VOX October 2016 by VOX Magazine

ISSUE 32 / OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2016

FREE

SPECIAL FEATURE

CHRISTIAN RADIO IN IRELAND

HOPE

“THEY HAVE TO FIGHT TOOTH AND NAIL FOR THINGS I HAVE TAKEN ENTIRELY FOR GRANTED.”

Are we getting through? OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

& ee ff co for us Join d rl wo the ge help chan Wednesday October 26th 10am–12pm Join Tearfund Ireland & Spirit Radio for a nationwide coffee morning that will make a difference. Tearfund Offices, 2nd Floor, Ulyssess House, Foley Street, Dublin 1. 10am-12pm.

Fresh great Ethiopian coffee and goodies will be served 10-12. Live radio broadcasts from around the country will be taking place.

Don’t miss it!

Tearfund Ireland, 2nd Floor, Ulysses House 22–24 Foley St, Dublin 1, D01 W2T2 enquiries@tearfund.ie Tel: 01 878 3200 Registered Charity No. CHY 8600

VOX OCT - DEC 2016

Coffee photo: ramoncin1978/AdobeStock

Or contact the office to find a coffee morning happening in your local area or host one yourself?

EDITORIAL

An dtuigeann sibh? ffective communication is a two-way street. In today’s world of constant distractions, it is so easy to hear someone talking but not understand a word of what has been said. Take this morning’s conversation with my daughter, for example. At one point, lack of sleep and an early start combined to befuddle my thoughts and I found myself drifting. I heard the last few words of a sentence but completely missed what came before. “Were you listening to me?” my daughter asked. “What did I just say?” I repeated back those last few words but then had to laugh and confess that I had no idea what those words meant… my mind had wandered and I had missed the point. My long-suffering daughter laughed with me and, refocused, we returned to the conversation. At its heart, communication is about relationship. Do we care enough to communicate effectively? Do we take the time to listen as well as to talk? Do we understand? Do they understand? Are we getting through?

AT ITS HEART, COMMUNICATION IS ABOUT RELATIONSHIP. This is a critical question for us as Christians as we seek to communicate with God, with one another and with those around us. In this issue of VOX, the theme of communication emerges in a number of our features. We celebrate the role of radio in our special feature (page 12) and consider how some Christians are seeking to share their faith (Communicating the Gospel, page 17, and Advertising the Word of God, page 20). In many ways, we are just scratching the surface of a topic that encompasses almost everything that we do as believers. And it needs to be an ongoing conversation through the pages of VOX and beyond. So let’s keep talking… and listening. In this issue, we are also delighted to introduce some important resources for churches and church leaders (Holistic Mission, page 26; The Cinnamon Network, page 28; and Faithbased Charities in an age of Regulation, page 36) alongside all the regular news and features. And for anyone who is still wondering… the Irish title simply asks, “Do you understand?”

Ruth Garvey-Williams Editor (editor@vox.ie)

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ADVERTISING THE WORD OF GOD

OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2016, ISSUE 32 ISSN: 2009-2253 P UBLISHE R The VOX Team EDI TOR Ruth Garvey-Williams editor@vox.ie LAYOUT, A DV E RT I S I N G & P ROMOT I ON Jonny Lindsay jonny@vox.ie OP ERATION S Tara Byrne tara@vox.ie SUBSC RIP T I ON S Ireland & UK: Min. €10 for four issues Overseas: Min. €20 for four issues Subscribe online at www.vox.ie. All cheques should be made payable to ‘VOX Magazine’. V OX Mag a z ine Ulysses House 22 - 24 Foley Street Dublin 1 Tel: 01 443 4789 | info@vox.ie | www.vox.ie DISC LA IME R

The views expressed in letters and articles are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the VOX Team or our partners. The acceptance of advertising does not indicate endorsement.

P RINT Ross Print, Greystones, Co. Wicklow VOX magazine is a quarterly publication, brought to you by a passionate team of volunteers.

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HOPE IS NOT JUST A BUZZWORD

CELEBRATING TOGETHER

CONTENTS 12 32 17 18 20 23 24 26 28 30 34 36 39 40 06 08 10 16

COVER STORIES Special feature: Christian Radio in Ireland Hope - “They have to fight tooth and nail for things I have taken entirely for granted.”

FEATURES AND INTERVIEWS Communicating the Gospel - introducing the Global Outreach Day. Inspiring and equipping young adults - Evangelical Alliance National Forum Advertising the Word of God - almost 80 years of Scripture Text Posters in Ireland. From Lusk to Lampani - the journey of a shoebox My Story - Meet Ana Mullan Holistic Mission - Reaching your community… what would Jesus do? The Cinnamon Network - how do we stop reinventing the wheel? What does it take to see breakthrough? Hercules need not apply. Christians under fire - Church in Chains Annual Conference hears news of the persecuted church Faith-based charities in a new age of regular - solicitor Cormac O Ceallaigh considers the implications of the Charities Act. Celebrating together - More than 5,000 Christians gather for RCCG’s Holy Ghost Rally Angels in our Territory - read excerpts from Graeme Wylie’s new book

REGULAR FEATURES

19 VOX: World News 43 Your VOX: Letters to the editor 44 The Soapboxer 46 VOX: Shorts

Confessions of a Feint Saint Reviews Event Listing VOX: PS with Seán Mullan

OUR PARTNERS: TM

IRELAND 04

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A CONFERENCE FOR LEADERS SEEKING T O I N S P I R E A N D E Q U I P YO U N G A D U LT S

• LIFE AT UNIVERSITY: What students face today • THE WORKING WORLD: Preparation to excel • CHRISTIAN WORLD VIEW: Applying the gospel in today’s culture • LEADING TOGETHER: Enabling young adult’s leadership • MOBILISING SOCIAL ACTION: Empowering action

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VOX SHORTS

How much??

Key events in people’s lives are getting more expensive in Ireland, and while some expenses are by choice, others are thrust upon families unexpectedly. Here, VOX brings you a roundup of some of the recent statistics. What do you think about these rising costs? Do you think the church has a role to play in helping families manage their spending and cope with the unexpected? Send your comments or practical suggestions to editor@vox.ie and we’ll publish them in our next issue. The average cost of an Irish wedding is €22,531, according to a survey by www.weddingsonline.ie. According to the Barnardos annual school costs survey published in August, the average cost of getting a first-year secondary student

ready for school is €775. Parents are spending on average more than €1,000 on First Communions, according to MummyPages.ie, despite the efforts of some schools to change the trend. Even death has a price, a recent report in the Irish Times explains. A typical funeral will cost from €2,000 with prices ranging up to €10,000. Illness also places a huge financial burden on individuals and their families. The Irish Cancer Society reports that the average spend for a cancer patient is €862 per month, including the cost of travel, parking, hospital stays, etc., even for those with medical cards. And this comes at a time when there is often a drop in family income!

Check out these upcoming conferences: PARADIGM When: Saturday 8 October (9.30am to 4pm) Where: Methodist Centenary Church, Leeson Park, Dublin What? A gathering to explore new ways of pioneering in mission and discipleship, in partnership with Stepping Stones and Holy Trinity Church Rathmines, in cooperation with Tearfund Ireland, Alpha Ireland, Methodist Home Mission Ireland, GEM and the diocese of Dublin & Glendalough. If you are involved in church planting or want to learn how you can take small practical steps towards pioneering in an area of mission and discipleship, Paradigm is for you. How much? €25 including lunch and refreshments throughout the day. More info: Email paradigm@ iconcommunity.ie. THRIVE When? From 8am on Tuesday 8 to 10.30pm on Wednesday 9 November Where? Open Arms Church, Newbridge What? An opportunity to gather with church leaders and believers from across Ireland and beyond to worship, grow, learn and be inspired. Go beyond survival and begin to thrive. How much? Early Bird: €35 (until October 11). Full price €40. To book: Visit www.eventbrite.com and search for Thrive ARC Ireland Conference 2016. 06

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Book launch

Controversial pastor James McConnell from Belfast, whose much-publicised comments about Islam and subsequent court case raised major questions about freedom of speech and how Christians engage with those from other religions, is to launch his new book “The Good, the Bad and Jesus Christ” with a live interview on Revelation TV on October 12. To find out more, visit www. mauricewyliemedia. com.

Nomad Cage Soccer Ireland

“Let’s get it clear once and for all: we’re YFC, not UFC, and our cage is for soccer, not Connor McGregor!” says Simon Marriott from Youth for Christ. Nomad Ireland is a sports programme from Youth For Christ Ireland that uses a portable soccer cage. A team of passionate young interns promotes positive values and engages young people in faith conversations on their turf. Whether in a school setting or a local community centre, Nomad’s “My Life” programme creates a level playing field for young people to engage in life’s big questions. Over the last six months, the Nomad Ireland team, based in the Midlands, has been travelling throughout several counties in Ireland delivering soccer sessions and sharing stories of life transformation through faith in Christ. “Recently we’ve expanded and have been joined by two new interns, a Kilkenny man hanging up his hurl to play soccer, and a Dutch man leaving behind his clogs (not soccer friendly) to spend a year interning with YFC Ireland’s Nomad team,” shared Simon. “We’re really excited about what this year holds, and if the Nomad team can help serve you in your community, please get in touch.” To find out more about Nomad Ireland see www. nomad.yfc.ie.

VOX MAGAZINE

International Christian NGOs to visit Ireland

This October, Tearfund Ireland will host a global alliance of 23 international Christian NGOs all working in development and humanitarian work. Over 80 people will meet to examine better ways of working together. These are professionals who tirelessly bring the hope of Jesus through their essential work responding to natural disasters, conflict and extreme poverty. Integral Alliance is motivated by Christian beliefs and seeks to end poverty and injustice. Members are respected international NGOs who have collaborated on 40 different humanitarian crisis responses, working with 600 local partners, in 85 countries around the world. Integral’s main focus is on working together when disasters happen to avoid duplication and provide an effective response. Tearfund Ireland, a member of Integral Alliance, was asked to host the General Assembly from 10 - 13 October. A special reception will be held on Tuesday 11 October to welcome the Integral Alliance to Dublin and to officially launch Tearfund Ireland’s new Strategic Plan. Special guests will include Minister Joe McHugh, who is responsible for the Irish Government’s Overseas Aid programme; Michael Gaffey, Director General of Irish Aid; and Fr. Peter McVerry, founder of the Peter McVerry Trust.

New online column at vox.ie VOX magazine is delighted to introduce our new online columnist / blogger Karen Huber who will be bringing us weekly articles on contemporary issues of faith, life and reality at www.vox.ie. We are delighted at the opportunity to develop original online features in addition to coverage of key Christian events and of course, our quarterly magazine articles. Originally from Kansas, USA, Karen lives in Dublin with her husband and three children, where they serve with Greater Europe Mission through the local church, creative arts and community development. You can find her essays on family and faith at www. karenohuber.com.

Prayer at the Picnic

Electric Picnic is Ireland’s largest music and arts festival, featuring 700 acts and attracting 55,000 people. As well as music, there are lectures, debates, performances, art installations and so much more. And in the woods, along the Forest Trail, you can find Paradoxology, a sacred space and prayer tent where young adults live out their faith and serve festival-goers and staff alike. 2016 was the fourth year of Paradoxology at Electric Picnic - a place of creativity and connection, prayer and peace. An outdoor seating area bathed in light is decorated with old school TV sets, a suitcase and a dilapidated piano adorned with flowers. Inside, the bar serves tea and coffee at a ridiculous price… all people have to do is promise to do something kind for someone else at the festival. On the sleeve of each cup is a Bible verse, which says, “No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.” - 1 John 4:12 #LoveKindnessAndTea The “mental health tree” provides an opportunity for people to write down a prayer, kind thought or even just the name of someone struggling with mental health issues and tie it to the tree. In the corner is a 1940s school desk with instructions written on the underside of the lid. The desk is full of sand. Visitors are invited to think of something that is bothering them, write it in the sand and then wipe it away as a sign of leaving it behind. There is also an opportunity to leave prayers in the prayer box. Some enjoy making new friends or chatting to one of the 20 young-adult volunteers. Others enjoy taking a quiet moment to sit, think or pray. Scott Evans, one of the organisers, says, “We don’t have all the answers but we seek to be the answers to the prayers of those who are hurting or seeking, alone or vulnerable. We pray that God is seen, or perhaps felt, through this humble attempt at love, kindness and service. “If Electric Picnic is a picture of Ireland in 2016, our hope is that Paradoxology is a key example of how the church can do ministry in an ever-changing Ireland.”

OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

WORLD NEWS

RUSSIAN LAW RESTRICTS “MISSIONARY ACTIVITY”

New Russian legislation is already being used to crack down on “missionary activity,” according to Forum 18, a Christian organisation set up to monitor violations of Article 18 (the freedom of religion clause in the Declaration of Human Rights). In July, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin signed into law an amendment that came into almost immediate effect. The new provisions restrict the public sharing of beliefs and also ban religious activity in residential buildings without permission. An allegedly “anti-terrorist” part of the amendments bans the conversion of residential property to religious use. There are now heavy financial penalties of up to 50,000 roubles (€700), or the equivalent of six weeks’ wages for individuals, and up to 1 million roubles for organisations who violate the amendments. Russian Orthodox churches are “recognised” under the new laws, but many smaller denominations including Baptist, Pentecostal, house churches and other evangelical churches face penalties. Within weeks of the provision becoming law, the first prosecutions had taken place. Among those sentenced were the leader of a Baptist children’s camp and an African pastor who carried out an “illegal” baptism in a swimming pool.

