letter of pastoral concern, material for a service on the issue, and an election guide, what Irish Christians really needed was small-group study material.

If you take up our housing resource you will learn a lot about Irish society.

You will see how we did much better at providing homes when we were not nearly so well off. You will discover that this is an all-island problem, although of course the particular details are different in both jurisdictions. You will realise

how in six months a lot can change.

But you will also see that the Scriptures speak directly to our predicament.

Irish society is obsessed with property. The Irish church should be obsessed with home - providing it, sustaining it, protecting it. This crisis is our crisis. What is the Gospel but that God is hospitable to us who have no right to expect His welcome? Who is our God but the one who took on flesh and walked among us, going to the margins of society to preach good news to the poor? In this generation, we increasingly realise proclaiming the Good News of grace demands acting for the sake of justice. In Ireland, today, to seek the peace and prosperity of the place in which the Lord has carried us is to seek to provide homes for our neighbours, tangibly and concretely.

These resources were developed in collaboration between many people, including Kevin, who wrote most of the small group study resource. They are available by contacting ICC/IICM for hard copies (info@irishchurches.org) or as a download from irishchurches.org/ homeless.

Dr Kevin Hargaden leads the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, where he works as a social theologian. He is an elder for the Presbyterian Church in Lucan. His most recent book is entitled Theological Ethics in a Neoliberal Age.

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Military Training and Christian Transformation What have they in common?

BY BRENDAN HEELY

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ne of the challenges for Christian leaders in our day is seeing people’s lives transformed and developed as mature followers of Christ. This type of transformation impacts our thinking and how we live our daily lives. One way that Jesus taught His followers was to observe their environment; to “look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest’ or ‘look at the birds of the air” or that “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven,” to bring clarity to what He was teaching.

As I was thinking about how Christians are transformed by the renewing of their minds, I began to consider my time in the military and how it majored in the transformation of civilians to soldiers.

The military have been involved in transforming civilians to soldiers as long as, if not longer than, the church has been involved in discipleship. Most armies now conduct this process over a period of 12-16 weeks called ‘Recruit Training’ followed by basic training for 8 – 12 weeks. The soldier is then ready to begin active service and undergo specialist training. There are many things we, in the church, can learn from the military in their transformation process, but I would like to outline three overarching concepts which have particular relevance to us as Christians.

I have discovered that people who have accepted these paradigms have a much better chance of growth in their Christian maturity and development.

None of these concepts ever appear on a training plan or syllabus yet they are essential to the development and ability of the new soldier to operate within the military environment.

Likewise, I believe these three paradigm shifts are essential to our transformation and development as Christians.

PARADIGM SHIFT 1: IT’S NOT ABOUT ME ANYMORE.

I remember so clearly my own introduction to military life and the shock of realising that I am not the centre of the universe and that life is not all about me. In fact, the only thing important about me was my contribution to the team, called a ‘Section’ consisting of ten recruits. We learned very quickly that if you got into trouble, the other nine in your section suffered, receiving the same punishment as you. It’s unfair of course, but a bond of togetherness was forged even in misery. My contribution was only relevant as part of the team’s success.

We were never alone. We did everything in twos, fives or tens. There was no such thing as an individual task.

All this was part of a great overarching concept of teaching us that we belonged to something much bigger and greater than ourselves.

Together we could achieve more. We were better together and we were part of something very important.

I remember the discomfort of being told that what I thought wasn’t important anymore. My job was to do what I was told.

I am not suggesting that we train people like this, but I like the fact that even the military realise how important it is to live outside of ourselves, or as we say spiritually “die to ourselves”. What a lesson for us as Christians to know.

We are not on our own. We are part of a company of people who have a task here on earth. There is great freedom and liberty in knowing it’s not all about you.

Jesus lived this type of life, displaying how His identity and wellbeing was more about His Father than Himself.

WE BELONGED TO SOMETHING MUCH BIGGER AND GREATER THAN OURSELVES.

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PARADIGM SHIFT 2: WE HAVE A NEW LEADER.

In the military, we had to accept the fact that somebody had authority over us all the time. We had a new leader. He had the power to keep us up all night, assigning us tasks which ended only at his discretion. He decided what time we got up in the morning, what we would wear, where we would go, when we would eat, 24/7. Yes, we could choose to leave but while we were in the military these were the conditions.

There were three ways to do things our sergeant told us: the right way, the wrong way and the army way. No prizes for guessing which way things were done. I knew we were in for a tough time when our sergeant declared he “wasn’t here to win a popularity contest”. They didn’t mind if you didn’t like them. They were not interested in your feelings. Their abiding focus was to obey the commanding officer. The CO ensured that all recruits were treated with dignity and respect. He was the one who was ultimately responsible for the transformation from civilian to soldier.

As Christians, we also have a commanding officer - the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who has authority over us and ultimately wants to guide us through our transformation.

PARADIGM SHIFT 3: WE DON’T ALWAYS GET ANSWERS TO ‘WHY?’.

The third area I needed my mind transformed was in accepting that I would not always get the answer to why things happen. In fact, I found out very quickly that our Sergeant had no intention of explaining why we were doing various tasks. For example, we would sweep leaves up every afternoon in early autumn right under the trees that would shed leaves later that night.

We would be tasked with polishing our army boots right before training in the mud. What I didn’t know at the time was that the commanding officer knew why things were being done. The purpose

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AS CHRISTIANS, WE HAVE A GREAT COMMANDING OFFICER WHO IS GOOD AND CARES DEEPLY ABOUT OUR WELFARE. of specific tasks and challenges was to see how we would react and respond.

We were learning to trust our CO, regardless.

I had the privilege of being a commanding officer later in my career and saw things then from a totally different perspective. My goal was to transform civilians into soldiers who would follow commands while trusting their leaders.

As Christians, we have a great commanding officer who is good and cares deeply about our welfare. As a result, when our ‘Why?’ questions are not answered we should endeavour to accept this as we trust our commanding officer. It can be a real challenge when we encounter suffering and unanswered questions. But the military has taught me that if our CO is good I can strive to accept what is going on without understanding why.

Let me just leave you with a few additional concepts regarding the way the military transform civilians to soldiers.

There is a 100% commitment by the military to the transformation process. They use the best trainers and resources. It is prioritised over all other training activities.

They are confident that they can make effective capable soldiers out of any civilian who signs up.

