Our time so far here in Northern Ireland has been busy and blessed beyond belief! My team and I are staying with two other teams (20 people total) in a facility that is normally a "scout house" and filled to the brim with boy scouts. We are so blessed to have ample space available to us including a full kitchen, gymnasium, six showers, an all girls room, a couple of boys rooms, a room for the married couple, an amazing worship room and 4 normal toilets! Our 3 teams have been working for a phenomenal church called Causeway Coast Vineyard. The church is incredibly involved and present in the community and we are honored to be able to be a part of the work that they are doing here in Coleraine. This city is just saturated in the Holy Spirit! Our hosts and contacts this month blow me away. You simply shake them by the hand and they just deposit Jesus onto you. They are all so stoked to have us here and are constantly pouring into us, teaching us and empowering us and wrapping us up in their kindness and hospitality. What a fantastic place to serve as our very first month on the Race! The tools they are teaching us we will be carried with us out into the rest of the nations. Each day I become more and more equipped. Here is a run-down on the types of ministry work and jobs we have been doing this past week:
Serving at the Sunday Church Services
We set up and serve tea and coffee at the two services on Sundays. Greet people and flash them our pearly whites. They are quite intrigued and entertained by our American accents. Standard impersonations of the American accent on behalf of the Irishman include, "I'm totally stoked!" "Awesome!" (both in valley girl voice) and standard southern twang, "Hey y'all." It's a wee bit o rubbish if ya ask mee. The men do chair stewarding also. Tomorrow we will also be working with the youngsters doing Sunday school. The church is very contemporary and thriving at the moment, us World Racers fit right in with the music and worship style!
Sunday Food Giveaway
This is a welcoming cafe style environment set up at the church where people who find it difficult to afford food for themselves or their families can receive a free food pack in a way that maintains their dignity and self-esteem. Tea, coffee and "buns" aka cookies, muffins and other sweets are served during the giveaway. We help work the food giveaway and befriend those who come in, talk to them and share our testimonies.
Promotion for Car Boot Sale
The church is putting on a car boot sale or, as we call them in the states, a big farmers market and craft fair. This is to raise money for the many ministries of the church and also to help fund a new church facility that is being built due to the exponential growth of the church. Last sundays service was overflowing with people, what a blessing! We pass out flyers and put up posters all around town and the surrounding areas to help get the word out.
Hope and Gloria Shop
Hope and Gloria is a very high end consignment and coffee shop run by the church. Proceeds go towards funding food ministries of the church. The men help in moving furniture and sorting clothes and girls help hem, sew and sort clothes, handbags and accessories.
The Open Door
This is an opportunity for people to "drop in" and have a hot cup or coffee or tea, enjoy some company with space to chat and a listening ear. We are to serve people who come in, sit down beside them at a table and just befriend them and join in a good chat.
Treasure Hunting
This is where we sit down in prayer with the Lord and ask him who out on the streets he wants us to pray for. We write down descriptive things about the person, what they might be wearing, look like, need prayer for, location, etc. and then go out into town on foot looking for this treasure. We talk with, pray for and prophesy over them.
Wear-house
The Wear-house offers good quality clothing and shoes free of charge to those that are in need. Our job is to sort through the massive pile of donated clothing, send it through to laundry or toss it out. We then separate and sort according to men's, women's, or children's and seasonal. It's summer here now which feel like a Michigan winter, brr!!! Spontaneous dance parties obviously take place here also. Sidenote: you know you're in Europe when last decade's hottest American hits are being blasted in public 24/7.
Manual Labor/New Church Site Clean Up
We lace up our sneakers, slip on our working gloves and help clean up the new church site as well as offices by cleaning and doing manual labor. The church people make sure we take a sufficient amount of tea breaks.
Healing on the Streets
This ministry is actually set up at the beautiful town center of Coleraine. We set up a station with several chairs sitting out on the street, pass out leaflets and ask people if they need prayer for healing or anything else. This ministry works with a loving and compassionate environment, full of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. It is marked by a true sense of peace. Amungst the hustle and bustle of busy shoppers, walks the Prince of Peace. Stillness falls; passers-by begin to slow and stop and the presence of God draws them in. They'll sit down and a team of 3-4 come and kneel before them, lay hands on them and pray.
Just Because
This ministry involved going out into the community and blessing others days by doing random acts of kindness just because God loves them. Some members of the team work by handing out muffins, coffee, and hot chocolate to local businesses, some people do toilet ministry by knocking on shop doors and asking if they need their toilets aka "loo's" to be cleaned. Others hand out sweets in the streets to strangers. And others just go out and pray over those they feel led to.
All around there are a lot of different ministries going on every day with our group. They keep us busy and it's such an honor to even be here to serve! Being here has re-defined for me what exactly ministry looks like. As you can see ministry looks like a lot of different things. My team and I have already experienced such growth and I'm excited for this next week to continue ministry and to continue growing together with my team and God! Keep the prayers coming!
Joyfully in His grace,
Georgia
