VOX April 2019

ISSUE 42 / APRIL - JUNE 2019

FREE

God Beyond Words “Encountering God is not about the extent of human incapacity but about God’s unlimited capacity”

Everyone is Welcomed, Valued and Loved 40 years of making God’s love real in south Armagh

Five days to fire and fuel you for a year of CU mission

26th-30th August 2019 Five days to fire and fuel you for a year of CU mission

GATHER from campuses around the island

GROW

WHAT CAN WE

EXPECT? Get the festival feel and camp with your region, or live the high life in our Castle accommodation Top teaching from Glen Scrivener applied to campus life, in our main tent

in our love for Jesus, understanding and worship of Him

Worship led by the top Irish artists, such as Chapel Band, New Irish Arts and more

GO

Time to respond and apply what we’ve learnt with our prayer ministry team

equipped for the year ahead to relate the good news of Jesus to the campus around us.

Castlewellan Castle, County Down (direct buses from every main city in Ireland)

Workshops relevant to what you study, CU life, and campus hot topics Space to re-connect with old CU friends, make new friends, and plan with your CU Free time to enjoy the stunning setting of Castlewellan Forest Park, activities, or chill out in our café and resource hub After-hours entertainment, creative arts’ space and Christians in sport

More info and booking at:

www.cui.ie/equip

2402 VOX.IE JAN - MAR 2019 VOX.IE APR - JUN 2019 equip@cui.ie

Sessions for those settling into first year, or transitioning on to graduate life

EDITORIAL

Taking Care! remember my brother once talking about mind over matter - “I don’t mind and you don’t matter,” he quipped. Big-brother-like, he was teasing, of course; I’ve always known he would try to move heaven and earth to keep his little sister safe. But I’ve never forgotten that phrase.

Scroll through any social media feed and this zeitgeist is in evidence. People seem content to trample over the feelings and opinions of others. “I don’t care what you think or feel,” is the cry. “You don’t matter to me.” Scoring points, winning arguments and pointing fingers are the norm, rather than the exception.

In this throwaway age of disposable cups and plates, are we disposing of people too?

I’m grateful that many Jesus followers are quick to jump to the defence of the most vulnerable in our society but sometimes we might be tempted to pick and choose those who “deserve” our compassion.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk... then your light will rise in the darkness...” Isaiah 58: 9-10

I

Our “flavour” should be distinctly different from that of the trolls and the trouble-makers.

Isaiah gets straight to the point when he calls out the people of Israel for their double standards. One minute they were fasting and crying out to God, and the next they were coming to blows.

We didn’t set out with a specific theme for this issue of VOX, but a common thread emerged nonetheless... that of caring and listening. Whether we are considering how to welcome and include the “least of these” in our churches (God Beyond Words, page 12) or grappling with sectarianism in a border county (Everyone is welcomed, valued and loved, page 20), our “flavour” should be distinctly different from that of the trolls and the trouble-makers.

I hope we can learn to care deeply, even about those who are so unlike ourselves, and to demonstrate clearly that each person matters so much, to us and to their Creator!

SUPPORT VOX AND GET YOUR COPY DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR LETTERBOX. VOX is a ministry run by a passionate team of volunteers and relys on donations to cover 50% of our costs. Donate as little as €10 and get VOX delivered to your home for a year for free!

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

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CONTENTS Cover Stories

God Beyond Words - “Encountering God is not about the extent of human incapacity but about God’s unlimited capacity” Everyone is Welcomed, Valued and Loved - 40 years of making God’s love real in south Armagh

Features and Interviews

Non-Judgemental Pastoral Care - moving away from a “behave, believe, belong” culture Finding Faith Tour 2019 - invite us to visit you!

Water for Cameroon - a small Dublin project has provided wells for 70 communities My Story - Adrian’s world turned upside down when he was diagnosed with incurable cancer On the Move - CIY launches a new youth festival for Ireland An Integrated Life - How can the Gospel affect the whole of our lives?

Equipped to Care - exploring the differences between Christian counselling, pastoral care and prayer ministry Who Are We Apologising To? - examining the role of Christian apologetics in today’s Ireland You Can Eat Meat Whenever You Want To - Linda de Courcy continues her series on nutrition Christianity and Economics - part two of our series explores how individual decisions shape outcomes for everyone

Regular Features VOX: Shorts

Confessions of a Feint Saint

VOX: World News

Reviews

Your VOX: Inbox

Event Listing

Musings with Patrick Mitchell

VOX: PS with Seán Mullan

April - June 2019 Issue 42 ISSN: 2009-2253

EDITOR Ruth Garvey-Williams editor@vox.ie LAYOUT, ADVERTISING & DISTRIBUTION Jonny Lindsay jonny@vox.ie SUBSCRIPTIONS Ireland & UK: Min. €10 for four issues Overseas: Min. €20 for four issues Subscribe online at www.vox.ie.

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TM

What does inclusive Bible teaching look like?

What can people with disabilities bring to your church?

a good Elife xplored!

Sat 12 October 2019

A conference exploring the life + faith of people and their families with intellectual disabilities.

Be inspired by this thought provoking, experience based conference that will equip you with knowlege that is of practical use.

During the conference sessions you will learn from a wide variety of professionals about policy and practice around ensuring a good life for people with intellectual disabilities.

Who is it for? For parents and carers, churches and faith communities, teaching and care professionals, and anyone with a desire to learn more. For our delegates with intellectual disability we have a parallel accessibile programme.

Where?

YWCA Coolnagreina, Greystones, Co. Wicklow Overnight B&B in this lovely comfortable venue from €35 pp Sharing.

Programme?

9.30am - 4.30pm 4 concurrent streams to choose from (Registration from 8.30am)

Cost?

Fee: €50 (Early Bird Rate: €40) (see online) Includes Refreshments & Light Lunch

// dignity // belonging // spirituality

Dr. Ian Dickson

Donna Jennings

Dr. Ivan Bankhead

// opportunity

TIOASSOCIATES.ORG

inspiring 12 sessions passionate 6presenters

4 streams

BELONGING SPIRITUALITY OPPORTUNITY ACCESSIBILITY

Dr. Jill Harshaw

Rachael Mackarel

Gillian Carlisle

hello@yourevent.ie

Please drop us an email if you could help distribute our main conference brochure.

APR - JUN 2019 VOX.IE 05 FOR MUCH MORE INFORMATION and to BOOK: www.yourevent.ie

VOX SHORTS

MORE DELAYS FOR MOTHER AND BABY HOME SURVIVORS

FEARLESS WOMEN IRELAND

11 - 12 October 2019 Last year saw the launch of Fearless Women Ireland with nearly 300 participants of all ages from every corner of Ireland, all hungry for God and longing to worship Jesus together. Many women responded to the messages throughout the day, including some who found a living relationship with Jesus for the first time.

With overwhelmingly positive feedback, organisers are planning a two-day conference for October 2019 back at the Helix Theatre in Dublin. Fearless Women Ireland seeks to strengthen and encourage women of faith from all over the country.

This year’s theme “Living Hope” is taken from Romans 15:13. Recording artist Philippa Hanna will be leading worship and more speakers will be announced in the coming weeks.

“Having seen how God surprised us last year, we are trusting Him for ever more grace to reach more women across the generations,” said event organiser Miriam O’Regan.

To find out more or to book your place visit www.fearlesswomen.ie.

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The Minister for Children, Katherine Zappone, has received significant criticism following the decision to delay the final report of the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Inquiry until 2020. The Coalition of Mother and Baby Home Survivors Group, through their chairperson Paul Redmond, expressed disappointment that this was “happening all over again.” Particular focus has been brought on the survivors of Protestant evangelical homes who were omitted from earlier redress schemes in 2002.

Bethany Home survivor, Derek Leinster, told the Belfast Newsletter that, “survivors used to say state policy was ‘deny until they die.’ Now it is ‘delay and deny until they die.’” The delay has been sought in order to excavate remains of children in a burial site in Tuam. However, Derek Leinster believes the investigation of other homes should not delay justice for the six elderly survivors of Bethany Home who are seeking redress.

PRAXIS 2019 - REIMAGINING MISSION FOR ORDINARY PEOPLE

10 - 11 May 2019 Do you ever wonder if things could be different, particularly when it comes to mission and the church? Do you want to be inspired by others asking the same questions? Last year at the first Praxis Conference ordinary people gathered from all walks of life to ask the question, “How do we reimagine mission and what would it look like for us to follow Jesus on His mission in our context?” The response was overwhelming with the event booked out within two weeks.

This year, Praxis organisers are planning a two-day conference for ordinary people looking to reimagine mission. This year’s theme is “Intercession” – “How do we intercede in prayer and how do we intercede in person for the people and places around us? What happens when prayer and mission come together?”

Speakers for 2019 include Brian Healsey, 24-7 International Prayer Director, Heather Morris, Home Mission Secretary of the Methodist Church in Ireland and Brian Sanders, Executive Director of The Underground Network. There will be a host of other seminar and workshop leaders as well – check out the website for more information.

Tickets are on sale now – see www.praxismovement.com.

VOX MAGAZINE

TOWARDS A SAFER CHURCH

Responding to the Conference on Protection of Minors in the Catholic Church, abuse survivor Marie Collins expressed cautious approval of moves towards greater accountability and transparency but emphasised the need for a fundamental cultural change. She welcomed the possibility that if a bishop is removed for protecting a child abuser then the reason for that removal can be made public. “If they are going to do that, then maybe the church is beginning to realise that trying to protect the church’s reputation and the fear of scandal is doing more harm than good.” Marie, who spoke powerfully at last year’s Rubicon Conference in Dublin, has campaigned tirelessly for universal safeguarding measures across the Catholic Church.

(Ed note: As last year’s VOX magazine survey demonstrated, these issues don’t just affect the Catholic Church because our findings show that people have experienced abuse in every type of church and Christian denomination in Ireland.)

ONE LORD FESTIVAL

19 - 21 July 2019 This family-friendly Christian camp takes place in New Inn, Co. Tipperary and is organised by Christians from different churches and denominations. It is a free event, supported by generous donations from individuals.

“The One Lord Festival was a safe place to meet with others and experience God’s love. It was a real encouragement,” shared Geraldine after last year’s event.

“Our kids loved the camping and the sense of adventure.” “We had an awesome time with family and friends - a great way to fellowship and come together,” added Sumana.

To find out more or to book visit www.onelordfestival.com.

HOMELESS CRISIS CONTINUES TO GROW

Department of Housing figures released at the end of February revealed that the number of people homeless and living in emergency accommodation across Ireland reached a record high in January and now stands just below 10,000.

According to the report, 9,987 people were homeless, including 3,624 children who were staying in hotels and family hubs. Figures also showed that the idea that homelessness is confined to Dublin has been dispelled.

Cities like Cork and parts of Kerry have seen a 50% increase in homelessness over the last 12 months alone.

Charities like the Simon Community believe that the real figure is even higher, as these figures do not include rough sleepers, those who are forced to couch surf and many women and children living in domestic violence refuges.

“There is a huge crisis in the private rental sector,” one spokesperson said. “Rent increases have been relentless for the past five years. Quite a lot of people simply cannot afford rent.”

Merchants Quay Ireland CEO Paula Byrne added: “The latest homeless statistics show that Ireland is experiencing its biggest social crisis in generations.”

In its annual Report Card, the Children’s Rights Alliance added to the calls for change by awarding the government an “F” grade for its failure to reduce the number of children living in temporary accommodation.

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WORLD NEWS

Indian Christians face mob attacks and murder

Mission Possible

Kate and Kelly Mulholland from Agapé Ireland have just returned from the Greek island of Lesvos where they were volunteering with Agapé’s humanitarian aid programme to help migrants who are stranded there. Their team erected massive tents provided by Tom Cruise’s production company after they had been used for Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Migrant families were able to move into the new accommodation within 24 hours.

Germany sees Dramatic Decline in Church Membership

A recent study at the University of Münster in Germany tracks religious trends since 1950.

Between 1950 and 2010, membership of the Catholic Church dropped from 37% to 30% while the major Protestant churches saw their proportion of the population halved from 59 to 29% (a further 30 per cent were unaffiliated).