Obedience, service and humility are emphasised at the beginning of the transformation process much more than theory, understanding and knowledge.

There is no such thing as a 50% civilian and a 50% soldier. You are a 100% one or the other.

The transformation process always begins the moment a civilian signs up.

Ultimately, if there is no transformation there is no soldier.

Brendan Healy is a retired Lieutenant Colonel who served in the Irish Defence Forces for nearly 40 years.

After retiring, he did a Masters in Christian Missional Leadership. He now serves in leadership roles in his church in Mullingar and teaches on Leadership and Communications in the Irish Bible Institute in Dublin.

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REALITY

Hope Centre opens in Derry

“The city is the report card of the church - how the city is doing is how the church is doing.”

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church in the city of Derry (Londonderry), Northern Ireland has opened a new centre designed to bring restoration to the poorest and most marginalised people on their doorstep. The Hope Centre is an initiative of Cornerstone City Church, which combines a food bank, clothing bank and café with a range of services to help people move from crisis towards wholeness.

Pastor Paddy de Lasa shared, “We wanted to create a centre that doesn’t just serve the church but also serves the city.”

Inspired by Isaiah 61, the church began to consider how they could be good news to the poor as a three-step process of rescue, renewal and restoration. Local statistics indicate that Derry City and Strabane have some of the highest levels of deprivation and health inequalities in the UK. Welfare reform is having a significant impact with people making tough choices between ‘heat or eat?’

The church leadership team was further galvanised into action when a woman tried to take her own life in the Foyle River just outside the church building. One of the leaders helped to rescue the woman but the incident cemented their commitment to reach out to those in desperate need.

When people arrive at the Hope Centre (often referred by other services in the city), there is a warm welcome - and great coffee - as the team seeks to meet their immediate needs. This first step (rescue) might include food parcels from the food bank, an opportunity to pick out clothes from the clothing bank, to do laundry or to take a shower in the wet room (where a range of toiletries are provided).

But the vision is not to create dependency but to help and support people to move forward. “We would encourage them to meet with our assessment team to look at why

they are in the situation they are in. And we want to move them into a stage of renewal through support, training and on-going help,” Paddy explained.

Recognising the complex causes of poverty and despair, the church has a holistic approach to meeting people’s needs. With a Christians Against Poverty (CAP) centre as part of the church, people can receive support, advice and training to help tackle debt. Working in partnership with other organisations, the church can refer people to places where they can find help with addiction or housing problems.

And a new social supermarket in a converted shipping container provides lower cost food. Combined with workshops and menus to help people eat well for less, this will enable people to transition to managing for themselves.

“We don’t want to duplicate services that are provided elsewhere but we want to assist people as they move towards restoration,” Paddy said.

This was evident at the Hope Centre launch when a local charity serving the homeless community joined other city leaders to tour the new facilities. One of the workers commented about the importance of linking the practical help with the sense of community and spiritual hope that can be found in this vibrant city-centre church. People are lonely and isolated, she commented. The opportunity to connect with the church had the potential to meet people’s deeper needs.

For Paddy and his team, their vision is for those who are poor, oppressed, broken-hearted and held captive to be transformed into “oaks of righteousness,” people who in turn are able to bring restoration and change into their city. “They will rebuild the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations.” Isaiah 61:4

INSPIRED BY ISAIAH 61, THE CHURCH BEGAN TO CONSIDER HOW THEY COULD BE GOOD NEWS TO THE POOR AS A THREESTEP PROCESS OF RESCUE, RENEWAL AND RESTORATION.

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The Methods Have Changed But The Message Has Not Reaching out with the Gospel in rural Ireland

Janet and Johnathan Slater run The Faith Mission camp centre just outside Bandon, Co. Cork. Their passion is to find creative ways to share the Good News of Jesus with people in rural west Cork. Here Janet, who is originally from Co. Donegal, tells us about their work.

I

left Donegal in 2000 and went to Edinburgh for Bible College.

That’s where I met Johnathan, who is from Cumbria. After we were married, we worked for The Faith Mission and they asked us to move here.

We manage The Faith Mission camp centre in Carhue just outside Bandon. It is a fantastic residential facility (with accommodation for 70 people) that churches use for weekends away, residential youth programmes and much more.

As well as the day-to-day maintenance that is needed to keep the centre going, our work is really varied.

No two weeks look the same.

I do a lot of work with women and children. I run a mum’s Bible study

group here at the camp centre. It is much more than a “mums and tots” group. The mums have a Bible study and the children also have a Bible story.

We love to help local churches and Johnathan does a lot of Sunday preaching around the county. Recently

in the community. From the contacts made, one woman came in to our recent Book Day and asked to know more about the Lord and I’ve even met some of my own neighbours through Mainly Music.

I used to be a chef. I’ve always loved cooking and I wanted the Lord to use that skill in whatever way He chose, so I started a women’s outreach night called ‘Cameo@Carhue’. I do a cookery demonstration on a particular theme. A local believer will come and share her testimony and then we all enjoy supper together. It is a lovely relaxed evening that draws people from all different churches and some from no church background at all.

We run weekly kids clubs, one at the centre and another in a housing estate in

I’VE ALWAYS LOVED COOKING AND I WANTED THE LORD TO USE THAT SKILL IN WHATEVER WAY HE CHOSE.

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I was involved in a team that started a Mainly Music group in Bandon [Ed note: Readers will remember the Finding Faith Tour report about the Mainly Music programme in Dublin]. This has been such a great way to get to know people

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Bandon. Every year, we do a Christmas outreach meal during the first week in December so we invite all the (kids club) families to come along.

We cook a dinner for around 100 people. Our guests enjoy a four-course meal and play some games, and there is an short talk at the end. It is so exciting when the families come.

Every month, we have an outreach lunch called ‘Oasis@Carhue’, which is mainly attended by elderly folks and after lunch we have a singsong followed by a Gospel thought. It has been really beneficial for some older people who are living on their own to come and meet new friends, and enjoy a home-cooked meal.

During the summer time, the centre hosts children’s camps and a family camp.

People come from across Cork, from Limerick, and even from as far over as Waterford.

There is also a camp reunion (“a sleepover”) every January. Other groups also run camps throughout the year.