BROADWAY PRODUCTION OF THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS TO OPEN IN LONDON A sell-out adaptation of CS Lewis’ famous novel will make its European debut in London this December. Written in 1942, The Screwtape Letters chronicles the correspondence between a senior demon – Screwtape – and his nephew Wormwood, advising him on how to corrupt his human target. Actor Max McClean, a professing Christian, plays Screwtape (Satan’s top psychiatrist in this modern interpretation of the story). McClean and Jeffrey Fiske first adapted Lewis’s story for theatre in 2006, which sold out on Broadway and across the US. Now the show will premiere in the Park Theatre in London on December 8 and run until January 7, 2017. Here’s a little taste: “It’s funny how these humans think of us as putting things into their minds; our best work is done by keeping things out.” - Screwtape

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REFUGEES TURNING TO CHRIST

According to a new survey by German evangelical organisation “Idea,” more than 3,500 Muslim refugees have turned to Christ and been baptised in the last two years. Many of those being baptised had previously become Christians in their home countries of Syria, Iraq or Iran but had lived in fear of the consequences of admitting to their new faith. Once safety in Germany, they were able to live openly as Christians and be baptised. All Germany’s 20 Protestant state churches and the five largest free churches responded to the survey, with all of them reporting a rise in baptisms of refugees since 2014.

ANTI-TRAFFICKING CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED IN GHANA Churches in Ghana are seeking to prevent child trafficking through a new five-year campaign of education and awareness. A raft of measures will also include practical steps to address the root causes of child trafficking in the country through protection, education, livelihood and advocacy. Launching the campaign, Bishop Daniel Torto said the church would also build a new community shelter called “Hope Community for the Resettlement of Rescued Trafficking Children.” He said that rescued children sent to the shelter would have a new home, gain access to education and be assisted to develop their Godgiven talent, thereby securing them a brighter future.

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YOUR VOX

Letters to the editor VOX Reader Survey

Thanks to all of you who took part in our VOX magazine readers’ survey earlier this year. We read through all the comments carefully. Here’s a flavour of your suggestions, concerns, comments and preferences.

• I appreciate VOX and feel it is a valuable resource for the church in Ireland. • Keep up the good work. A good Irish home-produced Christian publication such as VOX Magazine is greatly needed for this country. • Keep up the good work. This is a topclass publication. Well done! • There remains an unfilled vacuum for quality apologetics materials in Ireland, relevant in an educated and advanced county. • It would be nice to see a short, sweet yet profound teaching with a practical application/testimony attached. • Love the relevancy of the various articles to contemporary life. • [I would like] issues around current affairs, social items - whatever is the hot topic in the country to take a Christian perspective on it. • [I would like] more stuff around mental health and positive psychology. • I think you’re doing a great job as it is! However, one area it would be good to see even more of is world mission. • I love the tour around Ireland, hearing how God is working in different places. • More real-life faith-in-action stories of people, churches and ministries in Ireland. • Looking at what’s going on in different churches around Ireland - like the Faith in Ireland tour. • [I would like] real and true to life stories

BODY IMAGE: TIME TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!

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from “normal” people who are holding their faith high. Maybe a regular spotlight on innovative mission initiatives or examples of churches/organisations partnering together? Alternative theological viewpoints I believe it needs more input from different Christian leaders to reflect the huge diversity that there is in the church in Ireland. Certain people groups may not find much to connect with in the magazine. [VOX has…] a wide range of topics and voices, though not as much of a voice from the Pentecostal community as I might have expected. Not all churches fall within the ‘charismatic spectrum,’ but a reader of VOX might think they do. What are some of the problems and joys of integration of migrants into Irish churches? VOX makes for cringe-free reading. Sometimes I feel that the authors simply skim around issues rather than addressing the topic - especially contentious issues. It is as if you are covering the topic but being so PC that it is simply to be seen to be addressing it. Perhaps shorter pieces by more authors would be preferable. Would prefer if you only printed articles in line with Scripture (readers’ comments excepted).

Sarah Marshall, in her article ‘Body image and the Irish Church’ (VOX, April - June 2016) really brought me down memory lane. I respect her courage but I can only agree with her 50%. I think the problem is not solely the culture and media; it is also the people affected by this plague. Having suffered from low self-esteem for years, I finally can see myself from God’s perspective. Why? Because I decided one day to sit at Jesus’ feet daily to search the Scriptures and see what He really thought about me. If we get tired of any situation in our life, we take responsibility for the change we want to see. Jealousy is a hindrance (the Word says it is

• Have been very disappointed with the liberal perspectives of some articles. In an interdenominational Christian magazine, it would be better to focus on building each other up. • More content with a world view would be interesting. • As a magazine for the Christian community, I am disappointed that it does not adequately represent a reformed Biblical theology in its content. I do not think it is helpful to give what seems to be equal weight to non-biblical or even non-Christian views. • I guess that VOX is designed for a ‘committed’ readership and as such is on the safe ground - if this is its aim, it’s doing a ‘sound’ job - but in my opinion (and this is just one person) it tends to deal with issues seen through a biblical perspective - if you want to make it more challenging, it needs to be much more “in-connection” with the wider world view. • I have been impressed by your creativity in sourcing material and at the range of material you offer. Well done! • Maybe more contributors? I often see the same names. • Great magazine - keeps me up to date. • I have difficulty reading the pages printed on dark backgrounds, but maybe that is because of my age! [Ed: we received several comments to this effect and will bear this in mind as much as possible.]

rottenness to the bones). How about we make a decision to look how we want by disciplining ourselves and taking steps that bring about change? No matter what the church does, I believe that the choice is ours. When we finally grasp the truth, only then will true freedom come. We are in the world but not of the world; there is no way this will become a reality if we don’t renew our minds. The light of the Scriptures is the only cure. The church does not have a body image problem; it simply lacks understanding of God’s image because we are made in God’s image.

CONSTANCE N CORK CITY.

SEND YOUR LETTERS TO EDITOR@VOX.IE OR YOUR VOX, ULYSSES HOUSE, 22-24 FOLEY STREET, DUBLIN 1

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www.IBI.ie OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

O N T H E A I R W AV E S

BROADCASTING ACROSS THE NATION SPIRIT RADIO EXPANDS ITS LISTENERSHIP BY ROB CLARKE

pirit Radio has been on air for YWAM in my twenties and focused over five years. Now pulling on youth-work. As a regular speaker at in over half a million listeners youth events, I learned something about weekly, the station has sought to reach communication but rarely listened to the beyond the Christian community to the many radio. Like a lot of Christian leaders, I thousands of people who are looking for worked from home, so while most of the something more. Rob Clarke writes about the population drove to their jobs with radio, journey so far. I had no regular ‘commute’ and simply The dingbat comedy Life with Dexter didn’t develop a listening habit. And I was on a Monday night; it had us all in fits suppose, to be honest, I considered the as we sat around the whole business too kitchen radio. Later ‘worldly’. we were introduced Yet, working to the brilliance with young people, of ‘The Goons’, it’s pretty obvious “WE TRY TO CREATE STORIES AND Harry Secombe, that the media is Peter Sellers, hugely influential. FEATURES THAT HAVE A CLEAR Spike Milligan Popular music is not MEANING FOR THOSE WHO ARE and Co… Radio only entertainment; READY TO RESPOND TO GOD.” has a wonderful it is a force shaping ability to stimulate the attitudes and and engage the beliefs of successive imagination. TV generations. does all the work, provides the pictures, fills in all the blanks —with radio, on the SPIRIT RADIO - TRYING TO REACH BEYOND other hand, it is the listener who creates THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY the mental pictures to go with the words. Could the power of radio be harnessed And radio played our music! Every for the sake of the Gospel? Could we Thursday night, my brothers and sisters use this tool of mass communication to and I would rock around the kitchen, entertain, encourage and speak to the real drying the dishes with the Top Ten issues of life? Could we use radio to gently blaring. I grew up with radio, but didn’t bring Jesus Christ back into the national imagine I’d ever work in the media. conversation? These are the questions we I joined the missionary organisation wrestled with as we set about launching Spirit Radio. We sensed we should focus on reaching beyond the Christian community to the many hundreds and thousands of people across Ireland who feel a bit distant from church but are still looking for answers. We were asking the question, “How do we best communicate the Good News of the Gospel through the medium of radio?”

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THE MESSAGE IS IN THE MUSIC

Most of us are probably led more by our hearts than our heads. Pop music, of course, has an intellectual quality, a rational message — but it also has rhythm, melody and tone — and that amplifies the power of the lyric. At Spirit Radio, we are so thrilled to have been given the opportunity to bring Contemporary Christian Music to FM radio in Ireland. People frequently tell us how a lyric from a song spoke to them in a moment of crisis. One listener wrote: “My brother rang to say dad had just died... I left work (feeling distraught) went out to the car and turned on the radio… there was a song playing I’d never heard before - Angel by my Side. I knew God was with my dad… You can turn on the radio anytime, but sometimes you just know that God is speaking to you through the lyrics.”

STORIES, PARABLES - THE JESUS METHOD OF MASS COMMUNICATION

When Jesus spoke to the crowds, He invariably used stories and parables. Stories have that way of drawing the listener in, but I think there is another very strategic reason why Jesus used parables. The man who built his house upon a rock is a story a child can understand — and yet the meaning can remain veiled to someone who is struggling to allow God to get a hold of their life. The parables provide direction to those in the crowd who are open and ready to respond — while at the same time giving space and time for those who are full of reserve and still holding God at arm’s length. The parable is a story that lingers in the mind and works on the heart. It is like a stone in one’s shoe, quietly giving notice at both the conscious and subconscious level that there is something more to be discovered, something more to face up to. For some, the breakthrough moment comes at a later point, further down the track.

VOX MAGAZINE

It is this approach that has shaped our programming at Spirit Radio. We try to create stories and features that have a clear meaning for those who are ready to respond to God and, at the same time, we have sought to give space to the many listeners who aren’t sure why they’re drawn to the station and are quietly feeling their way forward. While some people can identify clear ‘breakthrough moments’, for many people, ‘coming to faith’ is a process that happens over time. One listener wrote to the team at Spirit and described his journey: “It’s an ongoing process. I had a complete crisis of faith as a young adult. I’m slowly coming full circle. I feel a strange desire to be a part of your community. You guys get under my skin (in a good way) and make me think deeply about Christ.”

TUNING INTO THE WORD OF GOD UCB IRELAND OFFERS DAILY DEVOTIONALS

PARTNERING WITH THE LOCAL CHURCH

Spirit Radio can provoke people to think. It can help get the ball rolling, but of course, it is within a living Christian church community that people can really grow in their relationship with God. We use the Spirit Radio Talk Shows and ‘Event Guide’ to highlight the many support groups and prayer communities that are active in the local church right across the spectrum of the denominations.

TRANSMISSION ROLL OUT

We are currently broadcasting on FM in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Waterford, Dundalk, Bray, Greystones, Naas, Newbridge, Carlow, Kilkenny and Athlone. In the coming months, we are aiming to launch in Tralee, Ennis, Sligo and Letterkenny.

SUPPORTERS CLUB

Spirit Radio is a listener-supported station. It is the generous giving of so many that keeps us on the air. In an industry in which it is all too easy to develop a whopping ego, there is something about regularly asking people for financial support that helps keep us grounded. We are looking to increase our support. It has always been our belief that the station should be supported by a lot of people giving a little rather than a few people giving a lot. We are hugely grateful to the Lord for the way in which He has kept us going over the last five years through all kinds of challenges. For more information, go to www. spiritradio.ie or email us: info@spiritradio.ie.

Launched in October 2008 on satellite, UCB Ireland Radio seeks to support Christians through positive radio broadcasts as well as the popular Word for Today devotional booklets and a “Prayerline.” Without accurate ways of tracking listener numbers at present, UCB Manager Peter Bradshaw says, “We get more excited by the individuals who get directly in contact with us. One guy told us he accidentally knocked his TV remote and suddenly UCB Radio came on, and it really spoke to him!” UCB distributes 20,000 copies of the Word for Today to individuals and churches around the country and receives 600 calls a month to the “Prayerline” (an opportunity for people to phone in and receive prayer over the telephone). “An older man told us he was listening on his iPhone and his son was also listening. This helped the two of them relate together and to share about the Lord; it helped their relationship,” Peter said. With their small team of volunteers, the station pre-records all programmes including an early-morning show, an afternoon show, regular praise and worship slots and other music programmes. They also receive content from overseas. “Jean Watson lives near Chicago and has a real passion for Ireland,” Peter explained. “She comes to Ireland maybe twice or three times a year and does a programme for us. She is a singer and a musician as well. “We are here to communicate. Our desire is to encourage the body of Christ and to reach newcomers for the Lord. If churches are running events, we are happy to promote them. “We would love to see more people tuning in. One of our disadvantages is that we are not on FM. As a digital station, we are ready for just about anything. Our next move is to see if DAB happens - if it does, that would give us a huge increase in audience. We are ready for whatever door God opens for us.” UCB Ireland Radio broadcasts on satellite channel 0214, on Virgin Media Cable Network 918 and via mobile phone app (currently iPhone but Android is on its way). You can also tune in online at www.ucbirelandradio.com and on DAB in Dublin and Cork. To get in contact with the station, call (01) 429 9899 or visit the website. They are always looking for new volunteers to join the team.

OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

O N T H E A I R W AV E S

SHINING THE LIGHT OF CHRIST OVER CORK EIGHT YEARS ON AIR FOR LIFEFM t 7am on March 16, 2008, LifeFM began to “shine the light of Christ over Cork” with its first radio broadcast. This community radio station was opened by the Lord Mayor and operates out of a state-of-the-art recording studio in Cork city. Brian Daly has been one of the key members of the team right from the start. He told VOX magazine, “The station is growing all the time. We have a team of 70 volunteers from all kinds of churches.” Seeing the work as a ministry rather than just a broadcaster, the LifeFM team has been taking their message out into the city and even from door to door. “We have been going onto the streets and praying for healing, and we’ve seen a lot of people healed and people coming to faith,” Brian shared. “We started baptising people in the offices of the radio station.” Listener research is extremely

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expensive but when LifeFM last carried out research, they had over 13,000 listeners tuning in to a wide range of programmes from sports and current affairs to music and Bible teaching. Positive and uplifting day basis has a big effect on us,” Brian community initiatives are regularly explained. “Listening to LifeFM brings featured, as is the work of local life to people… as they hear the word charities. of God, it builds their faith and shows Available right across Cork city on them that they are not alone. It also 93.1 FM, LifeFM is also live online provides a Christian worldview and at www.lifefm.ie or via Android and encourages Christians to keep going in iPhone apps. their faith. “We are communicating the truth “The enemy builds lie upon lie, in a culture in and the people which people of Ireland have say truth is been deceived… relative,” Brian there is a need said. “We need for people to hear “WE ARE COMMUNICATING to be telling truth.” people that People often THE TRUTH IN A CULTURE God’s truth write in to the IN WHICH PEOPLE SAY brings freedom.” station or call in TRUTH IS RELATIVE.” Teaching with stories of from wellwhat God has known done in their Christian speakers such as Chuck lives. Brian shared how one lady who Swindol and Ravi Zacharias shares was suffering from an eating disorder airtime with one-minute devotionals started listening to the radio station or “seed spots” created by local Cork and eventually came into the studio, Christians. The station’s bilingual Irish/ where she found help and support to English programme is a regular feature, overcome the issues she was facing. and there are plenty of opportunities to People can support LifeFM by share a Christian perspective on what is donating online at the website or happening in Ireland. contacting the station on 021 496 4444. “What we listen to on a day-to-

VOX MAGAZINE

MAKING CONNECTIONS IN WESTPORT THE GOSPEL HOUR SHARES MUSIC AND LIFE chance encounter at the school gate led Neil Thompson to presenting an hour-long Gospel show on Westport Community Radio. Here, Neil shares his story:

My name is Neil Thompson, and I present ‘The Gospel Hour’ on Westport Radio (98.2FM) every Sunday morning from 9am to 10am. Westport Radio is a community-based radio station broadcasting from Westport in County Mayo with an audience potential of up to 20,000 people! The station is a not-for-profit venture, and all the presenters and station staff are volunteers. The station started presenting its fifth season on 23 April (my birthday). I met Holly Bruinette at the school gate one day when I was dropping off my stepson Caleb. As we started chatting, I learnt that she had just got involved as Station Administrator/Manager. She knew I was a Christian and asked if I wanted to present a Christian music radio show. One thing led to another, and after a few weeks of preparing internet-

only trial shows, our first show was broadcast at the end of April.

the studio during the week to record it for airing on the following Sunday morning.

WHAT IS THE SHOW ALL ABOUT?

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?

I see ‘The Gospel Hour’ as a Laura and I are still getting to grips unique opportunity to share the Good with the production side of things, and News of Jesus with the people of the how to use all the technical equipment Westport area, by playing the very best properly. In time, as we reach out to make in contemporary Christian music as well new contacts in the radio/Christian as famous hymns, old and new. It crosses music world, we hope to bring more the bridge between being a Gospel-music featured interviews and segments to the show for fans and show to truly make making important it a communityconnections based project by bringing the and not just an “I PRAY THAT SEEDS OF INTEREST reality of a life opportunity to lived for Jesus play our favourite WILL BE SOWN IN PEOPLE’S Christ to those worship songs. LIVES EVEN AS THE SHOW IS AN who have never In time, we ENCOURAGEMENT TO CHRISTIANS heard before. hope to organise I pray that a Christian music IN THEIR OWN WALK WITH JESUS.” seeds of interest festival/concert will be sown in Westport – in people’s lives even as the show is an maybe in summer 2017. If you can help encouragement to Christians in their own us plan for this, please get in touch. We walk with Jesus. In addition, the show has believe this is something that would really value as a platform for esteeming the local encourage the local church in the rural church in the rural west of Ireland, and west. in promoting up-and-coming Christian bands and singer/songwriters. HOW CAN WE GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU? Email: thegospelhourwrfm@gmail. WHAT DO YOU INCLUDE? com. Web: www.westportradio.ie. As well as playing contemporary Facebook: ‘The Gospel Hour - Westport Christian music from the current UK Radio 98.2FM’ Gospel charts (Ireland doesn’t have its own… yet!) we also have a featured artist, a devotional segment with a supporting and relevant testimony, and At give the local community the opportunity VOX, we’d to contribute and get involved. The onelove to hear from hour time slot certainly flies by! others who are involved in creating Christian DO YOU BROADCAST LIVE ON A SUNDAY mmes for community gra pro MORNING? radio stations around the No; we are only novices at this, country. Get in touch although it’s exciting to see where God at editor@vox.ie. might lead us. My wife, Laura, helps me plan and prepare the show. I then go into

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R E X O B P THE SOA

VOX MAGAZINE

BY DR KEN BAKER

LEARNING TO LISTEN he single biggest problem in communication is the “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account illusion that it has taken place. for every careless word they speak.” (Matthew 12:36) We speak and we pretend to listen, and The last one is pretty chilling, speaking as someone with somewhere in there we assume that we have Limited Inhibitory Syndrome. OK, I made that up. But the truth communicated. We rarely have. is I blurt, and I make a mess of things with my mouth. And It makes you wonder why we humans were even given the words spoken cannot be unspoken. And “When words are gift of speech at all. We no longer seem to need it; we’ve many, transgression is not lacking.” forgotten to talk about anything. We waste it. Who was it who In fact, 90% of those verses could be summed up said, “I love to talk about nothing. It’s the only thing I know as “zip it.” Because words are the source of so much anything about”? (I’m pretty sure it wasn’t me, though it may misunderstanding. And the assumptions that we build upon well have been). those words are like termites eating away at our relationships. Speaking as a professional talker. Yet, it’s natural to talk, as natural as breathing. We In Seriously… I’m Kidding, Ellen De Generes writes: ‘..all speak not only to tell other people what we think but to tell this technology is destroying our social skills. Not only have we ourselves what we think. Speech is a part of our thinking given up on writing letters to each other, we barely even talk process. And though many times in my life I’ve regretted the to each other. People have become so accustomed to texting things I’ve said without thinking, I’ve regretted much more the that they’re actually startled when the words I left unspoken. phone rings. It’s like we suddenly all Fred Rogers - a lovely, warm wise man from have Batphones. If it rings, there must way back – said: “Anything that’s human is THE TRUTH IS I BLURT, AND I MAKE A mentionable, and anything that is mentionable be danger. ‘Now we answer, “What happened? Is MESS OF THINGS WITH MY MOUTH. can be more manageable. When we can someone tied up in the old sawmill?” talk about our feelings, they become less ‘“No, it’s Becky. I just called to say hi.” overwhelming, less upsetting, and less scary. ‘“Well, you scared me half to death. The people we trust with that important talk can You can’t just pick up the phone and try to talk to me like that. help us know that we are not alone.” Don’t the tips of your fingers work?”’ I know that I certainly need that “guard upon my lips,” You can talk with someone for years, every day, and still, it but communication is worth the risk. When you give yourself won’t mean as much as when you sit in front of someone, not permission to communicate what really matters to you, you will saying a word, yet you feel that person with your heart, you have peace despite any rejection or disapproval that comes feel like you have known the person for forever.... connections your way. Putting a voice to your soul helps you to let go of are made with the heart, not the tongue. the negative clutter of fear and regret. So I did a quick concordance check and was staggered to And it is a powerful consideration, that the apostle John see how much the Bible talks about people who talk too much. began his Gospel with the sentence, “In the beginning was (Why is that, do you think?) the Word.” I realise that many wise scholars have written thick Here’s a brief selection: “When words are many, books to express the full meaning of this, but at its simplest transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is level it must mean that Jesus is God’s conversation with prudent.” (Proverbs 10:19) humanity. Hebrews 1:3 says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all anger.” (James 1:19) things by his powerful word.” “A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in He wants to talk. And “Today, if you hear His voice…” learn expressing his opinion.“ (Proverbs 18:2) to listen. “Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble.” (Proverbs 21:23) Ken Baker is a writer and “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the pastor living in Bandon, door of my lips!” (Psalm 141:3) County Cork. “Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.” (Ecclesiastes 5:2)

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FAITH

VOX MAGAZINE

COMMUNICATING THE

GOSPEL

tuart Bothwell works with Summer Madness in Northern Ireland, but he is also passionate about seeing Christians across this island sharing their faith. He is helping to coordinate the 2017 Global Outreach Day in Ireland and Northern Ireland, and he spoke with VOX magazine editor Ruth Garvey-Williams about the vision behind it. Sitting in a Belfast coffee shop, Stuart leans forward, his eyes shining as he talks about the Global Outreach Day. “On 27 May 2017, we would love to see 100,000 people across Ireland and Northern Ireland initiating conversations about the person of Jesus Christ,” Stuart says. “We are excited about helping people to meet Jesus, and we are excited about the opportunity to equip and train people in everyday evangelism. This gives people a chance to grow in confidence in sharing their faith.” Global Outreach Day 2016 mobilised and equipped Christians in 200 countries worldwide to share their faith on a single day. In Guinea, 54,000 Christians in 447 churches worked together for an outreach initiative, while in Lesotho, believers received training before heading out to visit homes and villages. There were special events in Myanmar, while Japanese Christians were excited to tell people about Jesus. Looking to 2017 in Ireland, Stuart emphasises that just as a pet is for life, not just for Christmas, so too evangelism is something all believers are called to do all the time. But for so many, there is a sense of guilt or fear about taking the risk and speaking up. Stuart and I chat about the analogy of training for a race. Many of us like the idea of competing in a 5k, 10k or even a marathon but we fail to find the motivation to train credibility,” Stuart explains. “It might be simply inviting a friend unless we make a fixed commitment to take part in a particular race or colleague to join an Alpha course, or it could be a more drawnor fund raising event. out conversation. We want to make things Having a focus can really simple and really flexible but also have help motivate people to everybody doing this together.” WE ARE EXCITED ABOUT HELPING PEOPLE TO MEET JESUS, prepare spiritually and “Over the next few months, we will be practically to “give an AND WE ARE EXCITED ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY TO EQUIP getting the word out and also providing a simple answer to everyone who training programme to help equip individuals, AND TRAIN PEOPLE IN EVERYDAY EVANGELISM. asks you to give the reason churches, small groups or youth groups.” for the hope that you have And Stuart intends to travel all over Ireland (1 Peter 3:15).” in a series of gatherings designed to share Too often, we can forget that we have built credibility with the vision. Watch out for Global Outreach Day events coming people as we live for Jesus at home, in the workplace, at college or to a major city near you or find out more information on www. at school. “Global Outreach Day is an opportunity to build on that globaloutreachday.com.

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FAITH

“EVERY WEEK, I SPEAK TO CHURCH LEADERS WHO ARE EXCITED BY THE PASSION AND POTENTIAL OF THIS GENERATION.”

IMAGE: AGAPE IRELAND

INSPIRING AND EQUIPPING

YOUNG ADULTS

EVANGELICAL ALLIANCE NATIONAL FORUM 2016 BY NICK PARK

e tend to look at trends and developments and assess them as either good or bad. But sometimes we need to realise that some things are the way they are, and it’s up to us to make the best of them. In life, there are laws and principles that can either work for you or against you. Just think about gravity. Gravity has no moral quality – it is neither good nor bad in itself. Furthermore, the law of gravity applies whether you choose to believe in it or not! When you drop into a comfortable armchair at the end of a long day, sinking into the cushions, gravity is working for your comfort. That’s good. But if you trip while descending a staircase, you learn very quickly how gravity can also work very much against you! So it is in the spiritual realm. The same principles and laws can be seen as positive or negative depending on the circumstances. For example, research consistently reveals that young adults and those of college age

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are more open to embracing new ideas and concepts than any other age group. That is a wonderful principle for those involved in sharing the Gospel among young adults. It explains why so many people are introduced to the Christian faith at this point in their lives. However, the flip side is that young adults are also more prone than any other age group to leave church or abandon the faith of their childhood. Every week, I speak to church leaders who are excited by the passion and potential of this generation. But often those same leaders are frustrated at the church’s failure to help develop that passion and potential so that it might be released for the glory of God and the transformation of our nation. Evangelical Alliance Ireland’s National Forum for 2016 is designed to help church leaders who are facing this reality, and to connect them with other leaders who are meaningfully engaging with, inspiring and equipping young adults. It also seeks to hear the voices of young adults themselves,

including those who are discovering innovative and significant roles in Irish Christianity. Many organisations are participating in the Forum, including Tearfund, Innovista, Agapé and the Irish Bible Institute. They will be joined by pastors, leaders, evangelists and thinkers from various backgrounds in a day of worship, workshops, interaction and TED-style talks. It will be a time for honesty, reflection, celebration and encouragement. If you have a passion to see young adults fulfilling their God-given purposes, mark the date in your diary – Saturday 12 November from 10am to 4.30pm. The venue is the Betania Romanian Church in Mulhuddart, Dublin 15. You can book your place in advance at www.evangelical. ie. The cost is €25 (€20 for EAI members) and includes a light lunch. Plan to join us for what promises to be a significant event with wide-reaching implications for both our present and our future.