German reunification in 1990 contributed to the steep decline. Protestants in Germany are now less likely to attend church services, less likely to say religion is important in their lives, less likely to agree with their church’s moral teachings, and more likely to embrace New Age practices.

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Persecution of Christians continues unabated in rural areas across India, with Church in Chains partner “Persecution Relief” recording 477 attacks on Christians in 2018, including arson and mob attacks that left Christians with fractures and head injuries. In February 2019, two converts to Christianity were shot dead by Naxalite Maoist guerrillas, apparently at the behest of local villagers angered by their conversions.

On 11 February, three attackers dragged father-of-five Anant Ram Gand (40) out of his house, shot him in the head, decapitated him and dumped his body in the road in the village of Raigarh Tehsil in Odisha state. Anant was an agricultural worker who had converted to Christianity nine months previously. His conversion angered Hindu extremists who beat him, banned him and his wife Sukbati from collecting water at the public well and forced them to move out of the village. Locals said the extremists used Naxalites to carry out the murder.

The following day in Chhattisgarh state, Naxalites murdered another father of five, Munglu Ram Nureti (45) from Kohkameta village. He and his family left the tribal animist practices of their fellow villagers three years ago and have endured opposition since they began holding worship services in their house. Naxalites had warned Munglu against his plan to construct three church buildings locally. On the day of the attack, about 30 Naxalites looted the shop run by Munglu and his wife Minka, tied his hands and walked him out of the house. When he tried to run, they shot him dead.

Advocacy initiatives

Following the Spring 2018 publication of the Church in Chains report Official India: on the side of the militants, which documented the upsurge in Hindu militant attacks on Christians in the previous two years, a Church in Chains delegation made a presentation to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence. Subsequently, 17 members of the Oireachtas signed a petition to the Indian Ambassador to Ireland requesting that the Indian government act to protect Christians from Hindu extremist attacks.

India is due to hold general elections in April and May 2019, with candidates targeting the Hindu nationalist vote. The upsurge in persecution can be traced to the landslide election victory of Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014, which emboldened Hindu militants to attack Christians and Muslims, confident that they would not be punished.

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Bayside Church, USA

LAURA BELL

BRIAN SOMERVILLE

CONFERENCE HOST

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APR - JUN 2019 VOX.IE

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YOUR VOX

Star Prize of VOX we In each issue of a €25 ize pr a d awar r for our he uc One4all vo email r, tte le ite ur favo ent. It m m co or online u! yo be d ul co

The need for unity I was reading your article (VOX magazine Ten Years On Jan - Mar 2019) and it has ministered to me a lot about tackling fault lines of disunity, disadvantage and polarisation. God has confirmed in me again, after reading your article, the need for prayer, love and unity in the body of Christ in Ireland. And you are absolutely spot on when you said it does not mean compromising our own deeply-held convictions but it does mean showing a Christ-like concern for others. Our unity is in Christ. Keep up the good work and God bless you!

Joy Laureano

Zoe Community is taking shape I’m excited to share with other VOX readers about the opportunity to serve with Zoe Community. Some of us wrote a letter back in the autumn issue of VOX (Oct - Dec 2018), when we shared our heart for a new outreach to women and families. We expressed our desire to help people of Christian faith give support to those experiencing unplanned pregnancy. Our goal is to equip laypeople, like ourselves, to offer basic support, to help people access qualified counsellors and to navigate life beyond childbirth.

Since we last wrote, things have begun to take shape with Zoe. We are seeking charitable status and beginning plans to fundraise (once we are able). We are beginning to work with local psychotherapists to develop a volunteer training plan. Our website is currently in development and will include a live chat feature. We are praying that this live chat will be up and running by next year.

I know there are many readers of VOX who are not satisfied with merely talking about

10 VOX.IE APRLETTERS - JUN 2019TO SEND YOUR

supporting women and families - they want to actually get up and do something. This is a great opportunity to get involved in something that is life-affirming in every aspect and celebrates healthy Christ-centred community.

At the moment, the Zoe Community is recruiting for a few core team positions.

These people will be central to building the Zoe Community movement from the ground up. Volunteer positions include: Volunteer coordinator, Facilities coordinator, Bookkeeper and Volunteer support.

We are also accepting applications for a part-time paid administrative position.

Anyone can email us at zoecommunityteam@ gmail.com and we will happily send you a role description and application form. We are eagerly anticipating what God has in store for us in the years to come!

Katy Edgmon Founder of Zoe Community

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

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APR - JUN 2019 VOX.IE

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REALITY

God Beyond Words

Tiō is a pioneer network of professionals providing and promoting Christian perspectives on intellectual disabilities using theology, story and the arts. In February, VOX magazine editor Ruth Garvey-Williams attended the Tiō conference in Belfast, exploring the vital area of “communication.”

Here Ruth summarises the keynote message given by author and theologian, Jill Harshaw.

J

ill’s passionate interest in intellectual disability and theology represents an integration of her academic background and her

personal experience as the mother of a woman with profound and complex intellectual disabilities. Her pioneer work God Beyond Words was published in 2016 (Jessica Kingsley).

At the start of the conference Jill posed the question, “How does God communicate with human beings?”

As Christians, the first thing that comes to our mind is God’s Word. At times, He speaks through the church.

Many hear Him speak in a group Bible study, in conversations with fellow believers or in times of personal prayer.

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God also speaks through the wonder of creation.

What do all these things have in common? Many of them involve words and language (reading, hearing, or speaking God’s Word). Many of them involve cognitive thinking - our thoughts process the reality of God’s creation.

Words and reasoning are tools we have been given in order to hear God speaking to us. But Jill asked, “Where does that leave people who have severe intellectual disabilities? What if words are impossible? What if someone cannot think cognitively?”

An IQ is shorthand for assessing intellectual disability - people below 55 on the IQ scale would have a “profound”

intellectual disability. Someone with an IQ of around 70 has an intellectual disability. If your IQ is over 135 you are considered to be “gifted.”

We were asked to consider, “If words and cognitive thinking are not possible, how can people communicate with God or, more importantly, how can God communicate with them?”

One commentator said, “Severely mentally handicapped people are denied the very substance of a rational productive existence... such an existence gives no real opportunity for inner spiritual growth or the nourishment of the human spirit, both of which are important when coming to terms with the meaning of Christianity...”

VOX MAGAZINE

In different Christian traditions, there are various theological responses to the question of whether people with intellectual disabilities can “be saved” - a question that has caused great distress to the relatives of people with profound disabilities. These responses (such as the age of understanding, the sacrament of baptism or the doctrine of “election”) tend to focus on a person’s entry into heaven rather than the potential for a relationship with God. Are we asking the wrong question?

“Encountering God is not about the extent of human incapacity but about God’s unlimited capacity and endless desire to draw people in His love. Just because we cannot work out how that happens, or what it looks like, does not mean it does not exist. If I am capable of having a relationship with my daughter that is intimate and full of love, how can God not be capable of doing that?” Jill said.

During her session, Jill explored this issue through a theology of accommodation: Accommodation in this sense refers to a special arrangement that is made for someone who is different. Outside the Biblical tradition “accommodation” was a device to help people to understand a message.

God is infinite and He created human beings to be in loving relationship with Himself but human beings are finite and are therefore incapable of apprehending an infinite God (there is an unbridgeable gap between us). Because God loves us, in order to bridge this gap, He reveals Himself according to our capacity to comprehend. He accommodates Himself to us!

God accommodates His revelation to us by choosing to speak through human beings (and using human language).

He is motivated by boundless love ...

“Now because it is impossible for something that is circumscribed to rise above its own limitations, let alone grasp the superior nature of the Transcendent, accordingly, God brings His power, so full of tender love for humanity down to the level of our weakness.” (Gregory of Nyssa).

John Calvin describes it in this way, “God, in so speaking, lisps with us as nurses are wont to do with little children. Such modes of expression, therefore, do not so much express what kind of a being God is, as accommodate the knowledge of Him to our feebleness. In doing so, He must, of course,

stoop far below His proper height.”

And Gregory of Nyssa adds, “So the Divine power, though exalted far above our nature and inaccessible to all approach, like a tender mother who joins in the inarticulate utterance of her babe, gives to our human nature what it is capable of receiving and thus in the various manifestations of God to man, He both adapts Himself to man and speaks in human language...”

Jill posed a number of questions to the conference, “If God is continually accommodating His revelation to us, where does that end? Does He have an IQ scale? Is it possible that people on the other end of the scale [to Mensa levels] are also uniquely “gifted” in terms of how God interacts with them in ways that we cannot understand? Is it possible that there are fewer intellectual high jumps in their way?”

Too often, we seek to measure God’s immeasurableness by our small measure. We need to humbly accept the infiniteness of our ignorance.

These truths should end the needless anxiety on the part of Christian families, an anxiety that too often continues to be fostered by the church.

Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom heaven.”- Matthew 18:3 - 4.

This does not mean adults with intellectual disabilities should be treated like children. Rather it means that we should humble ourselves to acknowledge that God is infinite, and that it is only

by His gracious accommodation that we know Him at all.

We need to be wary of the elevation of intellectualism and the danger of arrogance within our churches.

Intellectual activities may lead us part of the way, they may even point to God’s existence, but God’s essence is beyond understanding.

The Scriptures tell us that the “weakest” are really “the indispensable” among us. We are not complete as a church if the indispensable parts of our body are absent.

Psalm 131:1-3 - “O LORD, my heart is not proud, my eyes are not haughty, I do not concern myself with things too wonderful for me; but I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, I have quieted my soul. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD.”

ENCOUNTERING GOD IS NOT ABOUT THE EXTENT OF HUMAN INCAPACITY BUT ABOUT GOD’S UNLIMITED CAPACITY.

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FAITH

Non-Judgemental Pastoral Care

Moving away from a “behave, believe, belong” culture

BY CHLOE HANAN

A

nthony Joshua is world heavyweight champion, holding three of the four major championships in boxing. I have recently discovered a love for watching men bate [beat] the heads off each other. Call it stress relief, but there is something about the sheer power those men have, the ability to raise a fist and thump another with a force that brings them to their knees, that flattens them out, sometimes unconscious and then the roar of the crowd as they lift their hands in victory.

Christian judgement is not dissimilar to a boxing match. Regardless of your ability to throw a punch literally, as a Christian you hold within your power a potential three-pronged punch to those in your community. Much like Anthony will go in with a right handed jab, a left counter punch with a looping hook, and finish off with that right uppercut that slams his opponent into a knockout, Christian judgement has its threepronged attack.

1. You have done something wrong.

2. I am rejecting you (I no longer accept you or will associate with you).

3. I am right to do this (generally because I have the moral high ground).

The knockout that comes from that sort of judgement is profound and long lasting. It brings people to their knees, often knocking them out entirely. I have been both the executor and the recipient of these knockouts. I have seized the moral high ground and presided over conquests of those beneath me and, as

a woman, I have unique ways in which I can let that be known.

I have also been the recipient.

When already on my knees in life, I’ve experienced the three-pronged attack of having my brokenness seen and rejected and watching the superior look in their eyes as they walked away from me. It knocked me out.

Risking that judgement is a profound fear I still live with. It keeps me silent about my brokenness with the people I share community with. To ask the already painful heart to endanger itself with more rejection is a last straw situation.

I’ve worked full time for the past 10 years with a student organisation, and part of my job is summed up by the word ‘discipleship.’ There are many definitions to that but mostly it is about sharing life with people, building community while investing in younger people’s lives and then calling them to missional opportunities with their friends.

Judgement is something that I often encounter. There is so much suffering in each of the varied experiences of judgement. And this is rife in the Christian community in Ireland.

Community is fractured and broken because of a systemic problem with judgement. It is warping unity; it is causing the witness of believers to falter and be powerless.

Paul Reid was the first person I heard explain this (you may have heard it elsewhere). He described the “behave, believe, belong” culture Christianity has created. You have to behave this way, so

COMMUNITY IS FRACTURED AND BROKEN BECAUSE OF A SYSTEMIC PROBLEM WITH JUDGEMENT.

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we know you believe what we do, and then you can belong with us. However, a culture that demands authenticity calls “bullshit” on that. And rightly so. It is not what Jesus modelled to us.