The Faith Mission has a number of prayer groups around Cork and we also have a prayer meeting in our home every week. Johnathan has organised some sports evenings and tractor theme nights but he would love to see more happening for the men in the area.    The Faith Mission started with a Glasgow businessman in 1886 with the motto, “Seek first the Kingdom of God.” Many people in the north of Ireland would be familiar with the Faith Mission Christian Bookshops. But the original vision of the Faith Mission was to reach out with the Gospel, especially in more rural areas. Around 100 years ago, Faith Mission teams would go out in twos and set up a mission hall. They would organise a week of Gospel meetings and often many people would come along. In some areas this still happens but as time has gone on, things have changed in our society. The methods we use have changed but the message has not. Nowadays, we need to think more creatively to find ways of sharing that unchanging message!

There is a local family near Skibbereen who have had a monthly Gospel meeting in their home for many years, which is run by The Faith Mission. They also have been running a Christmas Carol Service in their home with many people coming along. In fact, the service was attracting so many people that they decided to build an extension on their home! Last year, 149 people crowded into the house for the Carol Service. This family have such a strong testimony that people want to come along! We love to help out and Johnathan sometimes shares the Gospel message at this event.

Find out more about the work of the Faith Mission at www. faithmission.org.

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MY STORY “My Story” is an opportunity for ordinary people living in Ireland to talk about their journey to faith or the impact God has in their daily lives.

MEET BIBI BROSMAN

“God’s love amazes me. I’m just a Limerick girl from a country home and yet God had a plan for my life and drew me into it!”

T

ELL US ABOUT YOURSELF

I grew up in Co. Limerick, in a small area called Caherhayes, in the countryside near Mountcollins right on the border between Limerick, Cork and Kerry. I’m the fifth eldest in a family of 12 and we lived in a three-bedroomed cottage.

My mum came from a family of 16 and my dad came from a family of seven - I think I have about 180 close relatives!

We had a happy childhood. Our local school was only five minutes walk away.

My dad worked for the local farms and he had his own garden. My mum made her own bread. We all looked out for each other and we shared everything.

I remember great summers - helping pick the vegetables from the garden, collecting sticks for the fire and drawing water from the well. We had milk from

mile walk home again.

My husband, Terry, a local man (also from Mountcollins) and I got married at 18. Our first child was born a year later.

This year (2020), we are celebrating our 45th wedding anniversary. We have four children (three girls and one boy) and 11 grandchildren (with one more on the way).

TELL US ABOUT YOUR FAITH JOURNEY

I remember my First Holy Communion.

I dressed up in these beautiful white clothes and I felt there was something special about that day. I felt really close to God. Looking back, I know I was searching for something. I can remember being fearful and being afraid of death. After I was married, my brother became very ill with a virus and he couldn’t walk. I remember going into the church to pray for him and coming out with such a sense of inner peace. One evening I was planning to visit him in the hospital and I went to a charismatic prayer meeting and I prayed specifically for him that night.

We visited about 10.30pm (I’m surprised we were allowed in) and at first we couldn’t find him. But then we saw him sitting in a wheelchair watching the telly (without the sound).

He said, “Look at my fingers and toes!”

For the first time, he could move his fingers and toes. Soon afterwards, he

HE LOVED ME EVEN WHEN I DIDN’T KNOW HIM. IT OVERWHELMS ME TO THINK THAT. the neighbour’s cows. It was a simple life, but a happy one. My parents worked really hard. On Saturday night, we got out our best clothes and polished our shoes ready for mass on Sunday morning.

I left school at 13 and went out to work in a big farmhouse about two miles from home. The wife was a secondary school teacher. She would leave early in the morning and I would look after the three children and do all the house cleaning and the cooking. It was a twomile walk to work each day and a two32

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was able to go back to work.

God had answered prayer. That gave me a taste that there was something bigger and greater.

Another time, my son was very unwell. I prayed and miraculously God healed him.

Then in 1990, there was a tragedy in Mountcollins and I was feeling very low. My sister-in-law invited me to go to a meeting. It was the first time I had gone to a prayer meeting in a house and they were singing and worshipping the Lord. I was a bit uncomfortable at first, but then this man got up to speak from the Bible. He spoke about tossing and turning in bed and being afraid. I thought, “He is speaking to me.” I had this longing to know more about Jesus.

So I got a Bible and began to read. I began to discover who Jesus is and what He has done by dying on the cross for me. I read John 3:16 - “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” This was very real to me and I thought, “I want this life.” In John 10:10, Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

That was what I was looking for! I had a wonderful husband and children but I knew there was more. As I read the Bible, the Lord began to show me His amazing love for me.

WHAT DOES JESUS MEAN TO YOU TODAY? I find it hard to explain - He is like a very close friend who I can turn to

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IT IS SUCH A BLESSING TO BE ABLE TO READ THE BIBLE TO OUR GRANDCHILDREN AND SHARE ABOUT THE LOVE THAT GOD HAS FOR EACH ONE OF US. even when there are hard times. He is someone who knows me and will listen to me, and that helps me through the disappointments and struggles in life. He is someone that I can turn to any time of the day and is always there - like a close and precious friend.

I’m 30 years down the road now and I’m amazed at His faithfulness and goodness. He has enriched my life.

I’m amazed by His love for me, and by the peace that He gives. Everything in life has more meaning because He is in it. When my brother was ill, I discovered that even when God seems far away, He answers the cries of our heart.

I love Him because He came and He died for me. He loved me even when I didn’t know Him. It overwhelms me to think that.

I really love this verse in I John 4:15, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” I know that to be real in my life and I long for others to know this. We can know the reality of Jesus in all the ups and downs and the ordinary things of life, the closeness of a precious friend who loves us unconditionally.

I KNOW YOU LIKE TO FIND WAYS TO SHARE JESUS’ LOVE WITH OTHERS. TELL US ABOUT THAT:

We love babysitting! That is our life! It is such a blessing to be able to read the Bible to our grandchildren and share about the love that God has for each one of us.

I feel like I have had loads of blessings throughout my life and I try

and show love and bless others in return.

Another thing I love and have been involved in with my family for the last 17 years is the Christmas Shoebox Appeal. My daughter is the Shoebox Appeal coordinator for this area. A few years ago, I went to Romania to distribute the boxes and that was amazing. Each year, I go into the local schools and do presentations about the appeal. We pick up the boxes from the schools and then we check them all. Even though it is a small area, we usually collect around 3,000 shoeboxes for Team Hope.