CONFESSIONS OF A FEINT SAINT

VOX MAGAZINE

Keep In Touch ! By Annmarie Miles hen I moved out of my parents’ house in 1999, I didn’t just leave my home; I left my homeland, scooting over the water to be nearer himself. It cost £2.50 Sterling to send a text. I used to text my sisters, as sending a message to my mother was pointless. She would only ask my sister to ring me and tell me to wait until she was back from the shops before sending her a message on that thing. I used to ring my parents once a week. Dad would give me a list of all the people who had been dead and buried since I’d called last. Honestly, some weeks the body count was longer than that of a feature-length episode of Midsomer Murders. By the time the phone was handed to my mother, she’d say the call had already cost me too much money. I’d get the usual warnings about being careful and not staying up too late, and I would be made to promise to ring again next week because she loved to hear how I was getting on. It’s so different now. The likes of Facebook, Skype and Whatsapp have transformed the way we communicate. Social media gets a bad rap, and rightly so in some cases, but for those of us living away from home, it’s a way of ‘seeing’ our families regularly and keeping our ties bound in a quicker and cheaper way than ever before. For the Christian, however, long-distance direct communication is not newfangled technology. I thought it was funny that my dad prayed every day without fail but couldn’t get his head around text messaging or Skype. My biggest mistake was saying the word ‘wireless’ to him one day; it led to a halfhour-long story about the first transistor radio he ever had. Though connections are easier to make, they are often brief: skimming through photos and comments, a quick hello or just a simple ‘like’. Not always, but most times, it’s a mile wide and an inch deep. And that’s ok… as long as I remember that the original wireless technology was not designed for those types of fleeting moments. Not all of my interactions come and go as fast as the click of a button. There’s one that takes time and quiet, turning off the tech and tuning my heart to a different frequency. Once I’ve done that, I can speak and listen at a better pace. Contact with God is way beyond social or even family ties. It’s a connection that stretches far beyond the cloud to heaven itself. I have a #smileyface just thinking about it.

“Most times it’s a mile wide and an inch deep.”

Annmarie Miles is originally from Tallaght, now living in her husband Richard’s homeland, Wales. If you’d like to read more between VOX Magazines, her blog is called Just Another Christian Woman Talking Through Her Hat. The Long & the Short of it, her first collection of short stories, can be found at www. annmariemiles.com/books, or you can pick it up in Footprints bookshops in Dublin. OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

FAITH

VOX OCT - DEC 2016

VOX MAGAZINE

ADVERTISING THE WORD OF GOD ALMOST 80 YEARS OF SCRIPTURE TEXT POSTERS IN IRELAND

ravelling by bus in Dublin Local Christians soon caught the city centre… standing in vision and formed a committee to line at the credit union… broaden the work. In the succeeding driving past a billboard… or checking years, many different and imaginative your supermarket till receipt… these are sites were used. They rented large all occasions when you may have spotted billboards throughout Ireland. For an advert consisting of a Bible verse. several years, up to 80 of these displays But have you ever wondered who was could be seen across the country; some responsible? were on free sites provided by interested In 1937, Dublin solicitor folk, i.e. the gable end of a hay barn William Fry had a burning or in church grounds visible passion for the Word from the road, while of God. On a visit to others were on the London with his walls of commercial father, he was so and private buildings impressed with the or in busy areas of Scripture texts he Dublin city. saw there that back Before the home he started committee could putting a Scripture have its own posters text on the back page printed, these were of the Irish Times. supplied by Scripture His vision to display Gift Mission in London, God’s Word on poster sites and also by the Trinitarian in various Bible Society. places around In recent years, Dublin became the posters stronger and IN 1937, DUBLIN SOLICITOR WILLIAM FRY HAD have been stronger. printed locally. Eventually, he A BURNING PASSION FOR THE WORD OF GOD. Each poster wrote to the includes a Scripture Gift postal, email Mission and and web told them: “The Lord has laid on my heart address, and the offer of a free New for some time now the idea of ’advertising’ Testament and Bible study course. portions of His Holy Scripture.” He Following a large legacy left to STP received an encouraging reply stating in 2006, the work expanded to include that SGM would be happy to send him Scripture verses on plasma screens in two posters each month. credit unions, post offices, and hospital And so the first poster was put up emergency departments. From time at Lower Mount Street, Dublin, and to time, the group has run specific within six months there were 24 posters campaigns on Dublin buses, DART displayed around the city. carriages, Arrow trains and the Luas.

One of the most encouraging ways of displaying God’s Word has been to print texts on the reverse side of supermarket till rolls. This represented more than two million texts distributed every month and resulted in hundreds of requests for New Testaments and the Bible course. When the introductory course is returned completed, it is replaced with a study on John’s Gospel, and so on. Each year in December, the group sends a colourful Gospel calendar to all who have contacted them. And they receive many letters back each year. A chef working in a Dublin hotel wrote, “There was a time when my life was a total mess. My greatest problem was the lack of peace within myself, for my past always continued to haunt me. My lack of peace came from sin and falling short of God’s standards. I did not need anyone to tell me this; my own conscience convicted me of it. The only difficulty was, I had no answers until going to work one morning on the bus, and looking out the window as I passed Ballsbridge in Dublin, my eyes fell on those beautiful words, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” That led me to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and a peace I had never experienced in my whole life before, the peace of having sins forgiven – past – present – and future.” The ministry of Scripture Text Posters continues to be administered by a committee in Dublin. Their address is Scripture Text Posters, Glen Maris House, Eaton Wood Grove, Shankill, Dublin, D18 WK27, and the email address is freeoffer2u@aol.com. To find out more, visit their website at www. scripturetextposters.com. OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

VOX REGIONAL CHAMPIONS NEEDED! ARE YOU.... • as passionate about VOX as we are? • excited about seeing VOX available in many churches around Ireland? • able to promote VOX in your community? The VOX team are looking for outgoing, sociable people to share VOX’s vision of “Faith, Life, Reality” and to explore new opportunities for VOX outlets in their locality. For more information/applications email tara@vox.ie

VOX OCT - DEC 2016

REALITY

VOX MAGAZINE

FROM LUSK TO LAMPANI THE JOURNEY OF A SHOEBOX t all started last October, when shoeboxes (carefully filled by local schoolchildren, families, churches, workplaces and groups of all ages across the north side of Dublin city) left Team Hope’s Baldoyle Centre bound for the Kingdom of Lesotho. From Baldoyle (one of Team Hope’s 50 shoebox checking centres), the boxes travelled to Dublin Port, then by ship to Rotterdam, and on to Durban in South Africa. From Durban the final part of the journey was overland to Butha Buthe, a small town in the north of Lesotho. It’s a breathtakingly beautiful country – all higher than 1000 metres above sea level – and where high desolate mountains pierce the solid blue sky. Penetrating summer sunshine gives way to cold winters, with temperatures down to minus 20 Celcius, covering the mountains in a blanket of snow, completely cutting off remote mountain villages usually only reachable by horseback or on foot. Behind all the beauty lies a country with many economic and social problems. It has one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the world. An estimated 23% of adults live with HIV. Despite the distance our shoeboxes had already travelled, the hardest journey was yet to come. It was 4am when the Team Hope distribution team loaded their truck in Butha Buthe with cartons of North Dublin shoeboxes. Their journey was to take them through mountain dirttrack roads for a seven-hour drive to the remote community of Lampani, where 200 children would be excitedly awaiting their arrival. While we travelled precariously along mountainsides and drove through several rivers, eventually the sun rose, casting a warming glow over the spectacular mountain vista. Another river, and the truck got stuck in it! After pushing and lifting to release the truck, it was time for a wellearned breakfast.

Many more hours’ drive over rocky mountain tracks, yet more rivers to navigate through, and eventually the community of Lampani came into sight. A final drive through some fields and the children were waiting, and singing! Lampani, a community of scattered huts, is a 12-hour walk from the nearest shop, and these children had walked for up to four hours today. After all, it was the first time in their lives that most of them had ever received a gift. The truck was unloaded to the background of excited kids – the expectation and joy was palpable already. Then came the moment to open their boxes. It was unadulterated joy! Someone in Ireland cared enough to send this, and God knows about them here, high up in the Lesotho mountains. They loved everything in their boxes. Unusually, herd boys came to receive shoebox gifts. In Lesotho, herd boys as young as five look after cattle and sheep, living away from their families, high up in the mountains for months or even years. Around one-third of Lesotho’s school-age boys become herd boys, embracing a unique culture, with no education, living isolated lives on the mountainside, distinguished by their clothing of a woollen blanket and wellington boots. After a hard day’s work, they retreat for the night to the shelter of their mountain hut. They are Lesotho’s most vulnerable children, risking disease, cold, and human and animal predators. They have been abandoned by society. Shoebox day was an opportunity for some rare social interaction before they walked off alone, again – but smiling with their gifts! To bring some dignity, hope and a lot of God’s love to children like these, take part in this year’s Team Hope Christmas Shoebox Appeal. All the details are on www.teamhope.ie or call (01) 294 0222.

IT WAS THE FIRST TIME IN THEIR LIVES THAT MOST OF THEM HAD EVER RECEIVED A GIFT.

OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

MY STORY “My Story” is an opportunity for ordinary people living in Ireland to talk about their journey to faith or the impact God has in their daily lives.

ANA MULLAN’S STORY

Ana Mullan grew up in Argentina but has spent the last 32 years in Ireland, working alongside her husband, Sean, in establishing new churches and innovating all-of-life mission, but her journey has not been an easy one. For “My Story,” Ana shares her struggle to find identity, self-worth and healing.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR CHILDHOOD, ANA.

I was an only child. My mum had emigrated from Italy, age 10, and the move caused a lot of problems. She suffered a lot and became bitter. She demonstrated her anger by being verbally abusive and smacking a lot. She would put me down, saying things like: “I have lost all my friends because of you; you don’t know how to behave.” That is a tough thing to say to a seven-year-old child. I believed it, so I grew up with very low self-esteem. Her parenting was controlling. My dad was a weak character, so he hardly intervened. My mother’s anger was geared mainly towards God. She would say: “You are not going to judge me; I am going to judge you.” Funny enough, that statement made me think that God existed. I figured she couldn’t be talking to the air!

WHAT IMPACT DID YOUR CHILDHOOD HAVE ON YOU?

I never felt I belonged. I was a very odd person, a weird child. I had friends, but looking back, I think they felt pity for me; I lived in an insecure environment with parents who tried to control everything about me. I was the type of girl who, at a dance, would be left standing on the side. My mum even controlled the way I dressed. My clothes were not at all fashionable, so I stood out.

WHERE DID JESUS FIT INTO YOUR LIFE?

Jesus introduced Himself to me when I was four years old. I went to a Catholic church and saw Jesus on the cross. I was horrified. I asked my mum, “Why is He hanging on the cross? Did He do something wrong?” But she told me He had done 24

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nothing wrong. I was very upset, and from then on for several years I couldn’t watch any film that showed Jesus being crucified. When I was 18, my mum became a Christian. There was a big change in her, but there were still loads of issues she needed to deal with. Nowadays, we would have encouraged her to go to counselling, but that didn’t happen. I decided to go to church with her. The young people there were very loving and receptive. They accepted me for who I was. I heard the message of God’s forgiveness. I had such low self-esteem that it was great to receive God’s love. That’s when I started my journey with Jesus, though Jesus had been journeying with me already.

HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE ADOPTED?

but because of my lack of commitment, I thought it would never work for me to join the ship’s crew. The night the Doulos was leaving, I was reading my Good News Bible and there was a picture of Jesus inviting Peter and the other fishermen to follow Him. They left their nets behind and followed Him. That spoke to me, so I ended up joining the ship. It was extremely challenging for me to share a cabin with three other girls! But God did His work in my life. I started the process of maturing and becoming more secure. I met Sean and, after I returned to Argentina, we started a relationship via letters. He visited and we decided to get married and move to Ireland. It was a wise decision because it meant I could get away from my family.

When I was 19, I had an argument with my mum, and in typical teenager fashion, I said, “I’m not going to live here any more,” WHAT WAS IT LIKE COMING TO IRELAND AS A to which she replied, “Go! You are not our NEWLYWED? child anyway…” I come from a huge city, and we ended My dad was very upset. He told me, up in South Tipperary at the Irish Bible “Nothing has changed.” But in those days, School - right in the heart of the countryside. to be adopted was not something that was In Argentina, I was warm, but here it is accepted. It made me very insecure and confused. Nothing HEALING TAKES TIME. IT MEANS LEARNING HOW TO WORK WITH seemed permanent GOD. I BRING MY WOUNDS TO HIM, AND HE SOOTHES THE PAIN. in my life. I would start things but not finish them, and I kept changing jobs all the time. By the time I always cold. I had never even seen a fireplace was 25, I realised I was stuck. and I did not know how to start a fire! After Bible school, we joined Baptist Missions SO WHAT CHANGED? working in Cork city and east Cork, and in The missionary ship MV Doulos came 2000, we moved to Dublin to work with an to Argentina. It had a great impact on me, independent church until 2009.

VOX MAGAZINE

being peeled off; everything was being taken away.

HOW DID YOU DEAL WITH THE PAIN?

HOW DID THINGS CHANGE WITH YOUR MUM?

I decided to start again with God. It was as if He was saying, “Ana, you won’t find your identity in being a daughter or a mother or a wife; your identity comes from being my child.” For about six months, I meditated on a verse in Genesis when Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden. Despite all their bad choices, God covered their nakedness. Then I saw a charcoal drawing of Jesus, totally naked on the cross. In Genesis, God covered Adam and Eve, but when He paid for our sin, His own son was naked and shamed. That spoke to me of God’s profound love for me. It stopped being a theological concept and became an experiential thing.

