FF 2021: Four Corners

North, south, east and west... God has not stopped working across Ireland throughout the last 12 months. As we headed into our second “virtual” finding faith tour, we’ve been amazed to hear so many inspiring and encouraging stories. Here’s a taste:

(From the July - September 2021 issue of VOX)

Christian Mums on WhatsApp - Kiltealy, Co. Wexford

Struggling with motherhood, life and faith during lockdown, Sarah Hemmingway set up a WhatsApp group to share encouragement and inspiration with other mums. She was overwhelmed with the response and told VOX magazine what prompted this practical new ministry.

Sarah Hemmingway is a nurse who is married to a dairy farmer with three young children. “We go to a traditional Church of Ireland church without many young people. I found lockdown hard. I was working as a practice nurse at a GP surgery and things were busy and stressful,” Sarah told us.

Before Covid, Sarah had spotted a daily devotional book called Jesus Calling by Sarah Young on the shelf at her granny’s house. “I asked to borrow it and my granny told me to keep it. She gave me a stack of other Christian books too but I didn’t really open any of them.”

When things became overwhelming during lockdown Sarah started reading Jesus Calling and encouraged her husband to read it too. “It made such a difference as we started relying on God more each day. I began praying more and listening to worship music. I began wondering if there were others out there who could also do with the same spiritual encouragement and support,” Sarah said.

“The idea kept nagging at me and finally I plucked up the courage to get in touch with some of my friends who had been in the Christian Union at college. We set up the Christian Mums WhatsApp group and eventually over 30 people joined the group. I suppose it is a community to meet and support other young Christian mums who might be on their own. We share podcasts, worship music and resources to help us as parents.

“So many people are struggling behind closed doors and they need someone to offload to. In these days of social media, it is so easy to go down rabbit holes and find all sorts of distractions. We wanted something to help us focus on God and not get distracted.

“It has been amazing to see the difference in my family life, my attitude, my mindset and my approach to life overall as we’ve focused on God.”

Too many people! - Loughrea, Co. Galway

A new church that almost doubled during lockdown needed to find new premises when things started opening up. It was a joyful “problem” to have Pastor Jonny Pollock told VOX magazine.

For many years, Jonny and Julie Pollock have had a passion to see vibrant churches established in places that were overlooked and forgotten. They served for several years in Mexico and then worked with a church in north Belfast before sensing God’s call to the west of Ireland.

“It was strange because Ireland is where we are from so it doesn’t seem as romantic. I think there is a perception that because you are from a place you know about it. Sometimes you take things for granted. We spent two years working alongside a church in Westport prayerfully considering how God could use us. We wanted to see where God was working already and join in with that,” Jonny explained.

When the couple discovered that two women in Loughrea had been praying every week for a new church to be established in their town, they felt this was where they should go. “We must be the worst answer to prayer ever,” Jonny grinned. “The two ladies had been praying for a church to be planted and we had been praying for God to direct us. We knew Loughrea was it!”

Four years ago Jonny and Julie moved with their three boys to Loughrea. “At first we didn’t do very much. We were getting to know those two ladies and falling in love with the town. It is such a wonderful place with unique people. We spent our first year just drinking that all in and getting to know people. Thanks to the new motorway and the Channel Factory, it is an incredibly diverse town with people from India, Brazil and South Africa.”

When the small group started to meet as Calvary Church, Loughrea, they soon found they didn’t need to advertise. “We’ve been so blessed,” Jonny said. “We’ve focused on building relationships and people began coming to us. Remarkably our church has grown during lockdown. Beforehand we had 23 people coming but now we have more than 40. How did that happen? Relationships and unity have developed in the shared experience of lockdown. The church was being the church and that is attractive! There is a beauty in seeing Brazilian kids who don’t speak English sitting on the knee of a 90-year-old local woman. It is only because of Christ!”

Prior to lockdown the church was meeting in the local resource centre but the room was too small to house everyone when restrictions eased. Now the church is meeting in a hotel and searching for new premises. “When I complain to Julie about having too many people, she joyfully reminds me of why we are doing this.”

“I wouldn’t have believed it!” - Sligo

Finding more people attending a virtual Bible Study than would ever have attended in person has been just one of the surprises for Presbyterian minister Rev David Clarke in Sligo during the pandemic.

David Clarke moved to Sligo to become the minister of Sligo Presbyterian church in January 2018. “I had a strong sense that this was where God was calling me and I love being a part of the diverse church community here. There are people who have been lifelong Presbyterians alongside others from different denominational backgrounds and a good number of people from different nationalities but we are all the stronger for our diversity,” he shared.