My husband, Terry, and I also love visiting people. I was brought up like that. We would always go ‘roving’ at night time - calling in on friends and relatives. I have continued with this and we still love visiting family, friends and the elderly people for tea and have many special times with them.

I really believe that God wants to give His love to every individual person as He has done for me!

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A R E S T F U L L I F E

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J

anuary, the month when many people make New Year’s resolutions. We want to start another year looking at life differently. The resolutions can vary but there is one resolution, however, that it is quite popular: to become fitter and to do more exercise. I am guessing here but I think that membership to gyms increases quite a lot during this month. Once the resolution has been made one has to stick to it, though sometimes it is not as easy as one thought. Come March the desire is not quite as strong.

Three years ago the resolution fell upon me. I had a problem with my leg and I ended up in A&E followed by three days in hospital where I was diagnosed with a clot. The outcome was to take medication for the rest of my life and to make sure that I exercise. Since walking was not my favourite type of exercise, I decided to try swimming. With a pool nearby I had no excuse not to swim most days.

The pool, only 20 metres long, proved a challenge for my doggy way of swimming. I decided to get a tutor so I watched YouTube videos on how to swim the breaststroke, which seemed the easiest. I would watch something one day and try to practice it the following day.

One of the things I learned about the breaststroke is that, to move forward, you have to learn to glide, which is when your body is resting, totally relaxed and carried by the water, after having done the stroke and the kick.

The rest is as important as the other two movements.

It is a helpful analogy as we start a new year.

Our society continually pulls us to do more and rest sometimes is seen as a waste of time. It is not only the speed that it is forced upon us but also its effects on society. More people are living anxious lives.

Christianity is countercultural. The Christian calendar starts with Advent, usually at the beginning of December. Advent is about waiting; not about thinking how much one can accomplish in the coming year but resting on what God is going to do. Life as a disciple of Jesus is about what God does, not about what we do.

This leads me to another thought, there are two types of rest: the external and the internal one. I believe that the external one can only be fully enjoyed when we practice the inner one.

Have you ever gone away on holidays and found it hard to switch off when you arrive? Many people say that after a busy period of work or family issues, it takes them two or three days to start to feel that they are on holidays.

Rest is more than stopping and doing nothing, though that is important as well. Rest is an inward attitude of our hearts. It is realising that, no matter the circumstances, I

LIFE AS A DISCIPLE OF JESUS IS ABOUT WHAT GOD DOES, NOT ABOUT WHAT WE DO.

am not the one fully in charge. There is Somebody who is in control and I can rest on Him to give me what I need for every situation.

Rest and trust are intimately related. I cannot rest if I don’t trust. Where does this inner rest come from? It is from knowing and experiencing God’s profound love for us, as it is written: “Like a baby content in its mother’s arms, my soul is a baby content.” (Psalm 131:2) Jesus, the Master of life, knew how to rest despite the fact that He had people looking to be healed, religious groups trying to trick Him and wanting to get rid of Him and a bunch of disciples who were slow at learning.

He knew that He was deeply loved and that the Father was well pleased with Him. His heart’s orientation was always towards God, to listen to His voice and to obey Him. He portrayed what a life lived under God’s leadership should look like.

For that reason, He was able to sleep peacefully while a storm was taking place. He was able to keep quiet when religious leaders brought a woman caught in adultery and pretended to want to know His opinion.

Eventually, when He spoke, His words sent them all away. He was able to decide when to answer Pilate’s questioning because He knew that Pilate was not in charge after all.

Instead of being full of anxiety or fear, Jesus shows us how we can live lives that become attractive to others because they are lived so differently. They are active lives like everybody around but everything that they do comes from a place of rest, a place of trust.

The beautiful thing about following Jesus is, that we don’t need to try harder at being at rest, quite the opposite in fact. We need to let go of our own desire to control, and work with Him, to acknowledge that actually we cannot make it on our own.

So, if by any chance you are still deciding about a New Year’s resolution, may I suggest you choose rest? It is an invitation from Jesus that cannot be declined.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you will recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me - watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.

I won’t lay anything heavy or ill fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:29-30 (MSG)

Ana Mullan is from Argentina but has lived in Ireland for 35 years, the last 18 in Dublin. She is an artist, a spiritual director, retreat facilitator and an enthusiastic grandmother.

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REALITY

GOD’S STRATEGY TO CHANGE THE WORLD

Getting to the heart of mission

BY ROGER COOKE

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n first century Galilee, Jesus had been travelling throughout the area, teaching, healing, delivering people from spiritual slavery. He paused to survey the vast crowd and discerned the depth of these people’s needs. Moved by compassion and sensing that they are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd,” He said to His disciples: “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.”

(Matthew 9:37-38) In 21st century South Sudan, eight-and-a-half years have passed since the country’s hard-won independence.

Six of these years have been spent in political unrest and violence. More than 2.3 million people have fled their homes through fear, some seeking shelter in other parts of South Sudan, others finding refuge in neighbouring countries – displaced and traumatised, living in camps that are overcrowded and under-resourced.

In Eastern DR Congo, a place of great poverty and brokenness, that has endured almost constant civil war with the most heinous atrocities against women, now hosts the second largest Ebola crisis on record – with over 2,200 lives lost.

Closer to home, communities throughout Ireland are all too familiar with the indicators of economic hardship, social dislocation and spiritual malaise – loneliness, food poverty, homelessness, addiction…

This is our world. These are our ‘mission fields’ – the contexts in which we are called to live, worship and minister.

WE MUST RESIST THE TEMPTATION TO MAKE OURSELVES THE HEROES OF OUR GLOBAL MISSION STORIES.

A STRATEGY FOR TRANSFORMATION

Imagine if you were invited to join an advisory group to help God develop an effective strategy for delivering His mission. I wonder what suggestions you’d bring. What would be your big idea? The Bible is pretty clear about God’s chosen strategy for delivering His mission: it’s us!

It’s you and me, together as the Church, the collective Body of Christ.

As far back as Genesis, we read that God’s people are to be a source of blessing: “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these 36

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lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.” (Gen 26:4) In the Gospel accounts, we see in Jesus a more complete revelation of God’s mission. But we also discover that this mission is passed on to others.

Immediately after Jesus’ words about the ripe harvest, He sends out His 12 disciples, asking them to do the very things He’s been doing: proclaiming good news, healing the sick, releasing the oppressed. Later, we read that one of Jesus’ final acts on earth is to commission His followers to continue his work. The mission of Jesus became the mission of His Church.