Eventually, she was put in a home because she had Parkinson’s. Thankfully, a couple from her church visited her regularly. The great relief was that other people could now see what she was like. She would still ring and give me verbal abuse over the SO WHAT BROUGHT ABOUT HEALING IN YOUR phone. I had grown up thinking that I was LIFE? the difficult person, but I came to recognise I spent a few months meditating and that the problem was with her. reading. One book that helped me was She died when I was 50 years old. I The Gift of Being Yourself. I was struggling returned to Argentina and tracked down to understand redemption. I knew what my godmother. Through her, I discovered it meant in theological terms, but I didn’t that my mother had destroyed all of my papers including my original birth ONE OF THE DANGERS IN OUR CHRISTIANITY IS THIS IDEA certificate. I had THAT JESUS IS ONLY FOR THE RELIGIOUS PART OF LIFE. no way of finding out about my birth JESUS IS NOT JUST FOR SUNDAYS - HE IS FOR ALL OF LIFE. mother or even where I had been born. I was angry, but I also had mixed know what it meant to live as a redeemed feelings. My mother had nurtured me and person. After reading the book and praying, I loved me in her own way. And now she had heard Jesus saying to me, “Redemption is to died. But she had also taken my identity. I become fully yourself under my leadership.” felt like an onion: one layer after another was Healing takes time. It means learning

how to work with God. I bring my wounds to Him, and He soothes the pain. We talk about it. The most important thing is that God has created me in love. His love is bigger than the hurt somebody has caused in my life. Sometimes we are hurt so much that we feel we have the right to be angry or to punish somebody. We can come to God and say, “This is how I feel, but my desire is to be healed and to be set free.” He can work with that.

HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO FORGIVE?

Forgiveness is a journey. I think when we realise how much God has forgiven us, then we can let go. I’m not going to allow that person to have power over me any more. Of course, it comes and goes. At times, you will feel the pain again. As a Christian, I can always go back to Jesus and say, “Here I am. I’m struggling with this all over again.” We have a Saviour - not only for the initial decision of becoming a Christian but for our everyday life.

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING GOD HAS TAUGHT YOU THROUGH ALL OF THIS?

It is more important to be than do… that is a big lesson. God is more interested in who I am becoming than what I’m achieving. Gratitude is a big thing for me, too. That is why I wanted to share the story. I want people to see what Jesus can do.

TELL US ABOUT THE NEW MINISTRY GOD HAS GIVEN YOU. I went back to the Irish Bible Institute to complete my BA in theology, and more recently, I have trained as a Spiritual Director. It has been a wonderful journey. I meet with people who want help to deepen their relationship with God.

WHAT ADVICE DO YOU GIVE TO PEOPLE FACING PAINFUL SITUATIONS?

Talk to Jesus about it! It sounds a bit simplistic, but one of the dangers in our Christianity is this idea that Jesus is only for the religious part of life. Jesus is not just for Sundays - He is for all of life. We need to read the Gospels focusing on Jesus’ humanity, not just His divinity. Jesus suffered all that we have suffered, yet without sin. His family rejected Him. His friends abandoned Him. He was abused verbally. He was badly treated. He was betrayed. He was falsely accused. He was beaten and crucified. I can say to Jesus, “I have a terrible pain.” And He understands. My tears were many, but I have brought those tears to Jesus. OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

REALITY

HOLISTICMISSION REACHING YOUR COMMUNITY… WHAT WOULD JESUS DO? BY DIANE HOLT AND STEPHEN LYNAS

n Thrive Ireland, we often ask ourselves, “What does it mean to pray ‘Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’? How do we enable the thriving and flourishing communities that God wants for us?” It’s a pressing question for many churches across Ireland today. Thrive Ireland was born out of Tearfund UK and builds on Tearfund’s experience in supporting churches overseas and in the UK to understand God’s call to be salt and light and to equip them in the ‘how’. Tearfund’s pioneering work in the 1960s fused what it means to ‘bring good news to the poor’ both spiritually and practically and brought a fresh perspective on the outworking of faith overseas and locally. With the blessing of Tearfund, Thrive Ireland became a separate entity in 2015 and continues to help and equip churches here in Ireland (both north and south) These tools are based on the approach that to reach out to their communities and be Tearfund uses in its work across the world. effective in their mission. ‘Integral Mission’ or ‘Holistic Mission’ Thrive Ireland can help churches who meets both people’s spiritual and physical are unsure about how to start, churches needs with the belief that bringing ‘life who have made great progress but are in all its fullness’ is a founding biblical facing challenges, and churches who are imperative. unsure about how to reach those in their One of Tearfund Ireland’s goals is to communities who have little or no interest envision, equip and mobilise churches to in faith. reach those in Both greatest need Tearfund in some of the Ireland and THE UMOJA PROCESS FORCED US TO THINK ABOUT world’s poorest Thrive Ireland communities THE COMMUNITY WE ARE PART OF AND ASK HARD and in share a common heart QUESTIONS ABOUT OUR RELEVANCE AND PLACE. their own and mission – communities. that the local Excited church in about Ireland will show and tell of Jesus’ love in partnering with Thrive Ireland, Tearfund their local communities. Ireland’s Chief Executive Officer, Sharan Thrive Ireland comes alongside Kelly, said, “While the world is in turmoil churches to provide them with the tools to and our own country struggles out of reach out to people in their communities. recession, the Lord is very much at work

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in people’s hearts – the soil is being prepared for seeds to be planted. People are being stirred to live like Jesus – to show compassion, to act justly and to stand with and for those who are poor, oppressed, those who are hurting due to addiction, mental health, poverty, and homelessness and those who lack hope. Tearfund Ireland’s heart is to walk alongside churches as they do this. “The church working together is so important. Tearfund Ireland loves to partner with like-minded ministries. Thrive Ireland and Tearfund Ireland have much in common, and we are excited about what the Lord will achieve as we work together in the years ahead.” Thrive Ireland is headed up by Diane Holt, better known as Diane Petherick from her days in Lucan in the 1990’s. Diane formerly worked with Tearfund (UK) as its Church and Community Advisor in Northern Ireland and was also a Presbyterian Irish Mission worker.

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UMOJA - HOW TO BE ‘SALT AND LIGHT’

Thrive Ireland’s approached is summed up by a Swahili word “Umoja,” meaning togetherness. It is about doing things alongside and with people rather than to and for them. Diane explains, “It’s an opportunity for people to listen to God, to listen to each other and to listen to the members of their whole community and find what God’s intention is for them in that context.” The process facilitated by Thrive Ireland starts with a celebration service, applauding what a congregation is already doing and all that is good about the community and the congregation, inspiring people and celebrating their skills and gifts. Members then share their knowledge of the needs of the community. “I enable the congregation to have a conversation with themselves,” explains Diane. “They find out what they know and pool that knowledge before moving to the next stage, which is time and talent. “Congregations have full listening to their community and building calendars. Umoja helps set priorities about relationships as they do.” where time is best spent while identifying When the congregation knows their new talents that can free others to take up skills and resources, the needs of the fresh challenges.” community and what is being done, they One example is Waringstown begin to come up with ideas about how Prebyterian church in Northern Ireland. they can get involved. It might mean The church’s vision was “to offer hope to partnering with someone else or starting our community through the sharing of something new the good news of either with others Jesus Christ.” They or themselves. knew this involved IF WE LIVE THE LIFE AS WELL AS PRAY THE engaging with the Ultimately, they list six or seven PRAYER, THEN HIS KINGDOM WILL COME. whole community possibilities and but realised that they then vote on their did not know where priorities. Then to begin. all that remains in the “Umoja” process is “The Umoja process forced us to think to plan how and when the talk turns into about the community we are part of and action. ask hard questions about our relevance and “Umoja is not trying to challenge what place,” says minister Rev Philip Thompson. churches do,” says Diane. “It’s enabling “It gave structure to our conversations, congregations to listen to God in their grounded our discussion in Scripture and situation, facilitating them in something enabled us to translate conclusions into they want to do but are unsure how. It action.” involves anyone who wants to play their Identifying problems around part. Everyone’s knowledge and opinion is community cohesion and isolation, the valued and everyone votes.” ‘action’ included developing a community The process also helps address issues of newsletter and a ‘Know Your Neighbour’ initiative. The parent and toddler group has been revitalised, and a ‘Messy Church’ for the whole family now happens once a month. “There were unexpected benefits and blessings as well,” adds Philip Thompson. “It helped invigorate our worship, fellowship and discipleship and enabled people in our church family who perhaps felt on the fringes to have a voice, engage in prayer for our community and get involved.” As all Christian churches wrestle

with the reality of growing apathy and the perceived irrelevance of faith, holistic mission provides a radical approach to outreach. “Umoja is about seeing longterm Kingdom transformation in our communities. It isn’t a quick fix or six-week programme; it takes time. I love that Umoja takes the whole church community on a journey to discern what God is calling them to in their particular place with their unique experiences, gifts and skills. I love the fact that Umoja helps us learn from the global church,” said Sam Moore, director of Innovista Ireland. Diane Holt sees “Umoja” in the story of Bartimaeus: “While the crowd tried to hide the blind beggar from Jesus, Jesus set us the example of valuing people. Then, rather than restoring his sight immediately, Jesus asked Bartimaeus, ‘What would you like me to do for you?’ If we are to be Jesus’ hands and feet, eyes and ears, we need to value people and build trusting relationships, just like He did. “If we live the life as well as pray the prayer, then His Kingdom will come, His will will be done on earth as is in heaven.” You can contact Thrive Ireland on (+44) 028 9073 0060, email diane@thriveireland. org or visit the website at www.thriveireland. org.

Diane Holt is the director of Thrive Ireland. She is a former Church and Community Advisor for Tearfund in Northern Ireland. Stephen Lynas is a freelance journalist. OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

REALITY

THE CINNAMON NETWORK

HOW DO WE STOP REINVENTING THE WHEEL?

kick-start an appropriate project.” Care Home Friends is one of the projects that has really taken off. A local church has adopted a care home in their area and trained their volunteers to work with people with dementia. Another project called Renew helps a local church to create a safe place for people with mental health challenges. “Make Lunch” helps churches to feed children during the school holidays who might otherwise go hungry. Over 1.3 million children receive free school meals in the UK few years ago, Matt Bird was but, during the holidays, they do not have helping to facilitate “Dragon’s access to the same support. Last year, 56 Den”-type events designed churches ran “Make Lunch” programmes in to identify and help fund the the UK and fed 11,500 children. very best in church-based community Another project is called “Welcome development projects. Boxes”. When the refugee crisis “Through these events, I became began to hit the headlines, a local aware of the incredible work in Derby worked closely CHURCHES OFTEN SAY THEY WANT TO DO SOMETHING IN church that churches are doing in their with the council so that whenever communities,” Matt shared. “I wanted THEIR COMMUNITY BUT DON’T KNOW WHERE TO START. an individual was settled in the area, to take the very best projects that we two trained volunteers would visit had found and find ways to replicate to welcome them and give them them in other places.” It was a way to a small box of gifts. This has only eliminate ‘reinventing the wheel.’ “Cinnamon Network advisors can help and been running since September but it is now That is where Cinnamon Network came support in identifying needs and projects, happening in 32 towns and cities around the in. (Note: it is named after the curry house along with providing micro-grants to help UK.

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in which a group of friends met to plan and dream, not the sweet spice). In the UK, the Cinnamon Network team has developed a “menu” of 30 projects addressing social needs such as antisocial behaviour, families in crisis, rehabilitating ex-offenders, dealing with debt and mental health, etc. Churches can take these projects and use them in their local context. “Churches often say they want to do something in their community but don’t know where to start,” Matt explained.

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And the projects are not simply based in “If a church has developed a really good urban contexts. “Rural settings have unique project, why should every church start from social issues (e.g. loneliness and isolation),” scratch?” Matt explained. “Often in rural areas, At the moment, the focus is on churches are smaller. The size of projects developing relationships with key leaders needs to be appropriate for those contexts. across the island and connecting with We must have models to empower and help churches that are already doing great things rural churches to address social needs. in their community. Cinnamon Network has “There is an incredible opportunity set up an Advisory Group made up of key for us as a church to share ideas and Christian leaders in both Northern Ireland possibilities.” and the Republic. Now “In the expanding next year, I its work into would like us THERE IS AN INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY FOR US AS to find half a Northern Ireland and the A CHURCH TO SHARE IDEAS AND POSSIBILITIES. dozen churches Republic of that are Ireland, Matt running great found that community leaders here were enthusiastic about the projects that we can partner with,” Matt said. potential for partnership. “Let us begin to share best practice. The “We just want to work with people work at this stage is low-key and organic. We who love Jesus and who want to serve their are not programme-led; we are focused on communities,” he said. “We are not looking the local church.” to export projects from one country to In England, Cinnamon Network also another but we are looking for effective carried out research to identify just how projects that are being run by churches in much money and volunteer hours churches Ireland and Northern Ireland that can be were investing in their community. The replicated in other churches. results were astonishing.