Considering what God has been doing in his church over lockdown is a hard question to answer. “You cannot dig up a seedling to see what is happening under the ground without damaging it. But I think God is always at work. There have been lots of encouragements. One of the highlights is that the congregation is closer now than we were before the start of the pandemic. There is more of a sense of bearing each other’s burdens and has made us aware of the need to be sensitive to one another.”

Seeing church members sending flowers and writing cards to one another has been a great joy along with the creativity different groups have brought to the challenge of ministry during lockdown. “Our Sunday School started to meet on Zoom in December. It has been brilliant how the parents and children have logged on and joined in with games, singing and breakout rooms for the different age groups.”

View fullsize

When the midweek Bible Study moved onto Zoom, more people began joining virtually than would ever have attended in person. “We’ve had more freedom and there has been a greater sense of openness to share and pray for one another. Before this, if you had said we are going to do a virtual Bible study, I wouldn’t have believed it would work. But people have engaged with the studies and there has been a hunger for God’s word.”

There was great joy in coming back together for “in person” worship even despite the restrictions. “It’s been good to see people coming back and so lovely to see people’s faces again. When you’ve been closed for so long you begin to wonder,” David admitted.

Now the church is slowly beginning to look to the future again. “We had a host of things planned for 2020 and then Covid hit. It was almost painful to read the minutes of the [planning] meeting and realise that everything had had to be cancelled. But now we’re slowly rebuilding. Some of the congregation want to start a walking group and we are hoping to go to the beach and get an ice cream with the young people.”

With a Direct Provision Centre on their doorstep, the church hopes to reach out in friendship and show practical love to asylum seekers and refugees who have arrived in Sligo.

“The Lord has His purposes to allowing all this to happen. I look forward to seeing what He has been doing,” David said.

Looking for something real - Athlone, Co. Westmeath

After 31 years serving in Athlone, Dominic and Carol Montgomery from Cherith Baptist Church found lockdown tough going at times, especially coming to terms with new technology. But they have seen God at work in their church community and beyond.

“This last year has stripped us back. We’ve been forced to be still and to know that He is God (Psalm 46). The lockdowns have really helped us to appreciate what perhaps we had taken for granted in church. We struggled at times but the Lord was more than capable of holding on to us,” Dominic shared.

There has been great joy in coming back together again as a church family even despite the challenge of finding sufficient room for everyone. “As well as the church itself, we have a mobile unit that we call the ‘ark’ and it got vandalised by a group of youngsters. That wasn’t nice at the time but it is all cleaned up now and it has given us the opportunity to remodel it and increase the space. Thanks to the good weather over the last few weeks, we’ve been able to go into the garden to talk and catch up with one another and that has been wonderful.”

Since restrictions have eased, their church has been working alongside other Athlone churches. Twice a week, they have brought in OM Ireland’s Big Red Bus to provide a base for ministry and outreach.

“A few weeks ago, I went into the local park with James, one of the OM workers who likes to do a bit of open air preaching. After he gave a message, we met a young lad who was interested in what we were sharing. He was weighing things up and looking for something real. We pointed out that we were from different churches but we had all come together for one purpose, to exalt Jesus. That really struck him. The teachings of Jesus are good and true but it is how people have applied them that has often left a lot to be desired. If ever there was a time when people were looking for something real, it is right now.”

Olive’s Rubbish is Helping Expectant Mums - Derrylin, Co. Fermanagh

A Church of Ireland parishioner has found an innovative way to care for the environment and to help expectant mothers at the same time. We spoke to Olive Roe to find out more.

As a social worker and mum-of-four, Olive Roe has plenty to keep her busy but in recent months, she has been encouraging people at her local church to take part in a simple project with the potential to save lives.

“In 2016, I was pregnant with Jacob. I was working in Omagh and I was a bit concerned that I had not had a lot of movement. When I went to the clinic they checked me over and they told me about Kicks Count [www.kickscount.org.uk]. That is a UK charity that promotes awareness about baby movements and gives advice to expectant mums about what to look out for,” Olive explained.

Thankfully Jacob was born safely despite the scare and Olive went on to have another baby. More recently she was moved by a TV documentary that talked about the impact of waste on the environment.

“I was thinking there must be more that we can do about it and then something flashed up on Facebook - Recycle for KicksCount NI. I saw that it was possible to gather things like the wrappers for crisps, sweets and biscuits and at the same time earn money for the charity.”

She started collecting wrappers and storing them separately from general household waste. “I sellotaped bread bags to the back of the door and during the first lockdown we began collecting, sorting and sending them off to the coordinator in Cookstown,” Olive explained.

Soon Olive was spreading the word among family and friends and several joined in. That was when Olive got the idea to involve her local parish church.