This story continues today. As Christ’s spiritual body, we’ve been chosen to share His transforming love with a broken world. It’s a mission that has Jesus at its heart and the Church at the centre.

The Church is God’s strategy to change the world.

This may not seem like a ground-breaking revelation.

Most of us know that mission is the responsibility of the Church. But looking around at the mission practice of our churches, I wonder how many of us have grasped the implications of a truly ‘Church-shaped mission’?

For over 200 years, CMSI – the mission agency for which I work – has been helping churches throughout Ireland engage more deeply in global mission. Today, we work closely with 20 Global Partners – local expressions of Church – across nine countries in Africa and South Asia.

Here are a few things we’ve learned along the way:

A SHARED, GLOBAL TASK

When it comes to mission, we’re part of something much bigger than ourselves, our own congregations and our denominations. We belong to one global, interconnected and interdependent Church – a worldwide family that needs one another.

There are huge inequalities in our world. In Ireland, we are part of the problem – such is the reality of a global consumer culture. But as God’s people, we are called to be part of the solution. In Christ, we can be.

Churches throughout Ireland can – and should – play a part in the mission of God’s people in other countries.

We have gifts to share that can enrich our brothers and sisters in other places. Equally, when it comes to our own mission endeavours, we need to be willing and ready to receive from the global Church – to learn from those whose experiences and perspectives are different from our own.

VOX MAGAZINE

THE PRIMACY OF LOCAL CHURCHES

Even when mission is supported globally, it must be be shaped, led and delivered by local churches who are embedded in their own contexts, living and working alongside their own people. Jesus has shown us the way: mission is most effective when it’s personal and relational. Local churches are best placed to discern the deepest needs of their communities and respond in appropriate ways.

As churches in Ireland, there’s a warning here. If we want to maximise our impact and avoid doing untold damage, we must resist the temptation to make ourselves the heroes of our global mission stories. Mission activities in a particular part of the world should never bypass, overrule or undermine the local church there.

Instead, we must do everything we can to keep the church at the centre.

From my home in East Belfast, there’s very little I can do to make a significant, lasting change to lives and communities in Kathmandu. But the church CMSI partners with in Nepal is doing incredible things. I can support them and their work through my prayers, my finances, my friendship and, where appropriate, my visits.

OFFERING OUR BEST

Even a cursory reading of the Bible reveals that God’s mission is holistic, or integral, in nature: caring for the marginalised and making disciples; responding to physical need and offering spiritual transformation. Our mission engagement needs to reflect this principle.

When we seek to engage in global mission, it’s not enough to only support international aid and development programmes – however effective, however Christian. Social action is an essential facet of mission, but unless such initiatives share the eternal hope of Jesus, they can only be part of the story. Equally, evangelism alone, without compassionate care for vulnerable people, is only a partial expression of the Good News. Our mission needs to be ‘both’/‘and’ – anything less sells people short.

Only when the Church is at the centre, will our mission offer both practical help and spiritual hope.

REALISING THE POTENTIAL

In South Sudan, the Church has been a vital and dependable source of help and comfort for those who have been uprooted by civil unrest. The following words were spoken by a zonal leader in Rhino Camp Refugee Settlement, Uganda: “The Church is the only place we can run to for the consoling of the wounds in our hearts.”

In DR Congo, God’s people have continued to offer practical help and spiritual hope to those whose lives have been torn apart by violence. In the midst of the Ebola crisis, the Church is at the centre of preventative measures and is playing a key role in supporting vulnerable communities and helping people move from fear to hope.

A worldwide church working together in local mission... Compassionate responses to the deepest needs... Places of consolation, where people find healing for their wounds… Approaches that provide help but also offer lasting hope…

This is a vision of mission that really can make a difference. It’s what happens when we keep the Church at the centre of mission. We are God’s strategy to change the world.

Roger is the Mission Resource Manager for CMSI (Church Mission Society Ireland), which equips God’s people in mission and makes connections between different parts of the worldwide church. CMSI’s annual theme for 2019-2020 is Church at the Centre. To find out more, visit www.cmsireland.org

JAN - MAR 2020 VOX.IE

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LIFE

C

anadian vet and singersongwriter Rodney Gale and his wife Heather live in a renovated Franciscan monastery in Co. Roscommon.

After recording an album of songs he has written while living in Ireland, Rodney spoke to VOX magazine about his music and the journey that brought him here.

“It has been an interesting journey,” Rodney says, “Fifteen years ago, while still in Canada, we started playing around with doing some recording. I’m 62 years old this year and so it was kind of now or never. In one sense I’m happy that it has taken this long because all of the songs on this album were written here in Ireland and they are songs of the land.”

It was because they had continued to follow Ray Hughes in the years after his having visited their church in Alberta, Canada that Rodney and Heather first discovered that he was planning a worship tour of Ireland.

“Ireland was never on our radar but Heather, my wife, felt we should go,” Rodney explained. “I remember that once we had made the decision we

prayed a prayer (that I had never prayed before), ‘God, we want everything you have for us. We don’t want to get in the way!’ And so we joined the tour and arrived in Ireland very open to whatever God would say to us.”

Within a few days the couple began looking at “For Sale” signs. Travelling

was the only one who went. It was life changing. Later, when visiting the Aran Islands, I turned to Heather and said, ‘I feel a really strange connection to the land.’ We laugh about it now but her quick reply was, ‘I am not living on Inis Mór!’”

After returning to Canada, Rodney and Heather waited to see if the feeling would go away. “People go to Ireland all the time and fall in love but that is not necessarily God’s call,” Rodney remarked. But the feeling didn’t go away and instead it began to strengthen, so much so that Heather began looking for property and found the old monastery “For Sale” in Garranlahan, Co. Roscommon.

It took another two years but the couple eventually moved to Ireland and began renovations to make the monastery into a home and also a place of prayer, worship and retreat.

Rodney, a vet by profession, began working in Co. Roscommon and more recently has been teaching veterinary students in UCD in Dublin. But he also began to write songs that reflected the experiences he was having and his

SADLY, IT APPEARS THAT, FOR MANY PEOPLE, THERE IS VERY LITTLE THAT IS BEAUTIFUL ABOUT CHRISTIANITY.

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through Ireland, playing worship music and meeting Christians in different parts of the country, Rodney and Heather were struck by the beauty all around them, but they were particularly drawn to the west of Ireland.