He had a unique way of drawing people. He did not take offence at people’s brokenness. His identity was solid, so it did not seek definition in others. Instead He looked without judgement and perceived the heart. In Luke 2:35 the priest, Simeon tells Jesus’ mother, Mary, that because of Him “the thoughts and intentions of hearts may be revealed.”

You see it in how He deals with each person. Jesus draws them into a space where they belong in conversation with Him. He does not deal with behaviour first; He gets to the heart. His model was a belong, now believe, and leave the behaviour to the working out of this new found belief in the Son of God, rescuer, king, friend and Saviour, and to the in-working of the Holy Spirit.

In His teaching, Jesus turns the culture of judgement on its head.

THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT

This is early on in Jesus’ teaching, so this is clearly establishing what is vital to Him. In Matthew’s Gospel there is an extensive account of His teaching on judgement. It doesn’t get clearer than this. This is not metaphorical - this is Ronseal: it does exactly what it says on the tin.

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but do not consider the plank in your own eye?

Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’ and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First

VOX MAGAZINE

remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Matthew Henry’s commentary defines judgement as ‘the setting of someone to naught’. Reducing someone to zero. Deciding that person is zilch.

Putting them so far down that they are not a person.

The instruction is as clear as day.

Do not judge. Do not make the worst of people. Do not infer invidious things from their actions, or their words. Do not judge their state by a single act, or by who they have been to you. It is God’s prerogative to try the heart, the intentions and motivations - it is not for us to step onto His throne and judge.

Jesus lays out some serious consequences for those who do judge, ‘with what judgement you judge, you shall be judged’. What would become of us if God started judging us with the severity we execute over other people’s mistakes?

The rest of this teaching was familiar to me as a Sunday school kid, but the meaning was lost on me until I studied it. The art of reproving: speaking the truth in love to others is not for the fainthearted. And it is not for everyone.

It is not for those who themselves are guilty of the faults of which they accuse others. I have done this. I have seen

this; the use of an opportunity to assert superiority in order to secure one’s own position. Because if I am better, I am not the worst, and I can soothe my floundering identity with what I am not - easier than investigating with diligence what I really am.

Search me and know my thoughts.

The plank and the speck are a matter of perspective - our own state of sin, messiness, mistakes, and the mad beliefs we hold about ourselves that are like oil spills in our own lives - must appear greater to us than the same sins in the other. That which culture may teach us to call a splinter in our sister’s eye, true connection to the kingdom will teach us to call a plank in our own.

Jesus teaches us to deal with our own house first. It is not an exemption.

Recognising our own sin doesn’t excuse us from addressing what we see with someone else. My offence cannot be my defense. We cannot sit back in apathy as someone walks towards a cliff edge. We need to qualify ourselves to know what it is to speak the truth in love.

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Lastly, Jesus introduces the Holy Spirit’s work. I am going to zoom in on two of the points He made.

“But when the Helper comes, whom I

shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.” John 15: 26 - 27 Note the order here. The Holy Spirit knocks on the door of hearts, then we push the doors. Sometimes, we give the impression we do all the work, and the Holy Spirit is dragged in retrospectively to do His job. Jesus explains that the Spirit is the main witness and we go after to see what He has done.

“And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” John 16:8 He (not the Christians) will convict the world of sin.

Let that sink in! It’s His job not ours

Chloe Hanan is a Dublin/ Wicklow native who has worked in ministry from a young age and has served with Agapé Ireland since 2009.

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BEYOND HOPE More than 1.5 million refugees are living in cramped, precarious conditions in Lebanon – struggling to come to terms with their trauma and dream any dreams for the future. But the gospel is bigger than this. You can help restore hope by enabling the church to reach out in practical ways. Please give today.

A young Syrian refugee holds her baby sister, in an informal settlement in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

€45 could give a refugee family an emergency kit containing soap, shampoo, toothpaste, sanitary towels and nappies. €68 could provide 20 families with portable stoves, protecting them from hunger.

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Visit tearfund.ie/donate or call 01 878 3200.

Tearfund Ireland, 2nd Floor, Ulysses House 22–24 Foley St, Dublin 1 D01 W2T2 Registered Charity No. CHY 8600. Charities Regulatory Authority Number: 20021337

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VOX.IE APR - JUN 2019

Musings...

VOX MAGAZINE

Paradoxical Easter, Paradoxical God With Patrick Mitchel

A

s Easter approaches, I’ve been struck by what a paradoxical faith Christianity is. A paradox can be a saying or situation that seems absurd or confusing but is actually true.

Jesus is the King of paradox.

Take the beatitudes: that the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek; and those who are insulted, persecuted and lied about are blessed (happy) is pretty paradoxical.

Lots more follow: the first shall be last; you have to lose your life if you want to find it; if you want to be great, be a servant; a tiny donation can be the biggest gift of all; a camel fits through the eye of a needle more easily than a rich person entering the Kingdom; the humble will be exalted …

Paradoxes were so integral to all Jesus said and did that they shaped the faith of the first Christians. For example, James: consider troubles as opportunities for great joy. John: you can’t get much more paradoxical than the eternal Word who is God becoming flesh. No wonder Paul says the Gospel seems foolishness to Greeks and is a stumbling block to Jews. He also adds a few paradoxes of his own: when I am weak then I am strong; Christians are set free to become slaves; suffering is a privilege.

But we haven’t got to the biggest paradox of all – the paradox of Easter.

As you know, there was nothing noble or attractive about Roman crucifixion. It was designed to be terrifying, shameful, humiliating and brutal. For Jews, being hung on a tree was associated with a curse.

Yet, paradoxically, this is how the Father chooses to glorify His Son (John 13:31-32). Jesus is paradoxically betrayed by a kiss. An innocent man is paradoxically sentenced to death and a guilty man (Barabbas) is set free.

After centuries of waiting, the Messiah is paradoxically rejected by His own people. There is the paradox of Jesus the healer and life-giver having His body broken and blood shed. There is the profound paradox of Jesus the King being crowned with thorns, a sign above His head revealing His true identity.

Most paradoxical of all is how, at the heart of Christianity, this awful scene becomes something to be remembered and celebrated.

The paradox of Easter is that human hate and violence are overcome by divine self-giving love; cruel barbarity results in reconciliation; through terrible injustice the beauty of God’s justice is revealed; out of death comes life and from apparent defeat by the powers of evil, God’s victory is won.

And so, paradox lies at the heart of what it means to be a Christian. Paradoxically, it is by dying that we find life. It is by being ‘in Christ’ that a believer shares not only in Jesus’ death but also His resurrection.

What, I wonder, does all this tell us about the nature of God Himself and what it means to be a Christian?

Well, maybe if God is paradoxical, then perhaps we should expect that being a Christian means embracing paradox. Maybe the Christian life is not meant to be simple. Maybe there aren’t lots of obvious easy answers.

Maybe, as we celebrate the good news of Easter, we can do so while in the midst of trials, difficulties and questions.

Maybe it is in paradox and confusion that we can experience God’s presence most deeply.

The paradox of Easter is that human hate and violence are overcome by divine self-giving love.

Dr. Patrick Mitchel is Senior Lecturer in Theology at the Irish Bible Institute. You can follow his blog at www.faithinireland.wordpress.com.

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FAITH

FINDING FAITH TOUR 2019

1 - 8 May

Caution: God at work!

F

or the last six years, VOX editor Ruth Garvey-Williams has travelled the length and breadth of Ireland hunting down stories of faith, life and reality during the annual VOX magazine Finding Faith Tour. And we’re delighted to announce that during the first week in May, she will be on the road again.

Starting from her home in County Donegal, close to Ireland’s northern-most point (Malin Head), Ruth will visit individuals as well as all types of churches and Christian ministries in all four provinces, zig-zagging across the country to reach even the most out-of-the-way places.

We love to celebrate what God is doing, to encourage and inspire the body of Christ with the stories of faith in action and to hear how Jesus is transforming people’s lives.

If you have a story to tell or if you know that your city, town or village has not been previously featured in one of our Finding Faith Tours, why not get in touch and invite Ruth to visit? This year, she is keeping her itinerary flexible to ensure she can respond to as many invitations as possible.

You can contact Ruth by emailing ruth@ vox.ie, or telephone 087 795 5401.

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VOX.IE APR - JUN 2019

CONFESSIONS OF A FEINT SAINT

VOX MAGAZINE

Contentment While U Wait

By Annmarie Miles

B

ack in days of yore, when I didn’t want to walk and it was a struggle to do so, Mr Feint Saint and I went to Paris for a weekend. We travelled on the metro to visit the Arc de Triomphe. When we got off the train, the escalator up to ground level was out of service and so the long staircase was my only option. I actually cried; wept like a spoilt child. And in front of a large number of Parisian commuters, shouted at Mr F-S how mean God was for doing this to me, when He knew how much I struggled with stairs.

I had a right old tantrum in the middle of a busy metro station as the beautiful people of Paris walked past me, doing effortless impressions of the angels going up and down Jacob’s ladder.

I was not in a good place in those days. Every stubbed toe, late bus, empty milk carton and missing phone charger was a sign of God’s indifference towards me. I was convinced He had taken His eye off me.

It has taken me a long time to come to terms with the authority of God. To surrender to His will, and say (while actually meaning it) that He does all things well. I can understand why some people think, “if there is a God, He’s just a mean old boss.” I get it; I used to believe it myself at one time.

Now I live in a state of mildly disgruntled peace and trust. I know I’m never going to be a famous author; though I love to write, I’m not good enough for the big leagues. So I trundle along, scribbling away in obscurity. Living in the UK, in the middle of all this Brexit stuff is worrying one minute, frustrating the next and bewildering all the times in between.

It seems no one really knows what will happen, or what will happen after what happens happens! I’m still trying to be as active as possible, keeping my weight off and trying to lose some more but I won’t ever be skinny.

Now you might say, “Hey, there Mrs Feint Saint, turn that frown upside down and have some faith woman.”

The thing is, I’m not frowning. I believe all things are possible but right here, right now, I’m accepting what is. This morning I heard someone share from Ephesians 3.

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20,21 Who’d have thought, as I shook my fist at the steps to the Arc de Triomphe, that one day I’d be fit enough to take them two at a time?

Talk about more than I could ask or imagine. He is able: to make me a great writer, to fix the EU, to change me completely inside and out.

He is able to do all those things that are beyond our imagining.

While we wait, I pray we have peace, patience and a prayerful heart for HIS will, in HIS time.

“Who’d have thought, as I shook my fist at the steps to the Arc de Triomphe, that one day I’d be fit enough to take them two at a time?”

Annmarie Miles is originally from Tallaght and now lives in her husband Richard’s homeland, Wales. As well as VOX articles, she writes short stories, and is working on a book about her journey with food, weight gain, weight loss and God. Visit her blog at www.auntyamo.com. On Twitter she is @ amowriting.

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LIFE

EVERYONE IS WELCOMED, VALUED AND LOVED 40 years of making God’s love real in south Armagh

BY RUTH GARVEY-WILLIAMS

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O

n a damp Sunday morning in February, a small team of volunteers are busy peeling and slicing vegetables, laying tables and filling water jugs in the south Armagh village of Darkley. Once a month, the Crossfire Trust hosts a community meal - a delicious, threecourse, home-cooked Sunday lunch - and everyone is welcome!

Fast forward two hours and over 50 people are tucking into a Sunday roast and enjoying live entertainment from the Murphy family - professional musicians who have given up their Sunday to volunteer at Crossfire.

Everyone joins in to sing happy birthday to one special guest. She is 60 years old but she never thought to see past 50 (everyone in her family had died young). With a beaming smile, she blows out the candles on her cake.

Around the tables everyone is equal, everyone is welcomed and loved - and yet some come from diametrically opposite ends of a divided community.

“If we can eat together, we can learn to live together,” says Ian Bothwell, the founder of Crossfire Trust.

This warm, loving environment is a far cry from Darkley’s tragic past. On a

VOX MAGAZINE

very different Sunday, over 35 years ago, the evening service at a local Pentecostal church was just beginning when republican gunmen shot and killed three church elders and wounded seven others in a hail of bullets.

ON MY DOORSTEP

Ian and his wife Pauline have spent a lifetime serving this scarred community.

