Encouraging stories from our church plants
At our Church Planting Evening on Tuesday 7 October, we heard encouraging stories from the new ministries and church plants that God is raising up in Down and Dromore.
As Archdeacon Jim Cheshire reminded us in his welcome, we prioritise church planting in the diocese because the evidence is that new churches best reach new generations and new residents as well as people and groups not currently connected to existing churches.
The Church of Ireland has been planting for generations and since the launch of the Down and Dromore Church Planting Fund 12 years ago we have established 11 new worshipping communities and outreaches led by courageous pioneer leaders.
The gathering heard from three of these leaders, each of whom have stepped out in faith in response to God’s call.
Ross Munro heads up The Gathering at the lower end of the Newtownards Road where they are intentional in keeping their community at the heart of the church. He emphasised the need for partnership and the blessing that comes with it. The Gathering is currently partnering with several agencies so that they can practically support 200 local families in the coming weeks.
Natalie Trainor’s emphasis was on the importance of discipleship in the life of The Grove, Newry. “Evangelism is the spark and discipleship is the flame,” she said, with “true evangelism flowing from transformed lives.” That’s why The Grove is intentional about offering both Alpha and their ‘Rooted’ course to those who come along. The church is growing, especially as they now have a permanent base in the city at John Mitchel Place.
Last, but not least, Trevor Brimage updated us on The Well, Castlewellan which he leads with his wife Lorraine. The team recently took possession of new premises in the village and have seen God’s provision as they prepare to open. Much of the ministry at The Well will continue to be with young people as that is where the need is greatest.
Revd Mark Lennox is the diocese’s Warden for Pioneer Ministries and chaired a short panel discussion with Lorraine Anderson (Warrenpoint), Tim Burns (The Suitcase Project), Luke Callum (Moneyreagh Community Church) and Colin Morris (St Donard’s Community Church, Dundrum). Each had an encouraging story to tell of God at work bringing growth in their situations.
Keith Gardiner, Fundraising Officer for Church Growth, took the opportunity to thank and indeed pray for, everyone who has supported our church plants in the past year through prayer, encouragement, visiting, volunteering and giving.
Bishop David concluded the evening with an update on a new Resource Church to be based in St Patrick’s Ballymacarrett. It is being launched in partnership with Holy Trinity Brompton and will be the first Resource Church in Ireland.
The vision is that the church at Ballymacarrett will not only serve the local community but routinely plant new churches which could be anywhere on the island. From the start it will have a large team led by Revd Mike Darbandi (Gas Street Church, Birmingham) and one of the team will be a church planter to be sent out every 3 or 4 years. It’s a big vision with many associated costs for staffing and refurbishment of the building.
Please pray for the work of our church planters and outreach leaders and for the necessary resources to allow evangelism, discipleship and Christian community to flourish. You can find out more and/or donate at these pages on our website:
Church Planting in the Diocese
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We're grateful for the generosity of the T3 Conference Centre at Vic-Ryn.