“We were planning to visit Skellig Michael but in the middle of the tour, everyone went down with a virus and I

VOX MAGAZINE

PILGRIMROAD “These are songs of the land!” observations about Ireland and Irish life.

“I wrote one song after spending the summer in the bog, cutting turf.

Another is about being a ‘blow in.’ Having heard stories even from Irish people who were considered ‘blow ins’ because they had moved from somewhere else, this song speaks into the pain of being an outsider,” Rodney said.

“Although Jesus isn’t obviously front and centre in all the songs, gradually the truth of Jesus comes through. I wrote a song called Patrick’s Well (about St. Patrick). There are all these holy wells around the country but sadly so much of Jesus has been lost in these symbols. My song ends with showing that Patrick’s own well was Jesus Christ - he went to Jesus for living water.

“In Philip Yancy’s book Vanishing Grace he talks about how in a postChristian culture, it is going to be the arts that evoke the beauty of the Christian faith. Sadly, it appears that, for many people, there is very little that is beautiful about Christianity. I feel that is more my call. I still write worship songs but, more and more, I’m writing to speak to people who simply feel they don’t have any reason to listen any more. I’m hoping this will be a door opener.”

That sense of engagement was especially evident in a song Rodney wrote for an artist friend. On their first meeting, he told Rodney, “I am an atheist!” This man, who is from the north, had seen such trouble caused in the name of Christianity and he made

it quite clear he wanted nothing to do with it.

Rodney wrote a song called Head in the Hedgerow for this friend, inspired by some of his paintings. When the album was complete, Rodney and Heather took it over to his home to play it for him.

At the end they asked, “What do you think?” “It’s very good!” he said and even started making arrangements with a friend who hosts a local radio show.

When pressed regarding how he felt about the obvious references to Jesus he simply replied, “That is just who you are.”

“Pilgrim Road” was recorded in Tuam, Co. Galway and produced in England together with Sounds of Wonder (musicians and music producers who have also created some stunning Celtic music).

Sarah’s Song, written for Rodney’s daughter Sarah, is one track that particularly resonates with people, especially women. “I wrote a very personal song but soon realised that it resonated with other women.

[It is] another reminder of how important it is for fathers and mothers to speak words of blessing and encouragement. The first time I played it for a friend she suddenly began to weep and was able to tell us

some of her story. This then led to a vulnerable moment where Heather was able to minster to her,” Rodney said.

The only song Rodney didn’t write is the popular trad melody, Wild Mountain Thyme. When Rodney first heard the song, it reminded him of the Bible’s Song of Songs, except for the third verse, which he re-wrote for this recording. Friends who are members of a folk music group commented on how much they liked this new verse saying, “I like the idea of a lover who is not so disposable”.

Rodney has sent his album to local radio stations and, at the time of writing, had one interview lined up.

“Music has a way of breaking down walls and boundaries. I’m also hoping to coordinate with local churches to do house concerts and perform in more intimate settings.

In that way, I can weave a bit of the backstory of the songs and perhaps speak to those who may not otherwise be open to hearing about Jesus,” he said.

You can order Rodney Gale’s album ‘Pilgrim Road’ from Sounds of Wonder (www. soundsofwonder. org). It is also available to download from cdbaby.com, iTunes, Amazon, etc.

Get more information on his FB page @ RodneyGaleMusic JAN - MAR 2020 VOX.IE

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VOX.IE JAN - MAR 2020

www.stmarks.ie

MUSIC REVIEWS

VOX MAGAZINE

YOU WELCOME US HOME

BY SHERRY HAZLETT-GALLEN

Y

ou Welcome Us Home is the debut five track EP by Dublin-based singer songwriter, music teacher and worship leader, Sherry Hazlett-Gallen. Comprising five songs of impeccable quality, the EP was released on Sunday 17 November in Holy Trinity Church, Rathmines, where she leads worship.

The EP has been a long time in the making.

Each song has been painstakingly crafted with Sherry returning to the songs time and time again to perfect them, just as a painter returns to the canvas to add loving brush strokes. The result is a work of simple beauty.

The title track, inspired by the book The Return of the Prodigal Son by Henri Nouwen, with its gentle, poignant string and piano intro, takes the listener on a journey that affirms that we are welcome home no matter where we’ve been. Home is a place of shelter and comfort where there is room for everyone.

The Hiding Place is a simple delight. Piano, strings and ethereal layered vocals are lovingly wrapped around lyrics that remind us that we can find God even when we are in a place

of despair and doubt. This song is a deeply personal song for Sherry, and her emotion is evident in the little cracks in the vocals that are captured beautifully by producer Stu Reid in this intimate recording.

In a recent interview Sherry described herself as a number four on the Enneagram scale. A quick Google of this rating suggests she is the sensitive, introspective, expressive, dramatic, self-absorbed type. This is very much in evidence in these recordings, which go deep to find God in everything.

Sherry describes the EP as the sound journey of her own faith growing. It starts with coming home, finding sanctuary and soaking in the presence of God. You Welcome Us Home is a stunningly beautiful debut EP. You can listen to the EP on Spotify and all streaming platforms.

Follow Sherry on Social media facebook.com/ sherryhazlettgallenmusic, Twitter @SherryHazlett instagram.com/sherryhazlettgallenmusic.

Reviewed by Vincent Hughes, UCB Ireland

JAN - MAR 2020 VOX.IE

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MUSIC REVIEWS

VOX MAGAZINE

Live At The Wheelhouse WE THE KINGDOM

There is no doubt that the best way to judge the quality of praise and worship music is to hear it live. So the first praise and worship album I will recommend to you in the New Year is the debut album by a new praise and worship collective We The Kingdom, called Live At The Wheelhouse, and this is as live as it gets. And it is very good.

We The Kingdom describe themselves as a multigenerational family of musicians, including producers and songwriters Ed Cash (Chris Tomlin, NeedToBreathe, Bethel Music, Crowder), Scott Cash, Franni Rae Cash, Martin Cash and Andrew Bergthold. Their sound is a blend of worship, vulnerability, and grit that is birthed out of decades of musical influences and a shared difficult experience that brought them together as a band. The album consists of six songs that will lift you up and make you want to sing and dance. The songs are instantly memorable and you will most certainly find yourself singing along even during your first listen. This is a musthave album. Check them out at www.wethekingdom.com.

