Day Twenty: County Tipperary
Wednesday 20 May
The annual VOX magazine Finding Faith Tour looks very different this year. Instead of a 7-day road trip around the island, this year VOX editor Ruth Garvey-Williams brings you highlights from all 32 counties (one per day plus one for each of the 31 days in May). Contact Ruth if you have a story to share.
Day Twenty: The Kingdom of God made Visible
The last two months have been a time of extremes for Methodist Minister, Rev Steven Foster in Roscrea, Tipperary. “On the one hand, it has been lonely. I’m a social person, I love just being with people and I find this doesn’t suit me at all. On the other side, I find it fascinating and transformative. I see new open doors. Without wanting to undermine the seriousness of the pandemic, this is a time to re-imagine ministry and mission in this area and across Ireland.”
“What is God doing in this time and how do we respond?”
While caring for church members through online services, phone calls and a church newsletter distributed each week via email and hand delivered to those who are not comfortable with digital versions, Steven has also been looking further afield to find ways to bless the wider community.
“I am convinced there are many people in the community whose thinking is very close to the kingdom of God. I want them to meet Christ but if I wanted them to come to a service in the Methodist Church or start listening to my sermons, that is not where they are at. For a lot of the time, church life is about the more traditional concepts of church but people [in the wider community] need to be able to taste and see what the kingdom of God looks like and that means we need to go where they are,” Steven said.
Setting up a Facebook group called “Shalom Roscrea,” Steven has been connecting with others in the community to find creative ways to be a blessing without the label of a particular church denomination or group. This has included coming up with some random surprises to support those who are doing good.
Steven is also chairperson of Roscrea Welcomes - a group set up to support residents of the local Direct Provision Centre. What began as an opportunity to promote social integration also led to more courageous moments of speaking up and speaking out about the needs of the asylum seekers, something that has become especially apparent during lockdown.
“For me, this is about justice and the calling of Jesus’ mission to stand against injustice in society. As we started on this journey, we realised that there were things here that were not right. We’ve found ourselves having to speak out,” Steven added.
Watch out for an Irish Times article in the coming days!