“I spoke to my Rector, Rev Alastair and he was really up for it. It doesn’t take too much time and I coordinate gathering and sorting the rubbish once a week. My boys help out too.”

Seeing the devastating impact of stillbirth on whole families, Olive is determined to help raise as much money as possible for KicksCount. “Sometimes it is not possible to prevent a still birth but if a little more information could help even one family then it is worth it.”

In the last month alone, the church has gathered 19 bread bags full of wrappers for recycling and with regular reports back about how much money they are raising, there is plenty of incentive to keep going.

The Lord brought us step by step - Skibbereen, West Cork

It seems a strange time to launch a church but Amazing Grace Community church held its first “in person” meeting when restrictions eased in May. VOX spoke to Pastor Rob Attridge and his wife Amy about their journey so far.

Rob Attridge was born and brought up in Skibbereen. After studying at IBI, Rob and his wife Amy began seeking God about the way ahead. “We felt the Lord was leading us towards being involved in ministry with a church. That is a funny thing to say because as believers we are all in ‘full time’ ministry whatever job we do. But we did sense He was leading us to church work,” Rob said.

Three years ago, a small group began to gather for a weekly Bible study in Skibbereen. “At that point we didn’t have any clear vision for the future but more people joined until we had around 20 people each week,” Rob explained.

They found support and encouragement from several local churches including the Baptist church in Bandon who helped them to think through the next steps and advised them on the process for forming a church.

“Covid gave us time to work on our constitution and figure out things like Garda Vetting and even a website. We were meeting online during lockdown. I was appointed as the pastor and we focused very much on supporting our members. The Lord was bringing us step by step and we saw real answers to prayer.”

As lockdown restrictions eased and they began planning their first meeting, it became clear that a bigger venue was needed. After one Zoom prayer meeting, one of the church elders walked into town and met someone who recommended a community centre in Skibbereen where they could meet. “God was answering prayer. We hadn’t even thought of that building but now we’ve been meeting there on Sundays and it is a great place to be,” Rob smiled.

Lockdown was hard on young people - Kilkenny

Away from the busyness and distractions of normal life, teacher and youth leader Laura Mahon has been drawing closer God during lockdown. She talks about seeking to support the young people in her church as they navigate the pandemic.

Primary school teacher Laura Mahon used to think her housemate was crazy for giving up every Saturday night to lead the youth group at their church. But gradually God began to put it on her heart to get involved. “When my housemate moved away, the church leaders asked me to take it on and I’m leading the group now for four years,” Laura said.

Lockdown was hard on the young people as Zoom calls soon lost their appeal. The Christ in Youth Move Conference last summer was a highlight and Laura enjoyed connecting with other youth leaders for support and prayer.

Now back meeting together in person, Laura is conscious of how the last year has affected her young people. “There is a heaviness for many of them and the prolonged lockdown has been difficult. Friendships have become strained and young people have had to deal with a lot. There are some new faces but others have left.

“I find working with the youth, the themes you are exploring for them and the questions they have can speak to you too. As I am reading scripture, He is speaking to me through what I am bringing to them. When you simplify things to be able to bring a message you get fresh revelation for yourself.”

Currently studying the gospel of John, the group was struck by the story of Jesus turning water into wine in John chapter 3. “It is quite a simple story but there was so much that spoke to us. Jesus was at the wedding celebrating with His friends. He has compassion for the people in an ordinary situation. He wanted to solve their problem and didn’t want them to face embarrassment. The miracle was all done in a very low-key way; only those involved were aware of what was happening. But these were huge stone jars and it was the best wine. That is God’s nature. Nothing was lacking. There was more than enough and it was the best quality.”

As the youth group and the church navigates back into more normal life and ministry, Laura is convinced that God is at work. “I feel God is bringing good out of all these situations. There is a realness and genuine hunger among people,” she said.

Abiding in Christ, Ready for Action – Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin

For the Nazareth Community in Dublin the last year has been a beautiful opportunity for retreat and to be intentional about spending time with the Lord. Community leader JP Johnson told VOX more.

 “Really early on, at the time of the first lockdown, we received a vivid leading to a passage from Hosea where the Lord says He will lead us into the wilderness and speak tenderly to us. We know the Lord has said He is going to do something and He forced us into a space where we were abiding in His presence and not being caught up with the demands of everything,” JP said.

Reflecting on God’s sovereignty has been comforting. “We led a teaching series on various characters in Scripture who grew as the Lord allowed challenges in their lives,” JP explained. “The question is, will we come out changed for the better? The Lord is working out His purposes and we don’t want to come out of the cave with our eyes blinking but instead ready and anointed for His mission. He is doing a work in us to prepare us to cooperate with His plan.”