I returned home from Ireland early this evening, tired but greatly encouraged by what I had experienced since Wednesday. I arrived in Belfast and was met by David, the Mission Development Officer of the Board of Mission of the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, and taken to the PCI offices. As he was involved in filming a mission resource I took myself to the Faith Mission bookshop. This was almost certainly the best Christian bookshop I have encountered in the UK. I hope the Christians in and around Belfast realise how privileged they are.
I had arranged to meet Trevor, the Director of Faith Mission in Ireland and we shared a useful hour or so together talking rural evangelism. Then back to meet with David who kindly took me to a country hotel where they had arranged accommodation for me. We shared a meal and talked rural evangelism.
At 9.00 on Thursday David collected me and took me to Lisburn for their rural mission network conference. My discussions with David and Trevor had helped to prepare me for this event. Although I knew quite a lot about rural life and the churches of Ireland, I had not had any direct contact previously. The morning proved a great success according to the testimony of several ministers who spoke with me afterwards. David emailed me afterwards in which he said, "the whole look and feel of the conference today felt just right."
While waiting for the train that would take me to Dublin that afternoon I took the opportunity to visit the Apple Store in the centre of the city. I have been struggling as to what to do in the area of IT. In 2009 my personal PC and personal laptop were both in need of an upgrade. My trustees advised me to invest in a really good laptop and just use that. So, using Sunrise Ministries resources I did so and have found it very helpful. However, just after it passed out of the guarantee period it developed a screen fault that has got steadily worse. A repair would cost £150. It is also heavy compared with newer machines and, of course, there have been further technical advances.
To keep costs low on the flight to Ireland I decided to take only hand baggage but the laptop accounted for a large part of the allowance. The question has been whether to replace the laptop or just use it at the office connected to a spare screen I have and invest instead in a tablet such as the Apple ipad. My visit to the Apple Store settled the issue as the ipad would provide a much more portable facility useful both for such itineraries as the Irish trip, and for the research work.
The train journey to Dublin in the Republic took around two hours and I was met at nearby Greystones station by Sheila Norton. Sheila's husband, Peter, was previously the vicar of a church in Cumbria where I shared in an evangelistic outreach in the 1980s. Friday morning Peter and Sheila took me to meet three Church of Ireland (Anglican) rural ministers. Each engaged in mission in different but interesting ways. It provided a further opportunity to expand my knowledge and for me to share with them from some of my now almost 50 years experience. The whole 72 hours itinerary has proved an excellent use of time.
Meanwhile (back at the ranch) Doreen has not had a recurrence of the condition that took us to hospital last week. She now has the first of the exploratory outpatient appointments, this coming Wednesday morning.
Last Sunday's United Remembrance Service in Yelvertoft had also gone well with several men stating that my talk had really 'spoken to them'. We had an excellent attendance both at the war memorial and afterwards at the service, which was led by the Reader, Ian, who also shares in the Bible Discussion meetings we hold.
I am also grateful for the wisdom of our Sunrise Ministries trustees who met in London on Monday. It was a useful and very positive meeting. Stan Acland, a retired Christian businessman, has chaired the trustees board since 1988. He retired on Monday as a trustee and will be greatly missed. Graham Wise takes on that role for the next year.
So much to praise God and give thanks for.
Prayers for this week
This Sunday I will be leading and speaking at the meeting at Yelvertoft. I propose exploring some of the issues about prayer that the Holy Spirit has been stirring in my heart (and I hope yours too).
On Tuesday, after the regular visit to Gartree Prison, I will be travelling to Northampton to speak at a meeting of SASRA (the Soldiers' and Airmen's Scripture Readers Association). My dear friend Alfred Lavender, with whom I worked for 25 years, was converted through SASRA when serving in the air force back in the 1950s. They have invited me to talk to them about rural evangelism.
If all goes well with Doreen's visit to the hospital outpatients on Wednesday I will leave to keep my appointment in Cornwall. Please pray that this local rural mission consultation will be as fruitful as the one undertaken recently in Northern Ireland. Please not only pray for me but also for my friend and colleague Gordon banks who will be sharing the programme. Gordon has been through a tough time recently. Pray too for all those who attend.
On the way back home I will be stopping off in Devon where I hope to meet up with some old friends over coffee in Crediton. I will enjoy that immensely.
On Saturday I have a wedding blessing service at Hothorpe Hall, and ministry on Sunday as usual.
Special Encouragement
As I have previously indicated we have felt the impact of the global financial problems, as have other charities. The response to the letter sent out a few weeks ago has eased the situation a little but on my area of ministry we have started to eat into our financial reserves. My colleague, Monica, is in a very similar situation. We shared this with the trustees last Monday and made it a matter of prayer. Monica rang me excitedly on Wednesday to say that she had just received an unexpected donation of £1,000 for her area of ministry. How we rejoiced!