Growing up west of Armagh city in a unionist area, Ian attended Bible College and had set his heart on serving God in India. But as he waited for an opportunity to open up, he saw a TV programme about Crossmaglen - the largest village in south Armagh. British soldiers occupied this republican area during The Troubles and Ian was immediately struck by the devastation of bullet holes and tanks rolling through the streets.

“It seemed such a hopeless situation and I started to pray that God would send someone to show His love in south Armagh,” Ian said. “The more I prayed, the more the job description seemed to fit me, but then came the fear. Who am I? What if...? But that sense of vision didn’t leave me and I had a concern for these people who I did not know. I decided I would go and remind them that God loved them.”

In 1978, as a naïve 21-year-old, Ian set out to visit every home and tell people about God’s love, but many locals thought he was SAS and, while a few invited him in, he also had his fair share of doors slammed in his face.

“The further I travelled into south Armagh, the more isolated, barren and deserted it became. I began to realise that God wanted me to BE love not just share the message of love.”

A market stall in Crossmaglen and an Ulsterbus, converted into a mobile coffee bar, were among the early initiatives as a small team of volunteers came behind Ian to serve the area.

They organised summer schemes for children and ran camps and missions, all the while responding to suspicion and mistrust from all sides.

“I wanted the river of God’s love to flow, cleansing hearts and healing the pain, like stones polished and smooth at the bottom of a riverbed. I wanted God’s love to flush away the cobwebs of doubt and the barriers of fear,” Ian shared.

FINDING A HOME

At that time, Ian began to dream of having a centre where he could offer hospitality to the local people. “God spoke and said, ‘I will give you a house

I STARTED TO PRAY THAT GOD WOULD SEND SOMEONE TO SHOW HIS LOVE IN SOUTH ARMAGH.

and such a house that you will know it is from me.’”

As the search began for a property, in November 1983 Darkley made the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The killings sent shockwaves through the region. But God was at work and it was in Darkley itself that God was to provide the house He had promised.

That same year, Darkley House and grounds came on the market but it wasn’t until 1986 that Ian and his team were able to purchase the house. “We were a bunch of 20 volunteers. We met to pray knowing that we had nothing and suddenly the phone rang,” Ian smiled. “It was the trustee of a large charitable trust who was phoning to let me know that they would give £10,000.”

The remainder of the purchase price came in the form of a mortgage. “We got 60 people to give £5 a month - from teenagers to pensioners - and that is how we could pay the mortgage.”

But not all of Ian’s supporters could understand the motivation behind this step. Darkley House was not going to be a Bible college or a Gospel hall. Many people misunderstood Ian’s vision to provide accommodation for ex-offenders, addicts and homeless people.

“Back then we were accused of preaching a ‘social gospel’. The blue-eyed mission boy had fallen from grace,” Ian said. “They didn’t realise that we were obeying our calling to be salt and light to this community. I wanted to listen and not just to preach.”

BOTH ARE PRECIOUS

Ian recalls the first time he truly listened. The team was hosting a barbecue at the end of a week of outreach. Ian got to know a group of teens and invited them to come but was told they had to go and collect milk bottles.

“Why are you so bitter?” Ian asked, only to wish he could have caught the words and stuffed them back into his mouth. “Even as I spoke, I realised that I sounded bitter too.”

The boys replied, “Have you ever been burnt out?”

“They told me about being burnt out of their home in Belfast and having to move to south Armagh for safety.

I listened and, for the first time, I felt their pain. I was honoured that they trusted me with their story. I guess I’ve been doing that ever since. Nowadays we have sessions where we wear the shoes of the other side. Back in those days, my heart was leading the way.

“They were very special days when I learnt important principles. My Christian ethos was summed up in the words of a children’s chorus, ‘Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in His sight. But now I went a step further - ‘the republican and the loyalist, both are precious in His sight.’”

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the house and if the back door slammed, the slates came off the roof. There was no money for heat and the beds were extremely uncomfortable (they took whatever was donated).

Soon they began welcoming people.

One young woman, who lived in a loyalist estate, fell in love with a Catholic so she was put out of her house during Christmas week (her parents thought they would be burnt out if she stayed).

She found a home at Darkley House.

“Back in those days you could open your door and say come on in. Now you have to ask more questions to keep people safe. It is more structured and we take referrals, but the overall principle is the same,” Ian explained.

LEARNING TO TRUST GOD’S PROVISION

Every step of the way, they had to learn to trust God to provide what was needed.

At times, they saw miracles that left them breathless. But there were other times when cheques bounced!

Ian described the occasion when they were celebrating 10 years in Darkley House. “We organised food and a band.

One of our trustees asked, ‘How are we going to pay for this?’ I said, ‘Trust the Lord.’ And shortly afterwards a guy turned up and handed me a brown envelope stuffed with pound notes. That had never happened before and it has never happened since but I walked over to the trustee, handed him the envelope and said, ‘There you are. That’s from the Lord!’ It was £2,000!”

On another occasion things seemed to go from bad to worse. Finances were tight and to top it all, Ian’s car died. With no money to replace the car, repeatedly God kept saying, “Trust again.” The situation seemed to get more and more desperate. Eventually, after two weeks, Ian travelled to a car showroom with his son.

He had the chequebook in his pocket but no money in the bank account.

The salesman showed him a brand new eight-seater and told him, “The best way to try a new car is to drive it.” That new car was a gift from an anonymous donor!

Ian and his son drove off and didn’t speak a word all the way home. “I didn’t know why God had put me through all of that with the old car dying and cheques bouncing but I put the words

I LISTENED AND, FOR THE FIRST TIME, I FELT THEIR PAIN.

‘Trust Again’ on the back of the car as a reminder.”

A few weeks later, a man spotted the car parked outside a shop and came out to see Ian. With tears in his eyes and a voice that was raw with emotion, he said, “I needed to see those words because my wife just left me.”

STILL LOVING, STILL TRUSTING

Forty years on, Crossfire Trust continues to welcome and serve those who have been rejected by society - people struggling with mental health problems, ex-offenders, those who have been made homeless or people caught in cycles of poverty or addiction.

As well as accommodation and supported living, the Trust developed a food share project, community meals including lunch on Christmas Day, prison visits and a wide range of training and community development initiatives.

Ian and Pauline’s two children, Justin and Megan, spent their childhood in Darkley House, sharing their toys and their parents with residents. Today, they and their friends are part of the volunteer team that make it happen.

From the very beginning, prayer has been at the heart of Crossfire Trust and that has given Ian the confidence to speak out, especially on the issue of reconciliation.

That passion took them to the steps of Stormont and gave Ian opportunities to speak truth to power. Hosting a Good Friday Agreement Implementation Meeting at Darkley House, he found the courage to challenge the politicians, “I know this is not the 60s and I’m not a hippy but when are we ever going to love each other from the heart?” he asked.

“We in the church need to own reconciliation. It should be our flavour,” Ian said. “We should be proud that Jesus has broken down the dividing wall and He has given us a peace that can stand up to pressure. We need to provide prophetic leadership and to see the honour of being a voice in the dark. We need to be confident in the Gospel to heal our scars and our fears!”

AWARD WINNING

In 2003, Ian and Pauline’s “long obedience” serving their community was recognised with the US President’s Peace Prize. Five years later, Crossfire Trust received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service and in 2011 Irish President Mary McAleese visited Darkley House.

In 2013, Ian himself was awarded an 22

VOX.IE APR - JUN 2019

VOX MAGAZINE

WE IN THE CHURCH NEED TO OWN RECONCILIATION. IT SHOULD BE OUR FLAVOUR. MBE. While unsought, these honours helped to keep the project afloat.

“Today, we have more questions and fewer answers,” Ian admits. “But we still want to make God’s love real to all the people within our reach. To accept people is a powerful thing. We listen to people’s stories without judgement and have learnt not to jump to conclusions.

“Sadly there is still tension between the two cultures [in Northern Ireland].

These days I’m too Protestant for the Catholics and too Catholic for the Protestants. But I just want to be the fragrance of Christ. I don’t take sides.

I want to care for the widows and the victims but also to show love to the exparamilitary who has just come out of prison.”

Facing the rising tensions caused by

Brexit, Ian takes comfort in the belief that the seeds of peace that have been planted and the partnerships that have developed over so many years will stand firm.

“The border doesn’t need to be a barrier, it needs to be our bridge,” Ian reflects. “Out of the wounds of yesterday, we have experienced the deep wells of God’s grace. We’ve ended up with scars but our scars can speak.”

Looking back, Ian sees precious relationships with individuals and

transformed lives as the lasting fruit of his ministry. One of those individuals was Shane who moved into Darkley House and became a dear friend. “We trusted each other and we talked and talked,” Ian says.

When Shane died, his brothers asked Ian to help carry his coffin, a mark of the love and respect in which he is held.

“I’ve been to Buckingham Palace and the White House but the biggest honour of my life was when I carried Shane’s coffin into Castleblaney chapel.”

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APR - JUN 2019 VOX.IE

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VOX.IE APR - JUN 2019

MOVE is CIY’s summer residential event intentionally designed for 14-18 year olds … but it’s more than just another youth event. It’s an all-inclusive experience that not only provides meals, lodging, activities and age-intentional programming, it’s also a place where young people can discover and embrace the Kingdom Work and purpose that God has called them to.

Young people are made for Kingdom Work, and MOVE helps them understand their unique talents, gifts and abilities to serve Christ. At MOVE, young people are challenged through interactive worship, dynamic teaching, small group study and building relational communities. They spend quality time with their youth groups, discovering ways that God will use them to impact the world.

Everything is taken care of for adult leaders. MOVE provides all the small group materials prior to the event, and then meets with adult leaders every morning to go over each day’s experiences. MOVE curriculum is also made available to groups after the event.

MOVE is committed to helping young people take their mountaintop experiences beyond the event by challenging them to become Kingdom Workers. We would love you to join us at the first ever MOVE event in Ireland.

ABOUT THE CAMPUS Clongowes Wood College has a long and rich history since its inception in 1814 with the establishment of Ireland’s first Jesuit school. Today, Clongowes Wood College is a leading boarding school set in beautiful surroundings, 30 kilometers from Dublin in the heart of County Kildare. Through the year Clongowes Wood College is a home from home for 450 students from all over Ireland and abroad.

Clongowes facilities are exemplary. Significant investment in recent years has resulted in incredible expansion and improvements. The 500-acre campus in the Kildare countryside offers unparalleled opportunities for sport and leisure. The beautiful campus and exciting location make Clongowes a great location to enjoy with your groups this summer.

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REALITY

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VOX MAGAZINE

Water for Cameroon How a small project from a Dublin church has helped provide wells for 70 communities in Africa

M

ick Toolan has been a member of Grace Bible Fellowship in Dublin city centre for more than 40 years. When fellow church members Jon and Sandra Blackwell and their five children went to Cameroon with Wycliffe Bible Translators in 1999, Mick decided to visit to see their work first hand.

That visit in 2007 had a dramatic impact on Mick’s life. After seeing the material poverty, poor sanitation and resulting sickness in the village where Jon and Sandra were living, Mick couldn’t stop thinking and talking about it. Eventually Jon said, “Why don’t you do something about it?”

“I thought he was nuts because I’d no experience in doing anything like that,” Mick said. But the more he thought about it, the more he became convinced he should get involved and “Water for Cameroon” was born.

“I was totally naïve. At the beginning, I went out with the typical western mindset,” Mick explained. “I came from a background in industry and I was used to getting projects organised. But I went in ‘gung ho’ to solve the problem (as I saw it) rather than listening to what the local people were saying.

“God spoke to me and convicted me that what I was doing wasn’t right.

We can be very insensitive. Sometimes our enthusiasm can run away with us.

I don’t think people have bad motives; we want to do the right thing but in our eagerness, we step on people’s toes.

It comes across as though we know best. Thankfully within the first year, it became very clear to me what an idiot I was. I was being disrespectful and bossing people around and that was totally wrong. I had to apologise to the local people and learn to listen and keep my mouth shut.”

“I often think, ‘How would I like it if someone came into my house and criticised me or gave unsolicited advice?’”

Mick quickly learnt that the people were more important than the project.

Now the main thrust of “Water for Cameroon” is working closely with local communities, listening to their needs and supporting them to find the best solutions for their situation.

Mick discovered that there are broken wells all over Cameroon that are no longer in use because they are too difficult or expensive to repair. The key for “Water for Cameroon” was to find a sustainable solution.