“The church is a force for good in the community but that is often not how it is perceived,” Matt explained. Cinnamon is working to change that perception with government bodies and the media. After their research was published, The Times newspaper ran an article with the headline, “Loving thy neighbour is priceless… but it is worth more than £3 billion a year.” Conducting research like this in Ireland could help to combat negative newspaper headlines and prejudices among civic authorities and the general public, Matt explained. Tommy Stewart is the representative for the Cinnamon Network in Ireland and Northern Ireland. “I want to see the church once again becoming the centre of the community in Ireland,” Tommy said. “We can talk about community transformation but what are we doing personally? Do you know the names of your eight closest neighbours? Do you know something personal about each of them? Do you know their hopes and dreams? As much as we want our churches to do it, it starts with us!” Find out more about Cinnamon Network on www.cinnamonnetwork.co.uk. OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

FAITH

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO SEE

Breakthrough? HERCULES NEED NOT APPLY

anielle Strickland is an officer in the Salvation Army in Los Angeles who has served the marginalised for over 20 years and is an ambassador for Stop the Traffik. This summer, she spoke at the New Wine Ireland conference in Sligo. Here, VOX Magazine brings you a summary of her powerful, two-part seminar on “breakthrough”.

end is co-dependency (“If my church isn’t doing it, I can’t do it…”). True dependency is coming into agreement with who God is. Gideon creates pockets of dependency as he tests God. He is learning that God is who He says He is. Gideon does this when no one else is looking (laying his fleece out). All of the great leaders learn this for themselves. When we reach the end of our own God has taught me some breakthrough hoarded resources, we make it possible to ideas from the story of Gideon. If you don’t experience God’s sufficiency. If you are from know the story, just rent the film “A a self-sufficient culture, when do you Bug’s Life” and you’ll get the idea. need God to show up? The question Gideon was the smallest and weakest is, do we trust God when everything person but he became a powerful is on the line? WHEN WE REACH THE END OF OUR OWN HOARDED warrior. If you want breakthrough in your RESOURCES, WE MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO EXPERIENCE In the beginning, Gideon was own life, in your church and your scared and defensive, hiding out from community, you have to step into that GOD’S SUFFICIENCY. the enemy. He was just trying to get place of risky, obedient faith. enough bread to feed his family. We love the idea of victorious living, but NO SUPER SAINTS most of us are really just trying to pay the got it all, I know it all…”). How many times We have somehow succumbed to mortgage and look after our families. has the church acted out of arrogance rather the idea that there are “supermen” who It is in that situation that God interrupts than humility? bring about breakthrough. In the movie Gideon and gives him this amazing greeting: We need to come into the centre of the “Hercules,” there is a line that says, “Never “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you.” Gideon continuum and choose a posture that says, let them see you bleed.” has loads of questions: “If the Lord is with “I agree with God about who I am.” This is And yet, on the cross, Jesus was bleeding us, why has all this happened to us?” God “Shalom” - the fullness of relationship with and vulnerable. It was a display of weakness ignores Gideon’s questions and simply says, God with everything wrong being made and seeming defeat. That was what broke the “Go with the strength you have.” (Gideon right. power of sin and death. didn’t think he had any strength but God It is a constant process, not a one-time We keep thinking strength and success had already given him everything he deal. Every day, you need to come into and celebrity will bring the breakthrough. needed!) agreement with God that creates a “Shalom” Any time the church is in power, it doesn’t in your life in which you are no longer work out so well! TRUE HUMILITY concerned about what other people think. God’s strategy has always been to take Breakthrough starts with humility. True the least trained, the least shiny and the least humility is when we come into agreement TRUE DEPENDENCY equipped people so that the glory will go with God about who we are. Breakthrough happens when we are to Him. The cross is not a tragedy - it is a In Exodus chapter one, two midwives dependent on God. On that continuum strategy. were told to do something, and they refused. there are two extremes: one is selfAt the time of Jesus, the people wanted They cared more about what God thought sufficiency (“I’ve got it…”) and on the other a “breakthrough” - the overthrow of the

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about them than what Pharaoh thought about them. The great Exodus of God’s people started with those two midwives! On one end of the continuum, there is insecurity - playing the negative tapes in your mind (“I’m not the right age, I’m not a leader, I’m the wrong person, I’m the wrong gender, I did it before and it failed, I can’t do it…”). One of the great shifts that needs to take place is to stop the tape! On the other end of the continuum is arrogance (“I don’t need anything else, I’ve

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Romans. They wanted the revolutionary warrior. We need to renew our minds again to understand God’s way. What Jesus did looked so different that nobody understood it. Even the disciples could not figure out what was going on. None of us will be able to understand what breakthrough looks like until we are willing to be more like Jesus and less like “Hercules”. When we put our ways, our strategies and our values ahead of God’s, it is called idolatry. There is no secret to breakthrough. It is simply doing what God tells you to do. Every time God asks you to do something, there are hundreds of reasons why you shouldn’t. Here’s the bottom line - it could turn out badly. That is the story of the cross. When Moses first went to Pharaoh,

things got worse! Gideon’s own people wanted to kill him. When you are in a time of breakthrough, people won’t like you! Breakthrough comes when you are willing to die to yourself and say “Yes” to Jesus - all the way, no matter what.

God has never used a majority for breakthrough. He has always used a minority. If you feel weak, small and inadequate, that is a prerequisite for God to move. Otherwise people will think you did it.

BIGGER IS NOT BETTER

When the Lord told Gideon, “Your army is too big,” that seems insane. Why would God want the army to be smaller? We still think that bigger is better. In which Bible did you read that? Who taught us that a successful ministry is a big one? We celebrate bigness as if that is the secret of greatness. But it is in your weakness that Jesus is glorified. We have this treasure in jars of clay. What part of that is hard? All of it!

If you feel weak, small

and inadequate, that is a prerequisite for God to move.

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REALITY

HOPE

hospital in the In Nepal, many who suffer from world – set up by leprosy are expelled from their families and Nepal Leprosy Trust communities. They are deeply stigmatised (NLT), a Christian and are often left feeling isolated, organisation inspired disempowered, and depressed. NLT works by Jesus’ compassion to reintegrate them into the community. to serve the poor They help patients to set up self-help and sick. Their groups so that those who have had leprosy aim is to empower can look out for one another. those affected by As they work together, they support leprosy and other one another and provide care. The main disadvantaged aim of these groups is to empower people people. by giving them control over their lives and Leprosy destroys their rehabilitation. As those in the wider the life of a patient community see the benefits of the self-help both physically and groups, barriers are broken down. socially, so NLT focuses on two primary I visited villages in the area surrounding aspects of the rehabilitation. First, they Lalgadh Hospital. I saw places that had must deal with the physical illness. Leprosy successful self-help groups as well as is caused by bacteria that invade the body villages that had been through a more and destroy nerve endings. As the body intensive Village Alive Programme. This no longer feels pain, injuries go unnoticed, focuses on empowering Untouchable which means that many leprosy patients’ (Dalit) villages – communities of people wounds become infected. This, in turn, can lead to serious disability. IT SEEMS SUCH AN ENORMOUS INJUSTICE THAT THEY HAVE TO FIGHT The doctors in TOOTH AND NAIL FOR THINGS I HAVE TAKEN ENTIRELY FOR GRANTED. Lalgadh deal with the physical manifestations of leprosy and kill the bacteria. However, even who are on the lowest rung of the Hindu if a patient recovers fully, they must still caste system. Those who belong to higher deal with the social consequences. castes literally will not touch these people.

It’s not just a buzzword BY SARAH WINTERBURN

ate one evening in July, I found myself descending rapidly in an airplane over the Kathmandu valley. The city looked totally unlike any I had seen before. Walking out onto the heated street, the life of the place struck me. People everywhere. No surface seemed untouched. As I travelled south, rural farmland replaced crowded cityscape – rice paddies and dirt tracks.

WELCOME TO NEPAL

How did I end up here? After a lifetime of hearing stories about Nepal from my parents, who spent the first years of their married lives there, I had been given the opportunity to visit. I would be staying at Lalgadh Hospital – the busiest leprosy 32

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They often believe them to be inferior and For three years, worthless. NLT Ireland has The difference between communities sponsored students that had been through the programme to enable the and those that had not was immense. younger generation Before going through the programme, to get an education there was a weariness about the people. and take control of For generations, their families had lived their lives. I spoke their lives treated as outcasts, discouraged with many of these from attending school, paid minimally for students, and I was hard labour. They saw no hope of change. blown away by their Their attitude was generally downcast; the drive to improve women hid their faces, the men seemed their lives and the defeated. People had promised help before, lives of those around but they had never seen real improvement, them. They have a nor did they expect it. real vision for their The atmosphere in villages that have communities, and been through the programme is totally they are determined different. The women have confidence, a not to waste the spark of hope. They have seen change in opportunities they their lives and change in the lives of their have received. children, and they know they have the Janaki Paal right to a better standard of living. There became a hero is a distinct awareness that their lives are of mine. We are worth just as much as anyone else’s. They roughly the same are willing to stand up for their children, age (20), but our fighting those who place barriers in the way lives have been of their children’s education and future. wholly different. Conditions are still poor, but now they Married at 14, Janaki’s husband paid for with the world. Those who have no hope have toilets and understand the necessity her to go through school while he could. are downtrodden – beaten down by the of good hygiene. They have saved money He developed leprosy after their marriage, world and its incessant demands, problems and have started small businesses. The however, and due to subsequent disabilities and hardships. There is an emptiness in children still do not have enough to eat, and is no longer able to work. They decided their eyes. Those who have hope, however, a euro or two a day remains the standard together that Janaki should become the are fierce. They cling to the possibility wage, but they have a vision for the future. main provider of income while he looks that life can get better. They are bright and The community knows determined. Hope affects it can change the way their outlook, their actions its people have lived dreams. THE BEST THING WE CAN DO IS TO GIVE HOPE TO THOSE WHO HAVE NONE, TO andIntheir for generations. They Ireland, we SHOW THE LOVE OF JESUS TO THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN UTTERLY REJECTED. can overcome the label sometimes feel conflicted “untouchable”. They about our interaction must work hard for any with those in ‘developing future improvements, countries’. We want to help but they know, crucially, that improvement after their three-year-old daughter. Janaki but we don’t know how – we don’t trust is possible. is about to start studying pharmacy and is charities; we don’t want to do more harm Leaving the children in those villages one of the loveliest, most enthusiastic and than good. The best thing we can do is to was hard. It seems such an enormous kind-hearted people I have met. give hope to those who have none, to show injustice that they have to fight tooth and She has a spark in her eyes that gets the love of Jesus to those who have been nail for things I have taken entirely for bigger and brighter the more she talks utterly rejected. We must empower people granted, like high standards of education. of the hope she has – bringing proper to take control of their own situations It was in Nepal that I finally understood healthcare to her community, gaining and give them the ability to realise their exactly why education is so important. her own independence, providing own dreams. Our burden, our duty is this: Without education or training, people for her daughter. There is also a quiet that we who have hope must share it with must rely on the work of their hands. They determination within her – she is prepared others. are poorly paid and have little control to endure hardship to get to where she For more information see www.nlt.ie or over their lives. Women must remain wants to be. She knows she has the power contact info@nlt.ie. entirely dependent on their husbands for to bring change and she holds to this hope income. Marriage is essentially a business firmly. arrangement for most, a way to create a This expectation is the real difference I support structure. If you don’t work in saw from one village to the next, from one Sarah is originally from Nepal, you don’t eat. There is no social person to the next. Hope has a tangible and Limerick, but spends most of her welfare, no backup if you fall ill. Your quantifiable effect. It transforms people. It time these days living in Dublin, children are your pension, your security in changes their whole outlook, and this in where she is studying English your old age. turn changes how they work and interact and Russian in Trinity College. OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

FAITH

christians under fire

s the Irish voice for the persecuted church for over 30 years, Church in Chains has been campaigning and raising awareness of the plight of Christians suffering under oppressive regimes. At the annual Church in Chains conference in Liffey Valley, Dublin, guest speaker Rev Dr Soja Bewarang gave a detailed and thought-provoking analysis of the Islamic extremists behind the ongoing persecution of Christians in Nigeria. Rev Soja is an experienced church leader who is currently chairman of the Plateau State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, which acts as a voice for Nigerian Christians. He had previously served as president of the Church of Christ in Nations (the largest church in Plateau State, attended by over 3 million people). Rev Soja began by reminding delegates that persecution of Christians is not new and can be traced back to the birth of the Lord Jesus, whom Herod tried to kill. He said that Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus were displaced from Bethlehem to Egypt, an experience also suffered by many Christians in Nigeria today.

CHURCH IN CHAINS CONFERENCE HEARS NEWS OF THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

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PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IS NOT NEW AND CAN BE TRACED BACK TO THE BIRTH OF THE LORD JESUS.

retaliate. I had to come and stretch out my arms in front of them and say ‘No – this is not our Gospel’ and because of the respect that the youth had for me, they listened to me.”

PERSECUTION AROUND THE WORLD SHARIA LAW

The significance of Sharia law (in place in 12 states in northern Nigeria) was detailed by Rev Soja as he explained that under Sharia, there is no separation between religion and state and that everything in society is centred around Islam. He said that Christians living under Sharia are forbidden to distribute Christian literature, pray or preach in public and are not free to build churches in Muslim-dominated areas. There are severe penalties for Christians who are deemed to speak out against Islam. While Rev Soja warned that Christians everywhere should be concerned about Sharia law, he emphasised that “Jesus tells Christians to love Muslims because He wants Muslims to join Christians in heaven. Christians in Nigeria do not hate Muslims – we love Muslims because we desire that they be saved.”

church know some of their parents,” Rev Soja added.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF PERSECUTION

Rev Soja spoke of his own experiences of persecution, telling how he was ambushed after leaving his church headquarters in Jos late one night – his car was hit by shots several times as he drove away to escape the attackers. Rev Soja also showed pictures of several pastors from his church who were murdered because of their faith and spoke of the distress of having to conduct their funerals. He also shared about a suicide bomb attack on his church in Jos: “Lives were lost and the Christian youth of my church were going to

Delegates at the Church in Chains conference also heard updates about Christian prisoners: Maryam Zargaran in Iran, Asia Bibi in Pakistan and Zhang Kai in China. There was also a roundup of news including how a Church in Chains report had formed the basis for the questioning of the Nigerian Chargés d’Affaires, who appeared before the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs. Plans for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on Sunday 20 November were announced, and delegates were encouraged to get involved. Short video reports of the conference can be viewed at www.churchinchains. ie, where you can also find regular reports about persecuted Christians in a number of countries worldwide.

