Day One: County Antrim
Friday 1 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.
Antrim: From Amy Carmichael to Covid-19
When the morning dawned with clear blue skies and sunshine, it seemed tough not to be able to climb behind the wheel and set off, armed with a camera, for this year’s Finding Faith Tour. Is it really possible to share stories of faith, life and reality without leaving home?
Pastor Jonathan Clarke
My immediate fears were soon relieved as I made my first “visit” via WhatsApp to Welcome Evangelical Church in north Belfast - normally a journey of 139km. There was that familiar thrill of discovery as I began to chat with Pastor Jonathan Clarke who has served at the church for the last 13 years.
“I’m sitting here in an office in the Amy Carmichael Centre we have beside our church,” Jonathan tells me.
In the 1880s the Belfast-born missionary Amy Carmichael started her work among the “Shawlies” - the mill girls of Belfast who wore shawls instead of hats.
“Amy set up the Welcome Hall to reach these girls for the Lord but she also realised that they were working in difficult situations. It was 10 - 14 hour shifts in filthy conditions for very little pay. She taught them how to read and write, and how to sew. Here was somebody who cared for the whole person.”
Fast forward 130 years and the centre is normally used for youth work attracting 150 children and young people each week. But during the pandemic, it has become a Food Bank organised by local volunteers to provide practical support for vulnerable families. Over the last few weeks, the Woodvale Community Response has helped over 200 families with deliveries of food parcels and essentials like nappies and baby wipes.
“What we are seeing now is basically what Amy started all those years ago,” Jonathan says.”
Covid-19 could not have arrived at a worse time for this thriving congregation. “Our Sunday morning service was growing. We were seeing younger families coming in and several people had come to faith leading up to 15 March when we had a last service.”
Ministry has shifted in painful directions since then, “I’ve buried two people from the virus and two people who died by suicide,” Jonathan shared. Recognising the devastating impact of grief and mental health problems, the church has already arranged for a trained counsellor to support individuals in the coming weeks.
But Jonathan has also been amazed at the response to Sunday morning service, broadcast live on his Facebook page with many people tuning in and interacting with the messages.
“Today would have been my late father’s 82nd birthday,” Jonathan shares. “He loved the Lord from when he was a young boy and on his gravestone the inscription reads ‘Promoted to Glory’. As we are living through this pandemic, Jesus gives me a peace that the world cannot offer and ultimately I know that my destiny is secure.”