“Eventually, we began constructing hand-dug wells and used bio-sand filters.

On top of the well is a hand pump but we have a trap door beside it. If the pump breaks, you are able to open the door and use a rope and bucket to get the water out,” Mick explained.

“We also train the community to repair the pumps and encourage them to repair the wells themselves. We won’t go back and fix a well because we don’t want to create a dependency. We want to see them empowered to be in control of their own water supply.”

A lot of the early meetings with a community are spent in health education and health promotion, enabling the local people to understand what causes contamination and to ensure that their water stays safe.

“We don’t just say, ‘Here’s your well... goodbye.’ It is a whole process of discussion and education. We need to do 80% listening and 20% talking!” Mick said.

“We work on the basis that people’s health is their own responsibility. We are not going to force them to change their behaviour. That is true for all of

“WHY DON’T YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?”

us. I’m not as fit as I should be. I know I need to take more exercise and I have to constantly work on that.”

Mick’s Christian faith is the motivation behind his work, “I feel as Christians we have a responsibility to share the Gospel but also to share whatever we have with others, especially the basics. I recognise that transformation is not just about having safe water. We all need Christ. But in terms of the Gospel, I prefer to work with local pastors and local Christians who know the language and culture. We support and encourage them in their ministry to their own people. Sometimes if we go in, even with the best of intentions, we can hinder what God is doing on the ground.”

Mick, who recently turned 70, would be delighted if others in Ireland could get involved in the work of “Water for Cameroon”. “The big thing in my view is to encourage people to pray for the work that we are doing and for anyone involved in this kind of work, that we can do the work in the right way. We want God to be glorified and that all of us can be mindful of respecting people,” he said.

To find out how you can partner with “Water for Cameroon” or to volunteer to get involved, please visit their website on www. waterforcameroon.com.

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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.

MEET ADRIAN ADGER After over 20 years in Christian ministry in Belfast and Nigeria, it finally seemed as if everything had fallen into place for Adrian Adger. He met and married Karen in 2013 and, two years later was appointed as the minister of Clough and Seaforde Presbyterian Churches. But in 2017, Adrian and Karen’s world turned upside down when he was diagnosed with incurable cancer.

T

ELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF

I grew up on a farm near Ballymena and attended Trinity Presbyterian Church. At 18, I decided that church was boring so I walked away. For the next four years, I lived for myself, studying in Scotland and then moving back to Belfast to work as an accountant.

When I was 22-years-old, I remember driving between Coleraine and Portrush at dusk. A tractor was travelling very slowly on my side of the road. I didn’t see the tractor until the last second, so I swerved the car and just missed it. But there was a lorry coming the other way, so I swerved back, just missing the lorry.

A few days later, I woke up gasping for breath and thought I was having a heart attack. I was rushed into the City Hospital where the doctor diagnosed it as an anxiety attack. I was lying in the hospital bed feeling alone and I asked myself, “What would happen if I died?”

I thought there was no chance of me going to heaven. I knew that I wasn’t right with God. For the first time, I became desperately afraid of dying.

Travelling home, I felt my life was in a mess. My question was, “How could God forgive someone like me?”

And suddenly I remembered a prayer that my Sunday School teacher taught us, “Come into my life Lord Jesus, come in today, come in to stay.” As I prayed that

prayer, the tears began to roll down my cheeks. I knew that He heard my prayer.

I was so thankful that the Lord heard my desperate cry.

I went to see my minister and he explained the importance of repentance and the significance of the cross. It had never made sense to me. Now as he explained it, I understood that God loved me and Christ had died in my place. A great burden was rolled away. I found great joy that my sins were forgiven.

I had peace with God and I wasn’t afraid to die any more because I was assured of a place in heaven.

AS I PRAYED THAT PRAYER, THE TEARS BEGAN TO ROLL DOWN MY CHEEKS.

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WHAT CHANGED IN YOUR LIFE?

Back at church, I realised the problem wasn’t the church but my bad attitude, for which I was now truly sorry. I found a welcome and acceptance and soon got involved helping with Sunday School and the youth fellowship. Five years later, a WEC missionary was speaking on Acts 16:9-10 about Paul’s “Macedonian call.” I knew the message was for me and that God was leading me into service for Him. I enrolled at Belfast Bible College. It was a joy to dig into the Bible and study something I really wanted to learn. Now, I was studying with a new passion to grow in my knowledge of God’s Word.

While there, I met Brian Smyth. We were in a prayer triplet and became best friends.

In 1994, Brian was working with Belfast City Mission and he told me there were opportunities with BCM. Eventually, I was accepted as a missionary in the Woodvale Mission Hall in Shankhill. That was a time of reaching into the community with the Gospel, sharing Christ’s love in word and deed. In 2000, I moved to a thriving work at another mission hall in Fairview Road.

HOW DID YOU END UP IN AFRICA?

When a colleague planned to use his holidays for a mission trip to Burkina Faso, that challenged me. I’d never thought of using my holidays for overseas mission. As I prayed, Nigeria came to mind. A missionary friend told me there were opportunities to speak at the Bible College. I thought, “I can never do that.”

But during a Faith Mission Convention someone said, “It is not ability but availability that counts.” I was moved to tears. I knew it was a direct word to me. In 2007, I spent a few weeks teaching at the William Wheatley Theological College in Nigeria and returned two years later with a shortterm team.

At the Mission Africa conference in 2009, God spoke to me so powerfully.

One missionary referred to the call of Moses and asked, “What’s in your hand?” I looked down and my Bible was in my hand. So God spoke to me that I was to leave Belfast City Mission and go back to Nigeria to teach the Bible. That was a shock. I’d been with BCM for over 14 years. In one meeting, with one word,

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God said, “You are going to Nigeria!”

I was based in a rural part of Africa training local pastors for ministry. Looking back, God had prepared me with those two previous trips and my work at the city mission. These young pastors have a tremendous zeal for the Lord but none of the resources we take for granted. We wanted them to have study Bibles but these were held up in Lagos. We didn’t know if they would arrive in time but a few weeks before I was to leave, these young men heard the news that they would each receive a study Bible. They immediately got down on their knees and lifted their arms to praise God. They were so moved by God’s provision.

SO WHAT CAME NEXT?

When I came home in 2010, I had no idea what I was going to do next. Brian Smyth telephoned me and said, “A lot of ministers are retiring from the Presbyterian Church.” That was another “Macedonian call”. After further training with Belfast Bible College, I went on to Union college for a two-year diploma in ministry.

While at Union, I met Karen at a Christian meeting and again at a barbecue. Through a mutual friend, I asked her out for a coffee but she turned me down. That was disappointing but, “faint heart never won fair lady.” I met her again at another Christian meeting and this time, she spoke to me and we got on really well.

We had our first date in Newcastle and went for a coffee afterwards. On 3 April 2013, I got down on one knee and asked Karen to marry me. Thankfully she said, “Yes.” My best friend Brian Smyth, now the minister in Trinity Presbyterian where I grew up, married us on 23 July 2013!

Eventually, I started work as full time minister of Clough and Seaforde Presbyterian churches in County Down in June 2015.

TELL US ABOUT YOUR FIRST CANCER DIAGNOSIS

I was not long married to the best wife in the world. Everything was going well with the two churches when suddenly,

in February 2017, I took a pain in my side. The hospital thought it was kidney stones but when I went back, they discovered a tumour on my kidney.

That was a massive shock but they removed my kidney in April 2017 and although the tumour was malignant, it had not spread to the lymph nodes.

Everything was fine, so after a ten-week recovery period, I was back to work.

I received the results from my six monthly scan on 6 November 2017. That was when the consultant told me they had found lesions in my abdomen. He diagnosed incurable and inoperable cancer.

HOW DID YOU REACT?

It was an unbelievable shock. We were totally devastated. At first I thought, “Is God punishing me for something?”

But I had just been speaking at a CEF conference and in my churches. I thought, “If God has been with me, He can’t be punishing me.” And I remembered that Christ has taken the punishment for my sins.

But it was still like a death sentence; a dark cloud had come over me. I asked, “Will I ever know joy again?” We cried all night. We hadn’t even been married for five years but Karen has been amazing at every step of the way.

I felt, “Why me and why now? In the midst of my life, when everything has come together so well?” I’ve had to come to terms with the fact that I don’t understand... and that’s okay. I leave that with God. I know I’m going to heaven to be with Christ. I’ve no doubt that in eternity it will be revealed to me. For now, there is a mystery.

The two churches have been amazing. The elders called the whole

church to a day of prayer and fasting and the elders came and anointed me with oil.

At Christmas 2017, I was receiving a scan in the Cancer Care Unit when I read John 21, “Feed my sheep” and “Feed my lambs.” I was facing chemo but God still had work for me to do. During 2018, I did better than the doctors expected. I was able to continue working and teaching the Bible.

This January, I learned that the chemo is no longer working, the tumours have grown and the cancer has now spread to my liver.

WHAT HAS GIVEN YOU HOPE, EVEN IN THE FACE OF SUCH DIFFICULT NEWS?

Someone said to me, “You have a story to tell.” I’ve realised there are people in difficult places who need to find hope in the darkness. And now Jonny Sanlon has created a four-part video series about my story - Finding Forgiveness, Finding Guidance, Finding Love and Finding Hope (available from www. cloughandseaforde.com/finding-series. html and on Facebook).

Humanly speaking, I would be in despair today, given the news I’ve received. My wife and I have cried lots of

I FELT, “WHY ME AND WHY NOW? IN THE MIDST OF MY LIFE, WHEN EVERYTHING HAS COME TOGETHER SO WELL?” tears but we are rejoicing and we feel a sense of peace. As I face a very uncertain future, and even death itself, my hope lies in the Word of God. Philippians 1:6 says, “...He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion...” My confidence is in the Lord. The powerful, strong and mighty name of the Lord Jesus is the only hope for the nations.

I believe God wants to use this story for His glory. God in His mercy has granted me more time and has allowed me to do these videos (and this interview).

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LIFE

On The Move CIY Launches a New Youth Festival for Ireland

“WE WANT TO SEE YOUNG PEOPLE RAISED UP TO BE KINGDOM WORKERS, SO THAT THEY USE THEIR GIFTS, TALENTS AND ABILITIES FOR GOD’S KINGDOM IN ALL SPHERES OF SOCIETY.”

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hrist in Youth (CIY) Ireland will launch its first summer youth festival in August. VOX editor Ruth Garvey-Williams met up with European Director Jasper Rutherford and Associate Ireland Director Johan van der Flier to find out more.

“In the Republic of Ireland, there has not been a culture of youth ministry in many local churches,” Jasper Rutherford says. “While there are a number of para church organisations, very few churches employ a youth worker or youth pastor. We would love to be a part of a growing group of people who stir up the local church to take youth ministry more seriously.”

“We want to be a catalyst for youth ministry that sees thousands of young people coming to faith,” Jasper explains. “We want to see young people raised up to be kingdom workers, so that they use their gifts, talents and abilities for God’s kingdom in all spheres of society. We are here for the long haul.”

Investing in research and spending time in prayer have laid the foundation for launching CIY in Ireland, which seeks to encourage and invigorate youth ministry in the local setting alongside local churches.

“I have been doing youth work for 20 years. I’ve always had a vision that we join up the dots, that we speak well of each other and champion each other,” Jasper adds. “I really believe that God is moving in Ireland. If something happens in Ballybofey, we want to champion and resource them to do what God has called them to do.”

The first CIY summer festival in Ireland will take place in Kildare from 5 - 9 August. “Move” is a fiveday residential camp that will take place in Clongowes Wood College - a boarding school set in beautiful surroundings and boasting a swimming pool and high quality sports facilities.

“We want to see young people, from any and every Eircode, encountering Jesus in a real way so that [God’s love] overflows in their local context,” Jasper explains. “This is a week of fun, fellowship and faith all mixed in together. We are expecting God to show up in powerful ways and we are trusting that He will meet people.”

This year’s theme “To be continued...” explores the story of Elijah and takes the young people on a journey to understand their purpose and Christ’s call to be kingdom workers.

Each day the young people and their youth leaders can enjoy two main sessions of teaching, worship and prayer and then a wide range of activities including sports, seminars and competitions.