Rescue Story

Jesus is King

Rescue Story is Zach Williams’ follow up to the 2018 Grammy award winning (Best Contemporary Christian Music Album) Chain Breaker and, at the time of writing, is sitting in the top ten in the Christian music charts. The follow-up to a successful debut album is one of the biggest challenges facing any musician.

The choice is stark, keep the record company sweet by producing something similar to the first album, or create something different and risk losing your new-found fans.

Somehow, I don’t think this thought even crossed Williams’ mind. Here is a man who is secure in his faith and is not afraid to show in his lyrics the brokenness and vulnerability that paved his faith journey. It is a remarkable story that he has once again turned to for inspiration for this new collection of songs, and so, the authenticity rings through.

Rescue Story is a seamless and satisfying album. Ten quite brilliant tracks, each of them a potential hit in their own right.

For me, the standout tracks are the piano ballads “Under My Feet,” “Face to Face” and “Heaven Help Me.” which showcase Willams’ amazing vocals. Oh, and his duet with country music legend Dolly Parton, on There Was Jesus is simply sublime.

Have a read of some of these song lyrics: Sing ‘til the power of the Lord comes down (Let everything that have breath praise God).

Hold the selfies, put the Gram way, Get your family, ‘all hold hands and pray” Follow Jesus, listen and obey, No more livin’ for the culture, we nobody’s slave Pretty powerful aren’t they? Lyrics that could have been written by any one of today’s established Christian songwriters but weren’t. These lyrics have come from a surprising source, the album Jesus Is King by Kanye West.

I have never been a fan. I simply do not like rap music. I have, however, always admired the artistry and skill with which such artists weave words together. It’s just not my cup of tea. So, what about West’s album? Well, it is good.

In fact, it is pretty marvelous. I am still not a fan but this is groundbreaking stuff. As for the controversy surrounding his conversion, it’s not my place to judge. Not my cup of tea but a brilliant album nonetheless.

ZACH WILLIAMS

KANYE WEST

Albums reviewed by UCB Ireland Radio producer/presenter Vincent Hughes.

Listen to his programme 12-3pm Monday to Friday and 11am-3pm on Saturdays on Virgin Media Channel 918, on Sky Channel 0214 or via the smartphone app.

You can contact Vincent at vhughes@ucbireland.ie | www.ucbireland.com.

JAN - MAR 2020 VOX.IE

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WHAT’S HAPPENING AROUND IRELAND?

EVENTS

Momentum 2020 17 - 19 January Ovoca Manor, Co. Wicklow www.momentumireland. com

Irish Bible Institute Open Day Tuesday, 21 January Ulysses House, Dublin 1 www.ibi.ie

4 Corners Festival 31 January – 9 February

Tearfund National Coffee Morning Wednesday, 25 March www.tearfund.ie

Embracing Change Saturday, 28 March Riasc Centre, Swords, Co. Dublin www.iacc.ie

Christian Dance Fellowship Ireland Conference 3 - 5 April Ballanaleck, Co. Fermanagh www.cdfi.weebly.com

Spiritual Retreat in the Himalayas May 2020 Himalayas, Nepal www.thesurfproject.org/ fundraising-treks

MV Logos Hope visits Ireland Cork: 27 May - 9 June Dublin: 17 - 30 June www.om.org

Summer Fire 19 – 26 June Trabolgan, Co. Cork www. summerfireconference. com

Summer Madness 26 – 30 June Glenarm, Co. Antrim www.summermadness. co.uk

Sligo 20 New Wine 12 - 17 July Sligo IT www.newwineireland. org

New Horizon Conference 25 – 31 July Ulster University Coleraine www.newhorizon.org.uk

Christian Dance Fellowship of Ireland INVITES YOU TO ITS BIENNIAL NATIONAL CONFERENCE Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th April 2020

Randall Flinn is the founder and director of the Ad Deum dance company in Houston Texas. “The mission of Ad Deum is to create and perform excellent and vital works of dance that serve to wash over the heart and soul of humanity with relevant meaning and redemptive hope.

Belfast www.4cornersfestival. com

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Reasonable costs with an early bird rate up to the 1st February of £160 - covers all workshops, accommodation, and meals. (Price may be subject to change, please check our website.) More details for day rates etc. and payment options on the web: https://cdfi.weebly.com/ All Enquiries: cdfireland@gmail.com (Lifts may be available.)

We are an inter-denominational all Ireland fellowship, seeking to honour Jesus Christ in all our activities, and to help build unity in the church. We desire to see the Body of Christ enabled to freely express its relationship with God through movement and the related arts.

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BOOK REVIEWS

VOX MAGAZINE

Leading as Sons and Daughters

Stepping into the Impossible

The Essential Guide to Healing

I found this book at first reassuring and then challenging, but then it gave me hope. Wendy anchors her teaching by recounting anecdotes from both her life as a leader and from her personal life, and she points out that we all lead in some way, for we all influence the people around us.

I identified with many of her stories of finding herself uncomfortable or even upset in various situations. But, unlike her response, I don’t always recognise when I am responding as an orphan rather than a beloved child of God. I learnt a lot from her bravery in taking these discomforts to God and asking Him to reveal their sources.

God, of course, always did that and healed her heart, just as He longs to do with us. But so often we don’t operate from our true identity as His children.

Nor do we fully understand the unique ways in which He created us, and so we cannot work together with others to the best of our best ability.

To quote the author: “When we are able to recognise what we are feeling and what our emotions are telling us, we are more likely to be able to stay healthy in our leadership and lead others into freedom. If we embrace the journey of getting to know ourselves, we will be quicker to identify and do away with orphan thinking and behaviour. As a result, we will be able to more wholeheartedly receive our sonship or daughterhood.”

It was 2006 when I first travelled up to visit the fledgling Healing on the Streets ministry in Coleraine. Since then it has spread all around the world. Imagine my delight when its founder, Mark Marx recounted the story. Mark starts by sharing his own upbringing by an alcoholic father, his successful career in interior design, and then reaching rock bottom at age 30. This paved the way for him to begin his journey with Jesus.

Gradually, he was drawn to pray for healing, and then became an Assistant Pastor. He led mission teams out in street evangelism, and trained churches to pray for healing. But he was frustrated at the accepted practice of going out to invite people to come into church to attend a healing meeting, rather than bringing healing out to the people on the streets. It was that frustration that eventually led to Healing on the Streets.