Please pray for Monica as she is off to Kenya again for the work we do there. God has been very good and we particularly rejoice over the fruitful ministry we have experienced. Join us in giving thanks and in prayer as we look to the Lord to sustain the ministry.
Yours sincerely in Christ,
Barry
I had arranged to meet Trevor, the Director of Faith Mission in Ireland and we shared a useful hour or so together talking rural evangelism. Then back to meet with David who kindly took me to a country hotel where they had arranged accommodation for me. We shared a meal and talked rural evangelism.
At 9.00 on Thursday David collected me and took me to Lisburn for their rural mission network conference. My discussions with David and Trevor had helped to prepare me for this event. Although I knew quite a lot about rural life and the churches of Ireland, I had not had any direct contact previously. The morning proved a great success according to the testimony of several ministers who spoke with me afterwards. David emailed me afterwards in which he said, "the whole look and feel of the conference today felt just right."
While waiting for the train that would take me to Dublin that afternoon I took the opportunity to visit the Apple Store in the centre of the city. I have been struggling as to what to do in the area of IT. In 2009 my personal PC and personal laptop were both in need of an upgrade. My trustees advised me to invest in a really good laptop and just use that. So, using Sunrise Ministries resources I did so and have found it very helpful. However, just after it passed out of the guarantee period it developed a screen fault that has got steadily worse. A repair would cost £150. It is also heavy compared with newer machines and, of course, there have been further technical advances.
To keep costs low on the flight to Ireland I decided to take only hand baggage but the laptop accounted for a large part of the allowance. The question has been whether to replace the laptop or just use it at the office connected to a spare screen I have and invest instead in a tablet such as the Apple ipad. My visit to the Apple Store settled the issue as the ipad would provide a much more portable facility useful both for such itineraries as the Irish trip, and for the research work.
The train journey to Dublin in the Republic took around two hours and I was met at nearby Greystones station by Sheila Norton. Sheila's husband, Peter, was previously the vicar of a church in Cumbria where I shared in an evangelistic outreach in the 1980s. Friday morning Peter and Sheila took me to meet three Church of Ireland (Anglican) rural ministers. Each engaged in mission in different but interesting ways. It provided a further opportunity to expand my knowledge and for me to share with them from some of my now almost 50 years experience. The whole 72 hours itinerary has proved an excellent use of time.
Meanwhile (back at the ranch) Doreen has not had a recurrence of the condition that took us to hospital last week. She now has the first of the exploratory outpatient appointments, this coming Wednesday morning.
Last Sunday's United Remembrance Service in Yelvertoft had also gone well with several men stating that my talk had really 'spoken to them'. We had an excellent attendance both at the war memorial and afterwards at the service, which was led by the Reader, Ian, who also shares in the Bible Discussion meetings we hold.
I am also grateful for the wisdom of our Sunrise Ministries trustees who met in London on Monday. It was a useful and very positive meeting. Stan Acland, a retired Christian businessman, has chaired the trustees board since 1988. He retired on Monday as a trustee and will be greatly missed. Graham Wise takes on that role for the next year.
So much to praise God and give thanks for.
Prayers for this week
This Sunday I will be leading and speaking at the meeting at Yelvertoft. I propose exploring some of the issues about prayer that the Holy Spirit has been stirring in my heart (and I hope yours too).
On Tuesday, after the regular visit to Gartree Prison, I will be travelling to Northampton to speak at a meeting of SASRA (the Soldiers' and Airmen's Scripture Readers Association). My dear friend Alfred Lavender, with whom I worked for 25 years, was converted through SASRA when serving in the air force back in the 1950s. They have invited me to talk to them about rural evangelism.
If all goes well with Doreen's visit to the hospital outpatients on Wednesday I will leave to keep my appointment in Cornwall. Please pray that this local rural mission consultation will be as fruitful as the one undertaken recently in Northern Ireland. Please not only pray for me but also for my friend and colleague Gordon banks who will be sharing the programme. Gordon has been through a tough time recently. Pray too for all those who attend.
On the way back home I will be stopping off in Devon where I hope to meet up with some old friends over coffee in Crediton. I will enjoy that immensely.
On Saturday I have a wedding blessing service at Hothorpe Hall, and ministry on Sunday as usual.
Special Encouragement
As I have previously indicated we have felt the impact of the global financial problems, as have other charities. The response to the letter sent out a few weeks ago has eased the situation a little but on my area of ministry we have started to eat into our financial reserves. My colleague, Monica, is in a very similar situation. We shared this with the trustees last Monday and made it a matter of prayer. Monica rang me excitedly on Wednesday to say that she had just received an unexpected donation of £1,000 for her area of ministry. How we rejoiced!
Please pray for Monica as she is off to Kenya again for the work we do there. God has been very good and we particularly rejoice over the fruitful ministry we have experienced. Join us in giving thanks and in prayer as we look to the Lord to sustain the ministry.
Yours sincerely in Christ,
Barry
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