Small groups play a vital part in the festival.

Youth leaders will support their group in applying the teaching in their lives. “Each morning, the young people will go into the big arena for fun and games while we spend time with their youth leaders, walking through the theme for the day and looking at the issues that might arise. We want to involve the youth leaders at every stage,” Jasper says.

Providing Resources

One focus of CIY Ireland throughout the year is to invest in Youth Leaders through retreats and prayer nights, and to develop and provide resources to support youth work in the local context.

CIY has developed apps that can help young people with daily spiritual disciplines such as prayer and Bible study. And last year they developed the “Unseen” film - tacking issues of mental health and suicide.

Available for free download from www.unseenfilm. org the resource includes a discussion guide and a range of other resources to help youth leaders discuss mental health with their young people.

Changing the story

Growing up in Wicklow, Johan van der Flier remembers the impact that a youth leader had on his life, “When I was a teenager, I had a leader who gave me an opportunity that got me thinking that there was more to my faith journey than just showing up on a Sunday.

We are trying to provide sparking points for people to encounter God.” As CIY develops in Europe, Johan will lead the work in Ireland. “We feel we can be a part of helping to inspire young people to make an impact in their local church.

We can help change the narrative,” he says. “These are early days and we are only just getting started but we want to see young adult volunteers raised up.”

“Our heart and our vision is to invigorate young people in their faith right across Ireland and beyond,” Jasper adds.

To find out more visit www.ciy.com/ireland.

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LIFE

AN IN TE GRATED L IF E How can the Gospel affect the whole of our lives?

BY ANA MULLAN

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haven’t got a television and we don’t miss it! I do have an iPad that allows me to watch certain things of interest. I love cooking and a programme that I enjoyed watching in the past was Chef’s Table. One of the episodes that struck me was of a Korean Buddhist nun, not because of her food, which I am sure was nice, but because of how she viewed her cooking. Her belief in Buddhism shapes everything that she does. Of course, she has lived in a temple since she was young and the environment certainly helps. I can’t say that is the same for all Buddhists.

In Christianity, we have monks and nuns living under certain rules as well. But the more I think about it, the more I am convinced that Jesus’ invitation to me and anybody who wants to follow Him, is an invitation to an integrated life, a life that is shaped by the Gospel and the reality of God’s kingdom even when we don’t live in convents or monasteries.

For some reason, I ended up thinking about the book of Leviticus. It’s a book that most people who have tried to read the Bible find challenging, and very quickly give up. It is full of rules and regulations from cooking to how to treat others.

I started to wonder what its significance is for today, since hardly anybody would be following it (unless one is an Orthodox Jew). It is a book that was written for a certain type of people, the Israelites, who had just come out of slavery. They had lived for centuries under somebody else’s rules but now that they were free, they needed guidelines. The purpose was so that they would live a good life, to model for others the difference that it made to have Yahweh as their God. A distinctive people not shaped by the cultures around them.

So, what has this to do with me, a XXI century Jesus follower?

For many years I defined my Christian life by the things that I didn’t do: no smoking, no drinking, no dancing, no sleeping around. I lived under what Dallas Willard used to call the gospel of sin management.

However, there was no awareness on how to integrate the Gospel with the things that I was doing every day; things that were good and were not on the forbidden list.

Now, as an older Christian, I realise that Jesus’ invitation is to something bigger and higher and much more full of joy. There is one thing though, it demands discernment all the time, listening and working with Him. If somebody gives me a list of things I cannot do, that puts me in charge. I am in control of my life. I can tick the box. I might not be doing certain things but it doesn’t mean that the ones I am doing are done for God’s sake. It also leads to a sense of religious pride. I can feel superior to others. I can become a bit of a Pharisee.

These days, many of the regulations in Leviticus don’t apply to us, though there are some that are still relevant. But there are many other things (that are not in Leviticus because they didn’t exist) that are trying all the time to shape us and to make us like the

rest of the people around us.

As followers of Jesus we are invited, like the Israelites were, to live a life that is both distinctive and integrated; lives that are shaped by God’s kingdom and His power. You might be wondering what that life looks like.

Well, I believe it is a life that acknowledges that to follow Jesus is an ongoing process of discernment and honesty but with much joy and freedom.

For example, what would Leviticus XXI century say? At least to me?

Use technology for your benefit, do not let technology use you.

Live without a sense of urgency. Not all texts, e-mails, tweets need to receive an immediate reply.

Have the courage to say things face to face. Do not hide behind a text or an email.

Eat well. Don’t eat too much or too little. Use food and exercise as they were meant to be - joyful occasions. Don’t be obsessed one way or another.

Don’t allow money to become your master. It doesn’t matter how much or how little you have, if you spend too much time thinking about it, it is controlling you.

Work should be viewed as a way of providing not as a way of making you a slave.

Treat those who are different from you, from other countries and cultures, with respect. But also be respectful of those even within Christianity who don’t think like you.

The list can go on and on, these are some of the things that I have been thinking about. The Gospel needs to affect the whole of our lives, not as sets of heavy rules but always as an invitation from a loving God. He wants us to live a good life not just for our benefit but also for those who live around us.

“So here is what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going to work, walking around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don’t become so well adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognise what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2 (The Message).

FOR MANY YEARS I DEFINED MY CHRISTIAN LIFE BY THE THINGS THAT I DIDN’T DO.

Ana Mullan is from Argentina but has lived in Ireland for 35 years, the last 18 in Dublin. She is an artist, a spiritual director and an enthusiastic grandmother.

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7 themed tracks every afternoon at #ELA201 with 50 European speakers/practitioners

Tim & Sue Eldridge Co-Hosts of ELA Venue: Bradford Life Centre Campus Dates: 29-31 July 2019 Book: www.ela2019.org 34

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LIFE

VOX MAGAZINE

Equipped to Care

Exploring the differences between Christian Counselling, Pastoral Care and Prayer Ministry

BY VICKY MCEVOY

O

ne of the most common questions I have been asked over the past 25 years in my ministry as a Christian Counsellor is “What is the difference between Christian Counselling, Prayer Ministry and Pastoral Care?” Many of the people skills are the same and some are very different. Here, I take a look at each type of ministry and give an example of what it might look like it practice.

COMING ALONGSIDE SOMEONE

Pastoral Care is often offered in the context and culture of the local church and provides a caring role where individuals can unburden themselves to a leader or a member of the pastoral care team and ask for help and support.

Someone comes alongside to offer support ranging from a listening ear, Biblical advice, encouragement and, sometimes, practical help.

For example, Lucy is a single parent of two children who has recently become a Christian. She is lonely and struggling financially and hardly ever gets out. A member of the pastoral care team at her church begins to visit her home, listening to her story and encouraging her from the Bible. She prays with Lucy every week and organises Lucy to go for an appointment with CAP (Christians Against Poverty) to help her manage her finances. She also finds Lucy a babysitter once a week so that she can get out with some friends, and links her in with other women from the church.

PRAYING FOR SOMEONE

Prayer Ministry provides a “moment with God” at certain key stages of our walk and growth as Christians. It gives an opportunity for reflection, repentance, release and drawing near to God. It is important for people offering prayer ministry to be trained in this area.

The person being prayed for may be in “receiving mode” to get encouragement, direction, a word in season or help and

anointing from God for the days ahead.

For example, Lucy (now that she is able to go to church) goes forward for prayer at the end of a service. A lovely gentle lady stands beside her and (with permission) lays a hand on her shoulder as she prays. Lucy bows her head and listens as the prayer minister prays for her to be blessed and strengthened by the Holy Spirit. The prayer minister sees a picture of Lucy dancing with joy and shares this with her. Lucy feels a surge of hope that she is going to be okay now she has God in her life.

NB: New Wine Ireland provides regular opportunities for training in prayer ministry at conferences such as Sligo19 and events throughout the year.

Find out more at www.newwineireland. org.

PRAYER MINISTRY PROVIDES A “MOMENT WITH GOD” AT CERTAIN KEY STAGES OF OUR WALK AND GROWTH AS CHRISTIANS.

CARING SUPPORT TO EMPOWER CHANGE

Christian Counselling provides a safe and professional space for people who are Christians and also for people in the wider community to go for an hour once a week to talk about what is happening in their lives. It is not advice giving, evangelistic or directive but encourages the client within a safe, non-judgmental and empathic space to process their past, reflect on their present and plan for their future. Professional training is essential for this role.

For example Lucy, having had prayer and practical help, now goes for Christian Counselling. She has the opportunity to reflect for one hour a week, in the counsellor’s office, to talk about her life with a professionally trained counsellor. The counsellor’s role is to listen to her story and her heart, understand her pain, loneliness, successes and strengths. Lucy has to face her challenges, dig deep into her

strengths and make her own healthy choices for her future.

NB: It is important to ensure that your counsellor is accredited with a professional association. To find an accredited Christian counsellor see the listing on the Irish Association of Christian Counsellors webpage (www. iacc.ie) or the Association of Christian Counsellors in Northern Ireland (www. accni.org).

Each of these vital ministries is indeed different but one complements the other. Each one needs good training, healthy boundaries, a supportive team and great wisdom. May God raise up an army of people who are anointed to “heal the broken hearted and set the captives free”.

Vicky McEvoy was the Manager of Oasis Counselling Service in Dublin for 20 years heading up a team of 35 Christian Counsellors serving over 4,500 client appointments a year. She currently teaches a Vital Connexions Foundation Course (Strength to Strength) and a twoyear part time Diploma in Christian Counselling with her colleague Andrea Wigglesworth. Next courses start in September 2019. Book your place now. www.vitalconnexions.org

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FAITH

Who are we apologising to?

Examining the role of Christian apologetics in today’s Ireland

BY GAVIN ROTHWELL In the age of the personal story, are Irish Christians still interested in defending the truth claims of Christianity using apologetics? If so, what is its role in the 21st century church in Ireland? Recent visits from a number of renowned Christian apologists give us some answers.

H

ave you ever been in a situation in which you were asked a question from a friend, colleague, or family member about Christianity but had absolutely no idea how to respond?

Most of us have experienced those sweat-inducing moments, and look back thinking, “If only I had said “X” she might have been persuaded!” Answering questions about Christianity is a venture all followers of Jesus need to get to grips with, not least because doubts can often arise within ourselves. When a Christian undertakes to answer a friends’ curiosity about Jesus, the Bible, suffering or another big question, they are involved in ‘apologetics’.

of arguing people into the kingdom, is unfair, according to Rev. Dr. David Montgomery, an influential Presbyterian minister and former Director of Christian Unions Ireland (CUI).

“Both are unfair caricatures,” he says.

“To say that apologetics is outdated is actually a very western-centric argument since for many, particularly in Asia, confidence in the truth claims of the Gospel is essential before they will take the massive step of committing themselves to Christ.”

In recent years, there have been some exciting projects taking place within the Irish church in relation to apologetics. In Northern Ireland, Portrush316 is an annual conference for students to engage with the hard questions their peers ask about faith.

The ‘Reasons for Hope’ tours organised by Christian Unions Ireland brought apologetics onto the all-Ireland mainstream Christian radar. These initiatives, aimed to engage Irish culture with the truth of Christianity, were launched in Spring 2017 featuring internationally renowned speakers and academics Prof. William Lane Craig, and Prof. John Lennox.

The inaugural tour was followed by a visit from eminent philosopher and social critic Dr. Os Guinness (of the Irish Guinness family) in 2018. The tours aimed to address some of the most pressing scientific, ethical and philosophical challenges to the Christian faith in 21st-century Ireland.

David Montgomery believes that these tours clearly, “demonstrated an on-going hunger in Irish people

THERE ARE NO CIRCUMSTANCES IN LIFE IN WHICH WE ARE CALLED TO EITHER ABANDON TRUTH, OR FORSAKE GRACE. Stemming from the Greek word ‘apologia’ (which means “to give account”), apologetics is the branch of Christian study that seeks to defend the truth claims of the Christian worldview.

In our current cultural climate, some would suggest it futile and perhaps arrogant to promote the truth of the Christian worldview. Describing apologetics either as elevating reason above faith, or as being a dogmatic way 36

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to engage with the truth claims of Christianity.” This desire was evident from the number of people from all backgrounds and beliefs who came to listen and engage with the topics being teased out. In total, 5,000 students and church leaders attended over 15 distinct events in Dublin, Cork, Belfast and Waterford.

