Life in Northern Ireland

First of all, I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to write this blog. I have been so incredibly busy and things have been piling up. We are working so hard here that it is hard to find time to do anything that is not YWAM related other then sleep (and even then I'm only just getting enough of that.)

As most of you know, I am over in Northern Ireland with Youth With A Mission (or YWAM) doing my Discipleship Training School (DTS).

Life here has been incredible and often very challenging. We are living in a small country village (there is about 20 other houses in the area). It is a beautiful area with a magical view looking out over emerald valleys into the great Mourne Mountains.

We have been involved in several ministries here, mostly working with youth and young people. The main ministry that I am involved is in a small town of maybe 1500 people, called Tandragee, where we are helping a local church to establish a youth drop-in centre. The town has been through a really difficult time as over the past 8 months they have had 5 of the young people in the town commit suicide. All but 1 of them being under the age of 16. There is also an extremely high rate of underage drinking in the town. It is not uncommon to see children as young as 11 and 12 wandering the streets drunk out of their minds. So as you can see there is a real need for God to touch the youth of this place.

Through the drop-in centre we are hoping to give the youth of the town a place to hang out, so that they don't have to be out on the streets drinking. We pray that it will allow us build up relationships with them and give them somewhere that they can go when they are in need.
Already God is doing amazing things here. The drop-in centre, which is open every Friday night, has only been open a few weeks and is very much a work in progress, but already we have close to 25 regulars coming along (in the first weeks we had maybe 4). These youth are really seeking, and many of them have already been asking many deep questions about God, religion and belief. The problem with Northern Ireland, however is that religion is something that has torn apart the country for so long, that it is totally distorted and whilst nearly everyone is religious, very few people actually know what it means to have a relationship with God, and love for one another is almost non-existent. Trying to talk to someone who already thinks they are a Christian can be even more difficult then talking to someone who is an atheist.
Overall though God is really working in the lives of the youth in Tandragee and I am excited to see what he has in store for them.

I preached my first sermon the other day at another small youth group not far from here to an audience of about 25. I felt the Lord leading me to talk about Identity and self esteem. I was quite nervous, as Identity is a huge issue here, and I was a bit concerned I may be out of my depth. However I strongly felt that this was exactly what the Lord wanted me to preach on and actually it all went extremely well. The pastor was very happy with the message and wants to work a lot more with YWAM in the future.

Along with the outreach and youth work we are doing, we have also been having daily lectures & classes about God’s character and how have a deeper and more intimate relationship with him. The key to any successful mission work. The classes have been incredible with lecturers from the UK, Europe, USA and even one couple from Down Under – Perth to be precise.
God is continually blowing me away by his love and power and it seems like no matter how much I am learning about God that I am only scratching the surface. I am discovering that although in so many ways, whilst I knew a lot about God, that is very different to actually knowing him. To know him is to have so much more. In this beautiful and magnificent place the Lord is drawing me to a newer, more intimate relationship with him. It is an incredible time and He truly is an amazing God

So as you can see there has been a whole lot going on over here and in all of this I have only been able to highlight a few of many things that God is doing both in my life and the lives of those around me.

In closing, I ask that you all could continue to be holding Northern Ireland up in your prayers; please pray for healing, forgiveness and God's true peace. Pray also for the people and leaders of this nation, and for the generation that is rising up, that their hearts will be open to God and through him, a unified community in Northern Ireland.

God Bless You All.....