CHIBOK GIRLS

“The mystery of the Chibok girls [over 200 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram in April 2014] is the shame of Nigeria,” said Rev Soja. “It is a puzzle that has left more questions than answers. We cannot understand why soldiers who are searching for the girls have not allowed the parents to accompany them to help identify the girls. “We had thought that with the release of Amina [one of the girls who was found in May 2016], she would be able to lead the military to find the girls, but Amina herself is not helping matters; she keeps saying that she just wants to be with her husband [a Boko Haram fighter to whom she was forcibly married]. The majority of the girls are Christian, and pastors in my

Rev Dr Soja Bewarang with David Turner, Director of Church in Chains OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

REALITY

FAITH-BASED CHARITIES in a New Age of Regulation BY CORMAC O CEALLAIGH

hroughout the ages, faithbased charities have made an invaluable contribution to society. The monasteries, for example, provided a refuge for the destitute and needy in the past. Today, the charity sector is at a crossroads. The Charities Act was passed in February 2009 and parked - the government did not have the funding or resources to establish the Charity Regulatory Authority (CRA). Following the difficulties that arose at the Central Remedial Clinic and Rehab and the public outcry that followed, the government was forced to enact certain sections of the Act, which led to the establishment of the CRA in October 2014. For the first time, there is one body that

VOX OCT - DEC 2016

is specifically charged with regulating the charity sector. The CRA will place extra demands on charities such as: 1. Having to file an annual report with the CRA 2. A statutory obligation to keep proper account books. 3. The CRA may appoint an inspector to investigate the affairs of a charity. 4. The CRA can enter and search the premises of a charity. 5. If the CRA believes that a charity is committing an offence under the Act or its property is being misapplied, it can apply to the High Court seeking protection orders for the charityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s property.

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refer to themselves as a The challenge for charities is to have ‘charity.’ better systems of governance and regulation, A recent high to sign up to the Governance Code and FAITH-BASED CHARITIES MAKE UP A SIZABLE PORTION OF THE profile case in the UK work through it diligently and actually APPROXIMATE 8,500 REGISTERED CHARITIES IN IRELAND. concerned a Plymouth implement it. This also represents an Brethren Church opportunity for faith-based charities to (Preston Down examine their governing documents (e.g. Trust), which was deed of trust, constitution or memorandum Faith-based charities make up a sizable initially refused charitable status because and articles of association) to ensure that portion of the approximate 8,500 registered the church failed the ‘public benefit’ test (i.e. sufficient safeguards are built in so that charities in Ireland. The vast majority of the public were not benefiting). The church they retain their faith-based ethos. There churches are registered with the CRA and subscribed to the doctrine of separation, have been many charities in the past that Revenue and enjoy all the tax benefits this which in essence is that members should be started out life as faith-based charities but brings. separate from the ‘world’ and not associate were not sufficiently anchored and are now Faith-based charities have been strong with those who are from the ‘world.’ They secular charities, such as Oxfam, Barnardos advocates in the areas of outreach to the subsequently secured charitable status after and Save the Children. I am not suggesting poor, sick and needy. For example, they run a long campaign and legal battle lasting five that there is anything wrong with secular hospitals, schools and soup kitchens and years. They eventually agreed to amend their charities, but very often, faith-based charities have sent missionaries to the four corners of constitution and to greater engagement with have an extra dimension they can offer. the globe. the wider public. Faith-based charities need to be above Section 3 (1) (C) of the Act states that There has been a significant growth reproach. Being a registered charity is a ‘the advancement of religion’ is a charitable over the past 20 years of new independent privilege and not a right. One hopes that purpose and subsection (2) goes on to say non-institutional churches. Many of these faith-based charities can enjoy the trust that ‘a purpose shall not be a charitable independent churches are not regulated and confidence of the public; however, if purpose unless it is of public benefit.’ internally in the A faith-based charity that was in same way the main existence and had a CHY (charitable denominations are. status number issued by the Revenue There are French, FAITH-BASED CHARITIES NEED TO BE ABOVE REPROACH. BEING Commissioners) prior to the establishment Polish, Romanian, A REGISTERED CHARITY IS A PRIVILEGE AND NOT A RIGHT. of the CRA is now deemed to be a registered Chinese and African charity. Any faith-based organisation churches now based in that existed prior to the CRA but did not Ireland. Many of these have a CHY number or any organisation new churches have established since then whose main purpose been pioneered by foreign nationals who this trust is broken, it can be very difficult is the advancement of religion must now have come to Ireland from countries where to repair and redeem. The cynicism and register with the CRA. Irish missionaries were sent in the past. disillusionment in some sectors of the public Section 41 of the Act states that it is now In this age of secularism and hostility need to be overcome by greater ‘buy-in’ from an offence for an unregistered charitable towards the Gospel of Jesus Christ, churches and faith-based charities in the organisation to carry out activities in the Christian churches need to focus on what form of greater transparency and integrity. State, and in breach of this, they will face they have in common and be ‘salt and light’. By embracing the changes the new various sanctions. The new regulatory environment poses a Act has introduced, charities can get their It is clear on a strict interpretation challenge but also an opportunity to many houses in order and ensure that they enjoy of the Act that religious organisations faith-based organisations. At its heart, it is continued support and trust. Faith-based therefore need to register with the CRA, an attempt to better regulate this sector and charities still have an important role to play although every case needs to be examined ensure that public trust and confidence can in society by catering for people’s practical on its own merits. There are some religious be secure and nurtured. needs and also their spiritual ones. organisations, including churches, that may With the decline of the welfare state, not fulfil the various conditions of becoming the demands on the services of charities a registered charity and will therefore not will only increase. One just needs to look Cormac O Ceallaigh is have to register. at the example of housing charities, which a solicitor specialising The Act imposes sanctions on cannot cope with the demands on their in Charity Law. organisations that hold themselves out as services brought about by the government ‘charities’ but are not registered. However, it refusal until recently to increase the rent does not have sanctions for organisations that supplement and the lack of investment in fall into a ‘charitable purpose’ category but social housing. The Capuchin Day Centre in choose not to register because, for example, Church Street in Dublin city run by Brother they do not confer any ‘public benefit ‘ on the Kevin is at full capacity, providing up to State, or they simply do not want to register 500 meals a day to homeless and destitute because they do not engage in fund raising or people. OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

Looking for a church to visit

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FAITH

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THOUSANDS GATHER FOR THE “HOLY GHOST RALLY” ver 5,000 Christians from all over Ireland gathered for Lord, He is ready to put a new song in your mouth (Psalm 40:1-3). the Redeemed Christian Church of God “Holy Ghost He demonstrated His Almighty power - There is a difference Rally” in July. The City West Conference Centre in between the mighty and the Almighty! Naaman was a mighty Dublin was filled to capacity as thousands lifted their warrior, but he could not conquer leprosy. What is impossible hearts and voices in joyful praise. with man is possible with God. If you took Panadol for a headache Founded in Nigeria, RCCG has grown rapidly in Ireland, with and it got better, no one would say “Hallelujah,” but when what is vibrant new congregations springing considered hopeless has become full of up around the country. During the hope, then you see the difference between five-hour service, the congregation the mighty and the Almighty. was treated to a feast of music from reversed the irreversible - By the FOUNDED IN NIGERIA, RCCG HAS GROWN RAPIDLY timeGod children’s, youth and adult Gospel a woman is 90 years old, childbearing IN IRELAND, WITH VIBRANT NEW CONGREGATIONS is impossible. Sarah was WAY past the age choirs, and many shared personal testimonies of what God had done in of giving birth. Almighty God made all SPRINGING UP AROUND THE COUNTRY. their lives. things and He controls all things by the Pastor E. A. Adeboye, the General laws of nature. He made the laws, and if He Overseer of the RCCG, gave the chooses, He can change the laws (Isaiah keynote message of the evening interspersed with times of fervent 38:7). When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he was not only prayer. Here, VOX magazine editor Ruth Garvey-Williams brings a dead but his body had begun to decay. God reversed the irreversible. summary of what Pastor Adeboye had to say, speaking from Genesis God overruled doubt! - When God told Sarah she was going chapter 18. to have a son, she doubted! God’s word says, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God,” but on this occasion, God overruled the A DIVINE VISITATION doubt. The importance of a visit is determined by who is visiting. God moved from prophecy to decree - there had been all If a messenger comes to the Nigerian embassy, few people will manners of prophecies coming to Abraham about what would hear about it. But if the President of Nigeria himself visits Ireland, happen in the future. On this special occasion, God did not simply everybody will know. prophesy; He made a decree - “I will return to you this time next In Genesis 18, Abraham was sitting in front of his tent. He wasn’t year and your wife Sarah WILL have a son.” When God decrees, it expecting anything special. When he saw three men passing by, he happens. He speaks and it is done - this is by the grace of God and ran to meet them and offered hospitality. When they were finished His grace alone. eating, God spoke and told Abraham that his wife would have a son. We can learn a lesson from Abraham. God came to the front of During that visit, several things happened: Abraham’s tent and stopped. He waited to be invited in. When it God did something new - God ate food prepared by man. It had comes to the things of God, don’t handle opportunities carelessly. never happened before. God doesn’t eat human food, but on that God says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Revelation 3:20). occasion, He did. (Psalm 50:9-13). If you are willing to cry to the Will you invite Him in?

OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

FAITH

Graeme Wylie was the founding pastor of Galway Christian Fellowship and founding leader of the Plumbline family of churches and ministries in Ireland. Together with is wife Frances, he is now ministering primarily in France. His new book “Angels in our Territory” explores the role of angels in helping God’s people to fulfill their calling. Here VOX magazine brings you (with permission) two extracts of the new book to whet your appetite.

OUR IN s l e g n A y r o t i r r Te

BECOMING AWARE OF ANGELIC ACTIVITY IN EVERYDAY LIFE BY GRAEME WYLIE

NGELS ON THE AEROPLANE WINGS

the previous 40 years of ministry it had not We had just boarded our plane been a prominent feature… at Dublin airport on our journey to France on another mission trip. As we ANGELS, EVANGELISM AND REVIVAL were settling in to our seats and buckling up … [It was in] in Acts 10 that an angel our belts I suddenly sensed an awareness appeared to Cornelius and gave him that was quite new to me. I found myself instructions to send for Peter, complete with saying to Frances, my wife, that I sensed the address and postcode of where to find him! presence of three angels on each wing of the But the angel did not preach the Gospel aeroplane. I didn’t see anything unusual; to Cornelius. It was Peter who did that. certainly I didn’t see any angels. It was Peter was listening to the Spirit’s directions just a kind of “knowing” in the Spirit, like through a vision God had given him to when one gets a “word of knowledge” or a prepare him for going to Cornelius. prophetic word from the Lord. Peter was just about to open the door to I had always considered myself to be a take a new territory for the kingdom - the “feet on the ground” type of conservative Gentiles. Up till now he had been focusing person theologically. I was an engineer by on the Jews but it was a new season in training and somewhat suspicious of people the advance of the kingdom into another who were always “seeing” angels or demons, whole people group and probably the most although I believed firmly in the reality of the spirit realm. I had read with interest Billy Graham’s excellent book, Angels, God’s Secret Agents I SENSED THE PRESENCE OF THREE ANGELS ON many years previously. I was impressed EACH WING OF THE AEROPLANE. with his thoroughly biblical exposition on the topic of angels and their role in God’s plan, as well as the many contemporary examples of everyday angelic activity, which significant step forward for the church in he had recounted. But it seemed to me that history. It would open the door of faith to all it was rather exceptional to be actually aware the non-Jewish nations of the world. God of their presence and activity. deployed his angelic messengers to work I believed in a general sense that, “The alongside his apostolic leader to begin to angel of the Lord encamps around those who take this territory. fear Him”, but expected that we would Peter and the other apostles had already probably only find out in heaven about been given their earth-taking mandate in actual cases where the angels may have general and global terms by Jesus. But the intervened on our behalf. I didn’t really phased development of that in God’s timing expect that I would become aware of angelic required revelation of what God was doing activity in my life and ministry. Certainly in at that particular season. This came with

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revelatory vision, angelic coordination and the Spirit speaking to Peter. Then the Holy Spirit showed up in spectacular fashion to authenticate the work of God and show to disbelieving Jewish believers that it was actually God at work among the Gentiles. This was demonstrated by the miraculous gift of speaking in tongues as the people received the Word Peter preached. So the involvement of angels in the advance of the kingdom is crucial, working alongside the human apostolic and evangelistic messengers. They clearly rejoice in their assignment and the opportunity they get to work alongside us in helping us to fulfil our mandate to take the territory God has assigned to us. A modern day example of this was related to me some time ago. It concerned two Muslim men who went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. While they were there they had an angelic visitation. The angel told them to go to Marseille in the South of France and gave them the particular address to go to and that there they would be told the truth. They were obviously sincere seekers of truth and they obeyed the angel’s message. When they found the address and knocked on the door, they told the story that they had been sent by an angel to that address to be told the truth. The astounded hosts were Christian missionaries to Muslims who lived at that address and were delighted to proclaim the truth about Jesus Christ! We live in an age when this sort of thing is happening frequently, particularly in many Muslim countries. God is using His angelic messenger to link up sincere seekers with His anointed servants.

