Hello all!
Greetings from Galway, Ireland, in the name of Jesus Christ
our Lord and Saviour! Not sure if
you know or not but Ireland is absolutely beautiful! My team is stationed right
on the West coast of Ireland for the month! I literally awake from my tent each
morning to gaze upon the beautiful, rocky, coastal view here in Galway! With
cobblestones galore and beautiful green landscape, it is a joy to be in Ireland
each day!
(Our back yard for the month)
We are working with Discovery Church for the month. It is 1
of 20 churches in Galway City. Twenty churches may seem like a decent number
but 15 of these churches are African churches with about 5 members each. There
are 5 other Christian church in the city only 2 of which are seen doing
outreach amongst the community. Discovery Church is one of these 2 churches!
Evangelism in Ireland is seen as self centered, so doing community projects is
a way to help the town AND to tell them why we care! Discovery Church strives
to bring the gospel of Jesus to Galway in a fresh, relevant way!
I knew Ireland was considered a post-Christian country, but
did not understand the scope of it until after our cultural briefing with our
contact here. Less than ONE percent of
Irish people are Christians. Yes, I’ll say it again. Less than one percent
of all Irish people claim Jesus as their saviour! If that doesn’t put a fire in
your bones I’m not sure what will. Coming from the bible belt of the States
this is still hard for me to grasp. As I am in the city square daily, I look
around at the multitudes of people going about their day and think to myself,
“there very well could not be one Christian walking about out of all these
people.�
God
has not given up on Ireland though! Even in the one-week we have been here,
seeds have been planted for the Kingdom! Ireland is a place plagued with many
kinds of evil:
-Suicide
-Depression
-Abuse
-Alcoholism
-Generational sins and curses
-The lie that God AND Satan are not real
There is a Holy Rage rising up from the depths of my soul
for these kinds of evil! We are here to intercede for Ireland and to say enough
is enough! We are here to share the gospel of Jesus and let people know that
they can be healed of the pain in their lives!
We will be involved in a variety of outreach ministries
during our time in Galway.
-Street evangelism
-Street ministry (face painting and such)
-Prayer/healing ministry (we will stand on the streets with
shirts on that say Need Prayer?)
-Working with the youth/young adults at Discovery Church
-Loading a van up with tea and coffee to
hand out to people in the city
-Doing trash/graffiti clean up around the city
“Thus says the Lord: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.” – Isaiah 56:1 –
What We’re Praying For:
-More and more unity amongst our team!
-Seeds planted and the gospel shared in Ireland
-Discovery Church
-The Irish!
Love you all! Thanks so much for your continued reading of my blog! It means so much!
