I really love the way the Lord kicked off our month in Ireland. We arrived in the Dublin airport in the middle of the night with no concrete plan as to what was going to happen next. Our contact had informed us that they were going through a transition and wouldn’t be able to take our team for the first two weeks, and we hadn’t found any other ministries in the mean time. We thought we could find a camp site and then look for ministries once we got settled there. So we met in the morning (my team and the team we are partnered with for the month) and asked the Lord to do what He does, to open doors, to clear a path, to provide. We split into groups to research our options, we looked for lodging in the Belfast area, and contacted churches, friends and strangers asking about ministry opportunities. And then we waited.
By that afternoon we’d received a phone call from a contact saying that his church (Fisherwick Church in Belfast) would happily host us, and connect us to ministries throughout the city. Free lodging, and ministries!
Praise. The. Lord. So our friends at Fisherwick church have connected us with various ministries throughout the city. They have been such a blessing to us. Something I’m struck by is the simplicity in how they reach out to the community. Sometimes I feel like reaching out is complicated, but I’ve seen here that it sometimes is as simple as opening your doors. So far here’s a little of what we’ve been doing:
SOS Bus: This ministry is pretty simple but has a powerful impact on the community. It is a large yellow bus kind of similar to a tour bus. On the inside there are long rows of benches against the wall, a kitchen, tv, and a first aid area. On Friday and Saturday nights it parks downtown on one of the main streets in Belfast. It exists to help people. They serve tea, coffee, soup and snacks, but more than that they are simply a light in a dark place. They take care of people who are drunk, hurt, lost, or simply want to talk. Where light exists, darkness cannot; the man who started it likes to say that and I currently like to copy him.
Crescent Hill: this is a church just up the road from us that we’ve gotten to spend some time with. Here’s how simple they make reaching out: they set up tables and chairs in the entry area in their church, serve tea, coffee, and snacks, and invite the community to come in, sit and talk. That’s all. They are a light house.
Beautiful Feet: Ahh, so simple yet again. They meet in small coffee shop downtown and open their doors to the homeless of Belfast to come in and sit and have some tea. They also split into groups and take sandwiches out to the homeless who did not make it in. They provide clothes and other little necessities as needed.
Side note: Hugging: last Tuesday night at the end of our night with Beautiful Feet the group we were with lead us down a less trafficked area of town to a hang out spot for 3 homeless men. We talked for a while and then as we were on our way out one of the men started being real with us. He kept asking us why there was not any shelter for him, why could we only give him a sandwich, why did he have to sleep on people’s doorsteps with their dogs, why couldn’t he and his friends have a bed? He pointed to a pool of blood on the ground in the corner and said that someone had been beat and he had to watch it happen. My friend Logan asked him if she could give him a hug, he gruffly told her she had 2 seconds. Five minutes later they were still hugging. I watched as his whole body seemed to sigh with relief, his face softened, the lost look I’d seen slowly faded. He started insisting everyone hug him, and asked that his friends be given hugs as well. It was beautiful. She wrote about it here: www.logankaynes.theworldrace.org.
Summer Club: this week we’re helping out with the Fisherwick VBS. It’s fun being around kids I can communicate with, their accents are precious.
Receiving Hospitality: not kidding. The people at this church have been a huge blessing to us. We’ve gotten to have meals with a few families the past couple of weeks and I’ve been floored by them. They are a treasure, a pot of gold, if you will.