The centrepiece of Dr. William Lane Craig’s engagements in Ireland was a debate in Trinity College Dublin on the existence of God with Oxbridge atheistic philosopher Dr. Daniel Came. Despite booking the largest room in Trinity to host this event, when 600 college students, staff and guests turned up on the night to attend, three overflow rooms had to be found to accommodate the huge crowd! A student event generating this amount of interest is a rarity on the Irish college campus and revealed a significant thirst for answers to life’s age-old questions.

Seeing the continued uptake in an interest in apologetics over the last number of years has led me to a number of encouraging observations regarding the role this branch of Christian study can play in the lives of Christians and in their local church.

APOLOGETICS CAN BE REWARDING FOR YOUR PERSONAL FAITH IN CHRIST

A mere interest and willingness to be prepared to answer people’s questions demonstrates a desire to lovingly obey Jesus’ command to love God with our minds (Luke 10:27). Not everyone is called to be a university professor but everyone is called to use the intelligence that God has given each one of us to love

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Him using that faculty. In my life, I have found that examining the big questions of life from a Christian perspective is a richly rewarding task and aids my confidence in my faith in Jesus.

In addition to enhancing the faith of current followers of Jesus, the Holy Spirit can still use apologetics in helping a seeker to find the truth, beauty and goodness of Jesus Christ. To take a football analogy, Montgomery argues that apologetics is “not the only member of the team but an important one.

Perhaps, whereas, evangelistic preaching is the striker on the football team, apologetics is the goalkeeper - fending off the false claims of alternative worldviews.”

This was precisely what Peter Grier, author and staff worker with Christian Unions Ireland found happening in Cork following the Reasons for Hope Tours.

“One Cork postgraduate student said ‘I’m not sure I followed everything in that debate but what it did was convince me that Christians aren’t stupid, and there’s a credible case to be investigated.’” Since then, through other Christian Union events and community, he’s come to faith in Jesus.

APOLOGETICS DEMONSTRATES THAT “THE EARTH IS THE LORD’S...”

In Psalm 24, and reaffirmed by Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:26, the Scriptures say, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” Even the most secular corners of academia belong to God, and apologetics can bring God’s truth and wisdom to particular academic debates even today, by showing that the Christian worldview offers perspectives on every aspect of life. Peter Grier suggests that, “If

Christ has nothing to say to academia, university lecture halls or to every thought that humans have ever tried to re-invent, then perhaps He has also nothing to say to our world.”

Bringing Christ amongst the various academic disciplines is not an ambitious theoretical task but is something actively taking place in Ireland today. Prominent academics who are Christians such as Dr. David Glass (University of Ulster) and Prof. Andrew Bowie (Trinity College Dublin) have been particularly keen to explain why there is no dichotomy between Christianity and Science in the 21st century.

THE REASONS FOR HOPE TOURS DEMONSTRATED AUTHENTIC CHRIST-LIKE UNITY

Because apologetics is primarily concerned with defending central Christian concepts (like the existence of God; and the life, death and resurrection of Jesus), the sometimes-heated internal doctrinal debates between Churches and denominations feature less prominently in apologetic material. When Christians are focused on a unified goal of persuading others of the risen Christ, in-house discussions within Christianity are rightfully given their secondary or tertiary places. The output of an apologist is one of the few Christian resources to which the vast majority of Christians can say, “I agree with that”, and stand shoulder to shoulder in support.

One of my abiding moments from the initial Reasons for Hope tour was seeing two groups of students attending one of the Dublin events - each group from a vastly differing corner of the

evangelical landscape. I simply could not have thought of any other event, speaker, or occasion which would draw them together like this!

PURSUING GRACE AND TRUTH

The Reasons for Hope tours have clearly shown that the Irish public, and in particular students, still want to hear from Christianity and what it has to say for itself. The tours have exposed something of a gap in Irish Christian culture.

Is it time for churches to acknowledge the role that apologetics can play in the 21st century Irish context? Are we willing to love God with our minds by lovingly, yet truthfully, defending the metanarrative of Christianity in this way?

There are no circumstances in life in which we are called to either abandon truth, or forsake grace. They must be held in tandem, and that is the tension that followers of Christ will face in every society, as truth without grace is arrogance, and grace without truth is ignorance. We must love God with our minds, whilst keeping our eyes fixed on Him who is ‘grace and truth in equal measure’.

Gavin Rothwell is a recently qualified Barrister. He enjoys researching the intersection of Christianity, Culture and Law, and is currently completing an MA in Theology and Law.

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LIFE

You Can Eat Meat Whenever You Want

Our series on nutrition and faith continues with nutritionist Linda de Courcy.

Linda de Courcy MSc., is a Dublin based nutritional therapist and certified pilates instructor who is passionate about empowering people to take control of their health.

For more information or to contact Linda visit her website at www.nutritionforlifeireland.com, on Twitter @ LindadeCourcy or Instagram @nutritionforlifeireland.

VOX MAGAZINE

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ands up if you have felt even slightly guilty about eating meat recently? It has been hard to miss the billboards, headline articles and promotion of vegan options everywhere. As someone who has gone mostly vegetarian a few times (though I’ve never given up eggs and cheese), I’ve learned I do much better mentally and physically with regular red meat consumption. And, having worked with clients over the last 10 years, I know many of them are in the same boat. Many health challenges alleviate or disappear with dietary changes, including regular beef and/or lamb consumption.

There are those who claim the Bible advocates a vegan diet, but we can clearly see our Father has provided animals for us to eat, “You may eat as many animals as the Lord your God gives you… you may eat meat whenever you want” (Deut 12:15, 20 NLT). In fact, it seems to me He delights in us eating well. “He let them feast on the crops of the fields. He nourished them with honey from the cliffs, with olive oil from the hard rock. He fed them curds from the herd and milk from the flock, together with the fat of lambs and goats. He gave them choice rams and goats from Bashan, together with the finest wheat” (Deut 32:13, 14 NLT). Isn’t it interesting that apart from olive oil, pretty much everything else God provided for His people are the foods we’re told to avoid? Over 20 times in the Old Testament, a land flowing with “milk and honey” is God’s blessing to His people.

In the New Testament, animal food consumption is a common occurrence, the only meat-eating dilemma facing the early church was whether to eat meat sacrificed to idols, see Romans 14 and I Corinthians 10 (not such an issue today unless you consider the golden arches of McDonald’s an idol…).

In the vegan debate many people miss the fact that a diet devoid of animal products is a diet deficient in many nutrients.

Vitamin B12 is the most well-known, but did you know that you cannot get vitamin A (retinol) or K2 from plant products?

Nor can you obtain sufficient amounts of vitamin D, calcium, iron and zinc from plants. Many aid organisations regularly highlight the significant challenge facing impoverished peoples who do not have access to meat and other animal products – chronic nutrient deficiency – which is particularly dangerous in growing babies and children. For anyone interested, I recently wrote a blog on this (www.nutritionforlifeireland.com/ should-we-believe-everything-we-read).

It is important to acknowledge the ethical issues concerning industrial animal production. We are blessed in Ireland that our cattle and sheep are outdoors on grass for many months of the year. This is His plan, “And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, that you may eat [the cattle] and be full” (Deuteronomy 11:15 AMP). This is “God’s way of doing and being right” (Matt 6:33 AMP) and it benefits the land, animals and farmers. Buying Irish beef and lamb, along with free range eggs, dairy from small producers, wild fish and so on will support farmers who care about their livestock (Proverbs 12:10 NLT), ensure the animals live healthy, happy lives and promote a healthy, diverse land.

If you are struggling with the morals and ethics of animal consumption - I know many believers are - meditate on these verses for a few weeks. And enjoy the food He has provided to bless and nourish us without guilt or condemnation.

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Fearless Advert 2019.pdf

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2019 Course in Romania // 9 June – 24 August // English/Multi-lingual Cost: €1200 (€600 for 6 weeks) (includes course materials, accommodation* and food) If you are interested in attending the course or finding out more, contact Beverley in our National Office at: e: beverleym@cefireland.com t: 0044 28 9073 0928. *This residential course will be held at the CEF® centre in Sibiu, Romania.

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FAITH

VOX MAGAZINE

Christianity&Economics

Part Two: Incentives - how individual decisions shape outcomes for everyone

BY AARON HANSON

“IF MORE OF US VALUED FOOD AND CHEER AND SONG ABOVE HOARDED GOLD, IT WOULD BE A MERRIER WORLD.” – J.R.R. TOLKIEN, THE HOBBIT

T

he first article in this series briefly established that Christianity has plenty to say about economics, and shared a few principles which should guide our attitudes. This was all with a view to identifying and addressing common economic problems such as poverty or the unsustainable use of natural resources.

Solving these problems can often seem beyond our reach as individuals, making us feel helpless or apathetic. Yet while no-one can do everything, everyone can do something.

By the same token, all of us have the capacity to contribute individually to aggregate-level problems, so we need to look carefully at our incentives: what drives our economic decisions?

After all, Jesus taught that we must look at our own faults before we judge others. Matthew 7:3-5 We are more interconnected today than probably ever before: the global economy is like a giant spider’s web, and what we do in one small corner sends reverberations, however small, to other corners. One harrowing example of this is the demand for smartphones and other electronic devices in places like Ireland funding conflict and oppression in the Congo (see www.fpif.org/blood_phones_and_the_congo) It is easy to get into a mindset whereby topics like this become what writer Douglas Adams called an SEP (Somebody Else’s Problem): our brain edits them out of our consciousness, because they are unexpected or inconvenient.

Yet, if we are to love our neighbours then their problems become our problems – especially if we had a hand in contributing to those problems, and even though some such neighbours may be far away. This does not mean we must never again buy anything on the grounds that it ‘might’ harm someone somewhere. But at the same time, Jesus called us to be radical, and radical changes to our lifestyles and priorities may be required.

We are probably already aware of the countless Biblical injunctions against the desire for wealth (see Mark 8:36, Luke 12:15-21, 1 Timothy 6:10). But more than this, Jesus’ teaching indicates that our desire for comfort, though not bad in itself, may also cripple us spiritually. (Mark 8:34-36, Luke

9:57-62). The Good Samaritan’s behaviour was not conducive to his comfort, yet Jesus commended his behaviour. We are commanded, time and time again, to forsake the easy path, and this applies to the decisions we make about what to buy, which jobs to take, charitable giving and so forth.

In practice, this will look different for different people in different circumstances. It may mean taking public transport more to reduce the severe pollution in European cities; it may mean a couple choosing to live on one income so that money (not to mention the second job) can be shared out to others; or it may mean seeking out ways to buy from farmers directly or buy food wrapped in less plastic. These all involve inconvenience, but if we are motivated to pursue others’ good as well as our own, such behaviour at the individual level can ultimately contribute to making the economy fairer and better for everyone.

This article was written by Aaron Hanson, with input from Jordan Maly-Preuss and Matt Williams. Aaron and Matt are founding directors of Jubilee, an agri-environmental organisation based in Larne, Co. Antrim.

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Financial Administrator wanted from 1st May The successful candidate will oversee all our financial transactions.

We would love to see you in West Cork this year. Our Pod Páirc is open all year round: Christian fellowship, farm experience, great walks, and good value for self catering families. www.topoftherock.ie

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MUSIC REVIEWS

Parallels and Meridians JESS RAY

I came across the music of Jess Ray while browsing one of my favourite websites - The Rabbit Room, the brainchild of singer/songwriter, Andrew Peterson.

Poets, writers and songwriters have found residence in this wonderful online community. When Andrew Peterson recommends a songwriter, I take heed.

Jess Ray’s music is intensely spiritual yet deeply grounded.

Her new album is called Parallels and Meridians, and it is quite stunning.

In a recent interview, she says, “A lot of the songs were me talking to other people - like horizontal lines. But about half the songs were dialogues with God. So Parallels and Meridians is a succinct way of summing up those two directions of communication. I’ve been amazed at how much it comes down to the first and second commandments to love God and love your neighbour as yourself. When those two intersect, it forms a cross. Jesus is this perfect point between humanity and God, this intersection of horizontal and vertical.”

