Finding Faith 2022 - Day One
Monday 16 May
For VOX magazine’s 10th annual Finding Faith Tour editor Ruth Garvey-Williams travels across Ireland hunting down stories of faith, life and reality. You can follow the journey each day here on the blog and through our social media pages with stories, videos and photos.
It was a cold, wet start to the day as I set out from home to drive across the peninsula over winding rain-drenched mountain roads. Following the coastline of Lough Foyle I was struck by the iron grey clouds and brooding darkness of the water relieved only by a streak of light across the distant shoreline.
And yet as I arrived at Carnagarve Forest between Moville and Greencastle, the rain stopped and a lightness filled the sky.
Here Liam and Joyce Burns had the foresight to plant a forest, almost 30 years ago, that has now come to maturity.
Just Breathe
Cutting paths through the trees, they have created a beautiful and tranquil space that they are keen to share with others. This is a place to breathe. A place where God’s beauty is displayed in the filigree lace of the canopy overhead, the symphony of birdsong and splashes of colour revealed in the undergrowth… buttercups, bluebells and a bold robin singing at the top of his lungs.
What a perfect way to start this year’s tour. The stress and busy-ness of packing and preparations melt away as Joyce and I navigate the muddy forest paths (thankful for the wellie boots stowed in the boot as an afterthought).
Refreshed and renewed, I climb behind the wheel once more somehow unsurprised that the rain starts again as I re-start the car. Now headed for Magherafelt, Co Londonderry, I soon realise there will be no pleasing vistas to photograph on this leg of the journey. Driving rain makes way to such thick fog over the Glenshane pass that I can barely see the freight lorry ahead of me… I’m grateful I can at least follow its tail lights.
Hope Magherafelt
It takes a hasty phonecall to track down the office of Christian charity Hope Magherafelt, tucked as it is behind the bus station. Sadly Jenny Thompson who heads up the charity had to stay at home because of a Covid close contact but I’m greeted warmly by Ruth Carson. She shares how the the Magherafelt Food Bank grew to encompass a whole range of supports for people.
“Our vision is to help transform the lives of those in our community by caring for their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well-being,” explains Ruth.
The result is a person-centred approach that not only tackles food poverty but deals with the root causes (through debt advice, counselling or befriending) that have so often brought people into difficulties. Ruth is the Christians Against Poverty (CAP) debt centre manager which is now part of Hope Magherafelt.
“Our work is open for people of all faiths and none, but as a Christian there are opportunities to draw alongside people, to listen to their stories and, where appropriate, to offer to pray for them. It is all about restoration!” Ruth says.
Thankfully it is a short drive to my next stop and I arrive dead on 1.30pm. Coaching for Christ is a ministry based in the village of Ahoghill, close to Ballymena in Co Antrim.
Sowing Seeds
Expecting an office space, I’m blown away by the facility I find in this small Northern Irish village. Husband-and-wife Stephen and Allison Crawford head up the team of nine people working with Coaching for Christ which is based in a former church youth centre that is already too small for the 300 young people who attend three times a week for football coaching.
After a quick tour, I’m treated to a delicious chicken salad lunch as I hear their story. Stephen tells me he was, “born ordinary” - growing up just a few miles outside of Ahoghill. With no church background, he still remembers the impact of a school teacher who told him stories about Jesus. “We don’t always see the fruit of the seeds we sow,” he tells me. But at 30 years of age, those stories brought Stephen to a powerful encounter with God that eventually led to the birth of Coaching for Christ [… you’ll need to wait a while for the full story].
“I was a painter and decorator by trade but I knew God had something He wanted me to do. I used to coach football and got a call asking me to coach for a local school, but I said, ‘God, that is still not for you.’ I heard Him say, ‘Do it for me then…’”
Gradually Stephen built a team together and Allison came on board with her skills in administration. Now the group travels all over the world combining football coaching with talks from the Bible and building into the lives of young people with leadership training along with support developing healthy relationships (anti-bullying), health and wellbeing. This week the coaches are working with over 1,000 young people in local schools!
“For me, Jesus is the centre of everything,” Stephen says. “I was born ordinary and it makes you realise how amazing God is.”
The hour with Stephen and Allison flies past. This time as I get back on the road again, the sun is shining - a total transformation from my earlier journey. Running late for my next appointment in East Belfast I pass a mural on the side of the M2… “Don’t Worry About a Thing”… it makes me smile and breathe again.
Learning Together
I may be 20 minutes late but my gracious host makes no demure as I arrive at the Skainos Centre, home to the Methodist Church’s East Belfast Mission. I first met Rev Brian Anderson in Dublin through the Irish Council of Churches. Here on his home turf, I’m astonished by the sheer size of the centre and how this ministry is responding to the needs of some of the most deprived areas of inner-city Belfast. A small church congregation meets for worship here but Skainos also houses a homeless hostel, a cafe, a community garden and a whole range of supports and services to address poverty, unemployment and disadvantage.
The bright afternoon becomes even brighter when I discover this building is also home to Turas - the Irish language centre in East Belfast led by the courageous and inspirational Linda Ervine (MBE). Meeting her and hearing the news that the cross-community Naoinra has found a new home was certainly one of the day’s highlights.
Hungry for Connection
After a short but inspiring visit, I’m on the road again travelling south with a brief stop to catch up with Dave Flanagan from Dungannon, Co Tyrone at a coffee shop along the way. I’m grateful for a much-needed caffeine fix. It is lovely to see Dave again and to wish him “Happy Birthday”. He shares how a group in his home town are gathering each month to encourage each other (focusing simply on “Worship and the Word”) as well as heading onto the streets to pray with folks they meet. People are hungry for connection, he shares.
The sun was splitting the rocks as I drive the final leg of today’s journey, crossing back over the border to Monaghan. I arrive at my B&B just in time to log into a two-hour Zoom call - a gathering of Christian leaders from across the West of Ireland. There are plenty of familiar faces on the call and I’m reluctant to leave such wisdom and inspiration…. but I eventually log off to capture a few of the day’s highlights here before I head to bed.
“Oíche mhaith a chairde”