The accounts of healing in this book will encourage you to pray for healing, whether in church or outside. I was inspired by the stories of people with no prior experience who saw lives changed as they released healing while going about their everyday activities. That most of these healings took place on the island of Ireland seems to increase their impact.

You may be inspired that Healing on the Streets could work in your community. It’s certainly a ministry that is reproducible, transferable and sustainable. Details of how to access training and materials are given at the end.

Perhaps we tend to think that some people have always prayed with such faith that they have seen many afflictions healed. But these two Pastors each share their own personal journey. They are now well known for praying and seeing many healed, but this was not always the case.

We quickly realise that their journeys were not without challenges along the way. I love their honesty, and that I can identify with the ordinariness of some of their experiences.

They outline historical events and religious factors which have affected church history and encouraged or discouraged prayer for healing down the centuries. I find these fascinating and very instructive. They throw light on some of the ways in which I can find myself reticent to pray for healing.

Another intriguing discussion is about ‘unbelieving believers’ and ‘believing unbelievers’. They share how those who do not claim to be Christians are often easy to pray for, while those within the church can find it difficult to receive healing.

They also outline Biblical truths and the theological basis for praying for healing. They explain the power of testimony to build faith; and share much practical wisdom. Their insights into how to receive and to share words of knowledge are particularly helpful.

To quote the authors: “It is our hope that each of you will begin to pray for others to be healed after reading this book ….. and that some of you will discover that God has given you a gift of healing.”

By Wendy Mann

By Mark Marx

By Bill Johnson & Randy Clark

Book reviews by Julie Carvill of christianbooks.ie, from where you can order these and other inspiring titles: info@christianbooks.ie or +353 (0)86 839 1870

JAN - MAR 2020 VOX.IE

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VOX PS

STUCK IN WINTER

BY SEÁN MULLAN

T

he winter is always dangerous to you.” The line is from a letter the artist Paul Gauguin penned to his friend Vincent Van Gogh.

Written in spring the warning was to prove of no value to Vincent who never got to see another winter. But the caution could still be worth heeding for many who, like Van Gogh, find winter the most difficult time of year.

Reflecting on my own experience, I have come up with the word “stuck.”

I’m stuck because I often end the working day in winter considering once more the possibility of relocating to somewhere in Italy, preferably somewhere down in the toe or heel, where it might be possible to get through January without hot whiskey, murky mucous and a rasping bark that scares older ladies, including the one I’m married to.

I’m stuck because I can spend days wondering if the sun is ever again going to put in an appearance and trying desperately to recall the last time I saw it. And I’m stuck because no matter how often I rebuke myself and tell me to get my act together, I simply don’t do as much or as well as I would like to in winter.

I’ve been given a lot of sage advice over the years for coping with midwinter “stuckness.” Get outside more.

“medicine.” Fly south for a while - like the birds. And there is a lot of wisdom in such advice. But there’s also wisdom in accepting that winter is the season of “stuckness” and will ever be so, at least in Ireland. So, I like Garrison Keillor’s claim that winter is an annual serious attempt by nature to kill us. That’s a good starting point.

Perhaps part of my struggle has been a failure to respect winter and acknowledge its importance in the cycle of the year. Winter is a time of decay, rotting and death. It is nature’s season of nothing happening before life eventually restarts. Yet in our technology-ruled age with darkness and cold no longer in charge, we try to keep on living and working as if winter were the same as every other time of year.

We work the same number of hours a day, expect the same level of productiveness and, very often, beat ourselves up when we don’t achieve it.

It’s ironic that it’s in summer when the rest of nature is busy producing, when our own energy levels are high and we are capable of doing more, that we work less, take long holidays and close down places of learning.

There was some wisdom in the fourth century Christian leaders who decided that the mid-winter solstice was the best time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Since they hadn’t a clue what time of year Jesus was born, they could pick their time and they picked well. And the notion of marking the shortest day and the “turn” of the year has even older roots in Ireland. The extraordinary passage graves at Newgrange show that the mid-winter pivot was an important

I CAN SPEND DAYS WONDERING IF THE SUN IS EVER AGAIN GOING TO PUT IN AN APPEARANCE.

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VOX.IE JAN - MAR 2020

day to people who lived millennia before Jesus.

We haven’t done well in preserving that ancient tradition of marking mid-winter, acknowledging darkness but celebrating light. We have gone from celebrating light on a dark day and the birth of Jesus as the light of the world to weeks of compulsory cheerfulness, competitive giving and inordinate consumption. For those unable or unwilling to submit it can be a very difficult time. Father Peter McVerry recently declared that he hates Christmas for this reason, because it isolates homeless people even more than usual.

What’s so bad about being stuck in winter for a while? What’s wrong with producing less, resting more and acknowledging the season we are in?

Patrick Kavanagh’s poem “Advent” celebrates the scarcity of the advent season, the beginning of winter.

He celebrates not scarcity itself but scarcity’s capacity to bring back to us again ...the newness that was in every stale thing when we looked at it as children.

Maybe Hibernia, the “land of winter” as the Romans called it, could become the “land that does winter well.” Perhaps we could learn to accept the “stuckness” of it all, reject enforced cheerfulness and acknowledge the darkness of the days.

If we do, then we might perceive in the darkness the promise of light and life for the future. Again the poet puts it best: We have thrown into the dustbin the clay-minted wages Of pleasure, knowledge and the conscious hourAnd Christ comes with a January flower.

Seán Mullan has been working in church leadership for many years. He has developed a project in Dublin City Centre called “Third Space”.

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Look out for Open Days advertised on our website ibi.ie/events/opendays JAN - MAR 2020 VOX.IE

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embracing change A one-day faith-inspiring conference hosted by THE IRISH ASSOCIATION OF CHRISTIAN COUNSELLORS Inviting all those involved in the helping professions, including Counsellors and those in Pastoral Care

Saturday

28 March 2020 Registration: 9.30am Ends: 4.30pm Lunch included Cost: €50 Riasc Centre, Feltrim Road, Swords, Co Dublin

Book online: www.iacc.ie

Our host for the day is Spirit Radio presenter and psychotherapist RONAN JOHNSTON. Our keynote presenter, MICHAEL FERRIS, Counsellor, Minister and Trainer from USA will give his inspiring workshop on ‘Soul Care’ and his unique presentation on ‘Journey to the Potter’s House’ using his live pottery wheel.