Parallels and Meridians is a stunning collection of 12 songs. Her lyrics are rich, authentic and deeply moving. Her voice is crystal clear and oozes sincerity.

The listener is left in no doubt that she believes what she sings. I’ve had Did Not Our Hearts Burn and Morning Song on repeat play for the past two weeks! I love it. www.jessraymusic.com

Wild

SEAN FEUCHT

I was surprised that I hadn’t come across this artist before. He has already recorded and released 20 music albums and co-authored five books. Sean Feucht , pronounced Foyt, is a missionary, musician, speaker, author and founder of a global worship, prayer and missions organisation - Burn 24/7. He has also been part of the Bethel Music community in California since 2016 where he has been instrumental in developing the unique Bethel sound. His new solo project Wild has a freshness and vibrancy that will give it an even wider appeal. It is

VOX MAGAZINE

a live recording but you could be forgiven for thinking that he is performing to an empty auditorium, such is the silence and reverence with which many songs are received. This album contains 11 great tracks that will lift your heart in praising our Heavenly Father. Occasionally, there is exuberance here but it adds to the song instead of taking over. This is a nearperfect album from a dynamic praise and worship leader. www.seanfeucht.com

To the One UPPERROOM

For me, worship music has to be expressive and heartfelt. Many of today’s worship songs require a good deal of effort to sing, and these new songs have helped make worship more engaging and authentic and have attracted countless young people to churches. The downside is that the music market is saturated with groups that are hard to distinguish one from the other. Let me introduce you to UPPERROOM. They have just released a nine-track album that encapsulates everything that has gone right with today’s worship music.

The group got together to pray for the city of Dallas, and from this small beginning, have grown into a collective of over 100 singers, songwriters and musicians leading worship three times a day, six times a week. This album gives us a glimpse of UPPERROOM worship.

It has a live feel to it, and while some audio quality is sacrificed, it captures the worship experience. The shortest track is just under six minutes, while the title track, For the One, clocks in at ten minutes. Thankfully most, if not all, the tracks will probably leave you wishing they were even longer. The stand-out track for me is their cover of Michael W Smith’s Surrounded, a song that recalls the battles fronted by David, Elijah and King Hezekiah where God is the winner.

It is spine tingling. UPPERROOM’s To the One demonstrates what worship needs to be like: authentic, expressive and Holy Spiritdriven.

Songs of the House COREY VOSS AND MADISON STREET WORSHIP

Seven years ago, Gateway Shelbyville, a multi-generational Tennessee congregation, was a small

rural church of 60 people. But enter the Holy Spirit through Gateway’s pastor, Jason Daughdrill and worship leader, Corey Voss, and this church has grown into a congregation of over 1,000 worshippers. It is Corey Voss’s passion to create a culture of worship, and thanks to Integrity Music’s support, we get to experience what Gateway Madison Street worship is all about. Songs of the House is a marvelous album featuring ten great songs. If this recording is a true reflection of their Sunday worship, I wonder how that building can contain the power of the Spirit that flows. This is joyous, celebratory and authentic. www.coreyvoss.com

A Resting Place BEN & NOELLE KILGORE

Ben and Noelle Kilgore are a new and exciting addition to the Integrity Music stable and their debut album is sublime. A Resting Place is beautiful.

The vocals, harmonies and production are just superb. With one up-tempo song Grace Grace, likely to be a radio hit, the other five songs are quiet reflective songs that showcase the immense vocal talents of this husband and wife duo. I have rarely heard a song infused with such emotion as Oh My Soul. These six songs are mini masterpieces, and as an EP usually precedes a more comprehensive album, I am looking forward to hearing more from Ben and Noelle Kilgore. www.facebook. com/BenNoelleKilgore

Albums reviewed by UCB Ireland Radio producer/presenter Vincent Hughes.

Listen to his programme 12-3pm Monday to Friday and 11am-3pm on Saturdays on Virgin Media Channel 918, on Sky Channel 0214 or via the smartphone app. You can contact Vincent at vhughes@ ucbireland.ie | www. ucbireland.com.

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WHAT’S HAPPENING AROUND IRELAND?

EVENTS

Praxis Conference 10 - 11 May The Exchange, Dublin 1 www.praxismovement. com

Every Child Conference Saturday, 11 May The Riasc Centre, Swords, Co. Dublin www.cefireland.com/ everychild

The Irish Youth Ministry Gathering 16 - 18 May Assembly Buildings, Belfast www.iymg.org

Summer Fire 21 - 28 June Trabolgan, Co. Cork www.summerfire conference.com

Summer Madness 28 June – 2 July Glenarm, Co. Antrim www.summermadness. co.uk

Sports Plus Camp 30 June - 5 July St. Columba’s College, Dublin 16 www.christiansinsport. ie

Sligo 19 New Wine 14 - 19 July Sliogo IT www.newwineireland. org

European Leaders Alliance 29 - 31 July Bradford, UK www.ela2019.org

New Horizon 3 - 9 August Ulster University, Coleraine www.newhorizon.org.uk

MOVE Youth Event

EQUIP Student Festival 26 - 30 August Castlewellan Forest Park, Co. Down www.cui.ie/equip

For all event details and how your event can be listed here: www.vox.ie/events

5 - 9 August Clane, Co. Kildare www.ciy.com/ireland

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Mention this advert to avail of a free one-hour pension consultation with James Garza, QFA. Contact James Garza at james@trillium.ie or 086 073 9902 or 01 442 9950.

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Bed and Breakfast

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BOOK REVIEWS

From Ashes To Healing

by Betty Burke

Irish couple Betty and Tom Burke moved to London in the 1970s. Betty shares about her search for God: “Our baby had always slept in exactly the same place at the window … But this night I felt the overwhelming need to move him away from the window. In the morning … I was stunned to see the floor covered with huge pieces of glass, and a large brick in the room … I was shocked too that I could hear the Lord and that He would speak about such down to earth matters …”

They got work in a newsagent tobacconist. Later, they bought their own shop. Then wanting to share the Gospel, they put a Christian book in their window, it sold, and was followed by more books and Bibles. Then God challenged them about selling tobacco, which was still their family’s main income. But they obeyed, and I’ve since visited their thriving Christian bookshop.

Gradually Betty realised that shame and fear were crippling her, stemming from a difficult childhood. She recounts the many ways that Jesus met and healed her. Then customers started sharing their own heartaches. Betty started praying with them, and some met Jesus for the first time. As more people came for help, the prayer team grew. This was the first Healing Rooms in England, and soon they had to extend out the back.

The story format makes this easy to read, and I’ve also found it a good gift for someone needing encouragement.

VOX MAGAZINE

Cry freedom

Digitally Remastered

We know that, ‘If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed’- John 8: 36. But the freedom Jesus won for us sometimes seems elusive and many Christians may identify with this quote: “I don’t know what’s wrong with my life but I always feel like I am dragging around a ball and chain … I want to move forward, to have everything God has for me but I can’t get there because of this.”

Mary Pytches makes sense of this dilemma. God’s kingdom has come among us but it has not yet been manifest in all its fullness in our fallen world. The quality of the soil we were planted in, i.e. our environment and nurturing, affects our freedom or lack of it. Things that we experience in life, such as traumas, poor communication, unmet needs, and poor role models, all influence our emotions. They may lead to ungodly beliefs about ourselves, others or God. This book is an excellent place to start understanding why we may feel like we are dragging around that ball and chain. However, understanding alone will not heal us but it can give us keys to praying into the roots of our struggles in a way that invites Jesus to heal them and to set us free.

We really can live with the expectation of seeing more of God’s kingdom manifested in our lives. We can expect breakthroughs to greater healings and freedom. We don’t need to settle for less.

I’ve read various books on the interface of the Christian life with communications technology, e.g. e-mail, internet, social media, messaging and mobile phone.

They were mostly rather pessimistic, and all left me frustrated, until this one. It’s immediately obvious that the author knows what he’s talking about when he writes about the workings of technology. He understands the human condition and he has thought deeply about our ‘always on’ culture.

I was challenged by some of his questions: Is it true that technology is neutral? Who is in charge? Is technology facilitating my goals or working against them? Does it cause me extra stress?

Is multitasking helpful? Is being permanently connected actually good for my connectedness? Does permanent connectivity affect Sabbath rest? Does my online persona influence my identity?

Is infinite shopping choice as good as it sounds? Are privacy and anonymity really options, and are they a good thing?

The challenges at the end of each chapter didn’t let me fudge these and other questions. I concluded that my relationship with my technology is actually a relational and spiritual matter. I will continue to use it, probably even more so. But I am optimistic that now, instead of it mastering me, I will use it better, and I will be its master.

I’ve decided to read this book once a year. Technology will, of course, continue to develop but I believe that the questions raised here will continue to help me plot a godly way forward.

by Mary Pytches

by Guy Brandon

Book reviews by Julie Carvill of christianbooks.ie. These and other inspiring titles can be ordered from her website info@christianbooks.ie or +353 (0)86 839 1870.

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VOX PS

IN WITH THE OUT CROWD

BY SEÁN MULLAN

W

e were chatting about this magazine. Yes, it does happen! I expressed my hope that the exploration of faith issues in the magazine’s pages might move beyond the boundaries of the ’usual suspects.’ “You’d better be careful about that,” was one reply. “You’ll lose the tribe you already have.” Sticking with the ‘usual suspects’ helps keep things safe, maintaining clear boundaries.

The conversation happened around Christmas. It got me thinking about the Christmas story and how the Gospel writers might have done if they had heeded my friend’s advice. There’re a few strands in the story that might not have made it past the editor’s scissors.

There’s the pregnant teenager who claims she’s still a virgin. And her “excuse” is that God is the father of her baby – hardly a “usual suspect” for those times. Then there are the witnesses of the birth. There are shepherds, who in that culture were viewed as religiously unreliable and socially undesirable. And there are the famous “Magi,” pagans, with no connection to the long-standing religious traditions of the Jews.

Matthew and Luke should have considered more carefully the consequences of allowing these people to have a part in their stories. What effect would giving centre place to a young woman who is pregnant but not married have on the young women (and men) of the time? How would all the good church-going folk of the time feel about Luke giving first view of the new arrival to a group of men who never darkened

the door of a synagogue and wouldn’t have been welcome there if they had?

And surely every Jew, who followed in the steps of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, would be mystified that Matthew zooms in on foreigners who arrive, not because they have been studying the Scriptures but because they have been studying the stars! It really is outrageous!

My VOX reader friends will say that Matthew and Luke told the story that way because that’s the way it happened.

The teenager did get pregnant without sex. The shepherds, while just minding their sheep and their own business, did become the first reporters of an event that changed the world. And the strange folk from the east did turn up with even stranger gifts. If that’s the way it happened then that was the way they had to tell it. It wasn’t Luke’s or Matthew’s job to decide on boundaries; their job was to tell the story.

AND THE STORIES OF THE PEOPLE WHO TRY AND FOLLOW JESUS HAVE BEEN FILLED WITH SUCH ANOMALIES EVER SINCE.

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Ipso facto, the approach today should be the same. Those who believe this story need to be wary of defining the boundaries of how and in whom that story continues to work in our own time and culture.

If there is something going on among atheists or agnostics, among people of other denominations or religions, among people of differing sexual orientations, is it not worthwhile making some time to listen to their stories?

Did the Magi become Jews? We’re never told. Did the shepherds clean up their act? Again, no information provided. Did Mary ever convince the gossips of Nazareth that she really was a virgin? We have no idea. But their unadulterated stories have stood the test of time.

And the stories of the people who try and follow Jesus have been filled with such anomalies ever since. Saint Paul and not Saint Peter, becomes the first major theologian of the movement even though he despises Jesus, hates His followers and was feared, if not hated, by them in return.

An insignificant remote windswept island off the edge of Europe becomes the birthplace of a Jesus movement that brings Europe out of the dark ages. The slaves of the American south, listening to their masters teach them from the Bible that God intends them to be slaves, channel their pain into a music that still touches hearts and lives around the world.

Jesus was accused by His own tribe of being “in with the out crowd.” It didn’t seem to bother Him. Maybe it shouldn’t bother us either.

Seán Mullan has been working in church leadership for many years. He has developed a project in Dublin City Centre called “Third Space”.

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