VOX MAGAZINE

What Irish leaders had to say about Graeme Wylie’s book As I read this fascinating little book, I thought that the author Graeme Wylie has the Caleb spirit. (“…my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly,” Numbers 14:24) He follows the Lord wholeheartedly. There are no half measures. He has a passion for God’s Kingdom purposes. He is pressing on. There is more land to be gained. There is so much more for those who follow hard after the Lord. We have much to learn from both the life of the author and his wife, and the message of this book. He longs to see God at work in our generation and he has a special God-given compassion for the people of Ireland and France. Like the Apostle Paul he recognises that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. His belief in the important ministry of angels is compelling and will bring fresh insights. In many ways this is a “behind-the-scenes” book to where the action really is. This generation desperately needs people with “a different spirit.” Christians are called to be those people. This book will help us on that exciting Christ-centred Spirit-filled journey. Bishop Ken Clarke Church of Ireland

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‘ANGELS IN OUR TERRITORY’ IS BOTH A TIMELY AND NECESSARY CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF ANGELS AND THEIR POSITIVE ROLE IN ADVANCING GOD’S KINGDOM IN THE WORLD.

Davidson by Gary

angels

in our territory

Graeme Wylie 09/08/2016

‘I have known Graeme for over 35 years and throughout his ministry he has shown himself to be an anointed leader of great personal integrity, passion for God, persevering faith and sacrificial obedience. Angels in our Territory is both a timely and necessary contribution to the study of angels and their positive role in advancing God’s kingdom in the world. Graeme presents a thoroughly biblical argument rooted in sound ministry experience of how angels are working with and on behalf of the people of God in bringing His rule and will to this earth. This book is written in a clear, easy-to-read style and once I started reading I couldn’t put it down. It is both inspiring and encouraging and I would strongly recommend this resource to every believer who is seeking for spiritual breakthrough in their sphere of work and ministry.’ John McEvoy Director of Elim Ministries Ireland

10:47

OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church Sunday 20 November Join churches all over Ireland in devoting 5 minutes or 10 minutes or longer during your worship service to pray for Christians living in Pakistan, including Asia Bibi (pictured) and other victims of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.

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REVIEWS

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Unleashed Skillet

For those who like music a little heavier, Skillet has been one of the most commercially successful Christian rock bands in recent years, enjoying massive record sales and extensive airplay. Their new album, Unleashed, is currently number one in the Christian album charts, and with every track a potential hit single, it looks likely that Skillet will dominate the charts for some time to come. This is their best album to date. It opens with the powerful Feel Invincible, and it never lets up. Unleashed comprises 12 brilliant tracks that show just how versatile the band is. A

Being Myself Paul Field

It has been a long time coming but having written award-winning songs throughout the years for such artists as Cliff Richard, Rebecca St James and Jacqui Velasquez, a solo album from singer/songwriter Paul Field is very welcome and well worth the wait. Containing 11 exquisite tracks, Being Myself is Paul Field’s first solo album in ten years. One listen is all it will take to show you why he has been in such demand as a songwriter for more than four decades. This is a collection of intimate, heartfelt and deeply personal songs that paint a portrait of the artist and his journey. The songs are beautiful. The lyrics are poetic and yet so simple that you will almost know the next line before he sings it. The arrangement of strings and piano give the melodies a poignancy that touched me deeply, and there is something deeply affecting in the vocals, which are filled with a sense of weariness and wistfulness but ultimately hope as well. This has been a difficult review to write, as I have stopped so many times to listen to the songs. Being Myself is available as a free

mixture of driving, in-your-face rock tracks such as Undefeated and Out of Hell will have concert audiences bouncing, while the more atmospheric tracks like Stars and Famous, as well as the ballads Lions and Watching For Comets, make this the most completely satisfying assortment of rock songs you will ever find on one CD. If you like to listen to your music with the decibels turned up but with lyrics that stimulate your mind as well as your eardrums, then Unleashed by Skillet is the album for you.

download at www.paulfield.bandcamp. com; just don’t forget to leave a donation to show your appreciation. If you’d prefer a physical CD with lyrics and some of Paul’s artwork, just go to his website: www. paulfield.com.

Love Remains Hillary Scott & The Scott Family

Hillary Scott is a lead singer with one of the biggest country music acts to have come out of Nashville in recent years, Lady Antebellum. She’s also a devout Christian, so when her father asked her to help record some hymns to encourage her family following her grandfather’s cancer diagnosis, she not only jumped at the opportunity but also wanted to bring the songs to a wider audience. Love Remains is a Scott family collaboration. Thirteen beautiful tracks showcase their amazing vocal talents as well as the close relationship between bluegrass/country and gospel music. A mixture of traditional and more contemporary hymns and songs, produced by the legendary country singer Ricky Skaggs, Love Remains is receiving massive airplay on both secular and Christian country radio stations. It is likely

to be in the top 20 for the foreseeable future. So, if you enjoy country music, give this one a listen, and even if it isn’t exactly your cup of tea, give it a try anyway.

Champion

Bryan and Katie Torwalt

Bryan and Katie Torwalt are probably best known as the writers of Holy Spirit, You Are Welcome Here, which was a worldwide hit for Francesca Battistelli, and which is sung in many churches across this island. They have, however, already released three successful albums. Their fourth album, Champion, is their most personal to date and has been two years in the writing. It stands as a testimony of their own personal victory through Jesus and how He continues to champion their cause. The songs are full of encouragement. The title track, Champion, speaks of how God is near us in every situation and of how we can have victory through Him. The album is a good mix of up-tempo songs such as Enter The Gates and World Of Grace and more intimate ballads like Never Let You Go and Come And Move. This music will certainly draw you into God’s presence.

Music Review by Vincent Hughes from UCB Radio, an Irish Christian radio station that broadcasts 24/7. You can listen on DAB Radio in Dublin and Cork, on SKY Channel 0214, UPC (TV) Channel 918, and online at www.ucb.ie. Contact UCB Ireland at ucbireland@gmail.com, 01 4299899, or find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

EVENTS

VOX MAGAZINE

Events Calendar What’s happening where and when Global Leadrship Summit 14 - 15 October Jesus Centre, Dublin 12 www.willowcreek.org.uk/events/gls

October Dream Interpretation Workshop Friday, 7 October, 7:30pm Barlow House, Drogheda

Tearfund Coffee Morning Wednesday, 26 October, 10am Tearfund Office in Dublin city centre - and around the country www.tearfund.ie

‘Paradigm’ Mission & Discipleship Event Saturday, 8 October, 9:30am Methodist Centenary Church, Leeson Park, Dublin 6 www.paradigm-ireland.ie

November ‘Thrive’ ARC Ireland Conference 8 - 9 November Open Arms Church, Newbridge, Co. Kildare www.eventbrite.com

Concert of Hope Friday, 14 October, 8pm City Hall, Cork www.youarenotaloneireland.com

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Evangelical Alliance National Forum Saturday, 12 November, 10am Bethany Church, Damastown, Dublin 15 www.evangelical.ie Building Blocks Children’s Ministry Conference Saturday, 12 November, 10am Booterstown, Co. Dublin www.buildingblocks.ie Visit www.vox.ie/events for a more up-to-date event listing. (You can also inform us about your upcoming event there.)

Children’s Ministry Conference

Saturday 12th November 2016 10am-4pm St. Andrew’s College, Booterstown

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REVIEWS

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Reviews of Peterson: In Between the Man and the Message

PETERSON: IN BETWEEN THE MAN AND THE MESSAGE A SHORT FILM DIRECTED BY GREG FROMHOLZ Released on YouTube at the end of August, this beautiful 18-minute film, directed by Dublinbased Greg Fromholz and filmed by Tiny Ark, gives us a rare glimpse of Eugene Peterson - best known as the man behind The Message Bible. Here, Greg Fromholz shares a few thoughts on the project, and below we hear what some of you thought of the film. It is often said, “Never meet your heroes.” The reasons are simple enough: because heroes can disappoint - at times through no fault of their own - with all the expectations we thrust upon them. Yet, sometimes, you meet your heroes and don’t walk away disappointed. For me, the honour was absolute when sitting down for five days with Eugene and Jan Peterson to create the short film Peterson: In Between the Man and the Message. Eugene Peterson is considered one of the most prolific written voices of our time. As a clergyman, scholar, author and poet, he has set about articulating a journey of faith for millions to engage and follow in. But, as I sat in my home in Ireland, I was wondering who Eugene Peterson is beyond the books and next to the fireside; between the quotable sound bites and the depths of his early morning mountain walks; past the volume of the prophetic voice and in his silent humanity. And who is Jan, his companion on the journey?

The short film Peterson: In Between the Man and the Message endeavours to capture the essence of a life, going beyond the what and how of Eugene’s literary and life accomplishments and embracing the why. Why does all of this matter to him? What compels him to articulate his inner life? What matters most after all these years in ministry? In the film, we look to embrace Eugene and Jan’s life at home, as a family, and even in a canoe across Flathead Lake; as we welcome a story of refined and marinated wisdom to wash over us in silence and spoken word; and as we capture for generations an intimate glimpse of a humble man whose life and work has shaped the way we live. “Humility is a way of living your life in relationship with others without competing.” Eugene Peterson As a filmmaker and human being, it was an opportunity that I am truly grateful for. And it was even more of a joy to create in collaboration with Don Pape of NavPress, Tiny Ark Films and Eugene and Jan Peterson. Greg Fromholz is also the Director of Phyllis, the biographical film of author and theologian Phyllis Tickle, released in 2015, and of Divine Dissatisfaction, about the life of author and evangelist Tony Campolo, to be released in 2017. For more information, go to gregfromholz.com or @gregfromholz on social media platforms.

Pete Greig (24/7 Prayer): “I seem to like pretty much everything about this new profile of Eugene Peterson. I like the gorgeous camera-work, I like the thing he says about kingfishers, I like the way his wife gently ticks him off and how he tells her she’s singing flat, I like the way the man thinks, how he sighs before he answers questions and smiles after he’s spoken them, I like how he says he didn’t write The Message Bible, I like the fact that it’s made by my good friends Greg Fromholz and Don Pape, and most of all I really, really like - and actually want - Eugene’s house in Montana.” Jonny Clark: “A wonderful window into the simplicity, depth and paradoxical humility of Eugene Peterson.” Tim May: “This is incredible. For those of us who have any interest in the church, Eugene Petersen has been a voice of uncommon clarity and urgent beauty; over a lifetime of faithfulness, he’s lived his words. And it’s captured beautifully in this video.” Paul Bowman: “This is an outstanding film. 20 minutes filled with grace, beauty and the wisdom of Eugene Peterson.” Joanna Burke: “That was like one long relaxing breath; beautiful.” Richard Carson (ACET Ireland): “Beautiful film and well worth 20 minutes of your time!” Mervyn Nutley: “Great film, beautifully crafted and shot, great use of the beautiful Montana setting, really well done!” And the VOX verdict? Beautiful, inspirational, humbling, enriching, human, refreshing, funny... Five stars at least. Take time out to watch this film and be encouraged. OCT - DEC 2016 VOX

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THE PROBLEM WITH KNOWING YOU’RE RIGHT BY SEÁN MULLAN

y problem is not that I’m right; not be quite as wrong as you believe – that losers who will be right and we’ll just have to my problem is knowing I’m right. they may have some truth on their side. vote again!) Being right is a good thing, a So it’s safer to assume that being right There is an alternative approach to grand thing. Being right saves you on one thing makes you right on most of the the labelling of “them” and “us”. It centres time, effort, and money and protects around the idea of a mutual pursuit you from lots of good old-fashioned of truth. But that can be a lonely path grief. And it beats being wrong. to tread. But knowing you’re right is This alternative path starts with ONCE YOU KNOW YOU’RE RIGHT, YOU WON’T BE SPENDING another story altogether. Knowing the realisation that being right about you’re right makes it hard to listen to A LOT OF TIME LISTENING TO THE ONES WHO ARE WRONG. one thing doesn’t make you right those who you know are wrong. Sure, about everything. It continues with what would be the point? You would the notion that just because the other have nothing to learn from them crowd is wrong about one thing does anyway - at least not on the issue you know rest as well. Once you cross that line, then not mean they have no light to shine, no you’re right about. And if they are wrong on dealing with those who disagree with you is knowledge worth sharing. that issue, then the chances are they’re going easy. You consign them to the community This particular path moves ahead by of “the wrong” – or, if replacing “Let me tell you why you’re you’re feeling charitable, wrong” to “Let me see if I can find some “the nearly always truth in your position.” It involves moving wrong.” You find a name from “You shut up and listen” to you that reinforces their shutting up and listening. wrongness – heathen, The path leads on to a place where both pagan, secular, liberal, sides begin to recognise a truth beyond worldly or conservative, themselves and their own convictions. It fundamentalist, leads forward in the direction of a mutual religious, traditional. pursuit of truth. Once you’ve come up No, of course they may not all arrive at with a satisfactory label, the same destination. There are issues where you can use that label to the only choices are yes or no, black or white. tune them out. “Well, But even when we don’t find agreement, they would say that, the fact that we have sought truth together wouldn’t they! Their lot may provide us with a foundation for living always says that kind of together after the issue has been decided, thing!” when one side has won and the other lost. Many of our public Maybe truth doesn’t need protecting – debates easiliy slip into just pursuing. And maybe discovering you’re to be wrong on other issues too. And the fact this particular format. The only way to win not as right as you thought you were is an that you are right on this issue makes it more a debate is to demolish the arguments of essential part of the journey towards the likely that you’ll be right again. the opposing side – remove every shred of truth. Once you know you’re right, you won’t credence or validity from them. Don’t deal be spending a lot of time listening to the with nuance or shades. If the issue is going Seán Mullan has been working in church ones who are wrong. It would feel like a to be decided in a public referendum, then it leadership for many years. He has betrayal. There’s a strong possibility that must come down to a simple yes or no, black developed a project in Dublin City Centre by listening to them, you might give their or white. The winners will be 100% right, called “Third Space”. viewpoint some credence. And maybe the losers 100% wrong. (Unless, that is, it’s there’s also an unspoken fear that they might a debate on a European Treaty; then it’s the

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