Finding Faith 2022 Day Seven
Sunday 22 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.
Be Salty
Despite a rather disrupted night (a fire alarm went off at 3.30am!), I still wake refreshed and soon get on the road. I enjoy a peaceful drive through Tipperary and Kilkenny passing patchwork fields in variegated shades of green and brown.
Pastor Colin Holmes has invited me to visit Ferrybank Christian Community Church which has recently celebrated its 10th anniversary. I discover that Ferrybank is a suburb of Waterford city that (rather bizarrely) is in Co Kilkenny. I receive such a warm welcome from Colin’s wife Ali and from church members Sarah and Debbie. I meet Leah from Maghera who is studying at Belfast Bible College and will be serving with Ferrybank Church over the next four weeks.
It is lovely to share in worship and I enjoy the lively children’s talk about “salt” given by Ali (there are as many children as adults in this lovely family-friendly congregation).
In his talk, Colin reminds everyone, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer anyone.” Colossians 4:6
The church members have been reading and discussing a book called “Stay Salt” by Rebecca Manley Pippert encouraging Christians to share Jesus in their every day lives. This is what the members have been doing, and they share some encouraging stories. One member has started a Bible study in her workplace and now seven people attend. Another person felt God prompting her to talk to a friend and when eventually she did, she discovered an immediate connection. “When God prompts you to connect with someone… Listen to God’s prompting, He knows what He is doing”. Someone else was excited to chat with neighbours because people had noticed how she was always smiling when she came home from church. The church is planning to take part in the “What’s the Story?” initiative later this year (see Day Five).
I have a lot of driving to do today and straight after the service I head off towards Wexford.
The Way Forward
With only one wrong turn (I almost end up in the Bishop’s residence!) I arrive at the Diocesan Centre for the Catholic Diocese of Ferns. Colette O’Doherty, the Director of Youth Ministry for the Diocese heard about our Finding Faith Tour and wrote asking me to visit. I’m treated to a lovely cup of coffee and a slice of tea bread before we sit in Colette’s office (overlooking the bay) for a chat.
“If you ever have to define God’s love, it can be expressed in a view,” Colette smiles. “I never take it for granted.”
When Colette wanted to set up a Youth Group called “Spirit” she felt nervous about the reaction of the teenagers but was stunned when every hand went up in response to the invitation. Until Covid hit, the Wexford-based group met 40 weeks a year with up to 145 teenagers all eager to explore questions about faith and life.
When the pandemic brought everything to a halt, Colette seized the opportunity to bring together a diverse group of clergy, teachers, and young people to develop a more cohesive plan with the aim of bringing young people into a relationship with God. The result has been a dynamic strategy called “The Way Forward” that was launched at the end of 2020 with a bright star, lit up on the top of the Diocesan Centre at Christmas.
I ask Colette what Jesus means to her and her eyes light up. “He is my first thought when I wake up in the morning and my last thought at night. I hope that everything I do is God’s will. He is the source of everying. He is my best friend, He really is. Everyday He gifts me with love.”
We could probably talk for hours but I need to be back on the road, this time heading for Arklow where some lovely “coincidences” are about to happen!
Celebrating Together
I am in Arklow to meet Pastor Solomon Aroboto and his wife Tricia. We “Zoomed” during the 2020 Finding Faith Tour and at that time they told me about their building project (refurbishing an old convent chapel). Since then the congregation has moved in and the official opening is planned for 4 June so I was keen to see what had happened in the intervening two years!
When I meet Solomon at Arklow Bay Hotel, I discover he has just come from the 200th anniversary service of Arklow Methodist Church and they are about to have a celebration meal in the hotel. The minister here, Rev Katherine Kehoe was featured in VOX magazine in 2018 and also visiting is Rev Dr. Sahr Yambasu, President of the Methodist Church of Ireland (I first met Sahr during the 2017 Finding Faith Tour). We decide to call in briefly to greet everyone and to celebrate this special milestone - 200 years of Methodist witness in this town. Pastor Solomon greets Rev Michael Anderson from the local Presbyterian Church who shares how he was speaking on “teamwork” this morning - we need each other (Psalm 133). Rob and Jean, local Christians who are originally from South Africa, are also passionate about Christian unity. “I’d like to eliminate the word ‘denomination’” Rob tells me.
Many local Christian leaders are planning to join Pastor Solomon for the opening of his church in June!
A resurrection story
Delighted at this unexpected bonus on my finding faith journey, we head over to the new home of Christian Community Church Arklow, right in the centre of town. The sheer size and beauty of the space takes my breath away. St Mary’s Chapel was a place of worship for hundreds of years but for the last 35 years it has been boarded up and abandoned. After buying the building, the church set out to refurbish and restore it as a place of worship and the congregation moved in on Easter Day (resurrection day as Solomon points out).
It is a story of faith and the remarkable provision and faithfulness of God. Tricia and Solomon overflow with joy as they speak of their church members and their commitment to keep serving the local community.
With more than an hour’s drive still to go, I reluctantly say goodbye to this lovely couple and their two children before climbing (very stiffly) back behind the wheel. This is one of the most difficult drives of the tour so far, simply because I’m battling crushing exhaustion. Thankfully traffic on the M11 and M50 is flowing freely and as I finally make it to my hotel (just off the M1 motorway), I’m so grateful for safety. Tomorrow I head home with just one more stop along the way.