Newsletter - January 2002
Dear Friends
Our warmest greetings to you as we begin another year of service for God. This month we made it into the Methodist Newsletter with the following article and a photo. Hopefully it will give you a taster of the way in which our thinking is going at present…………
Our warmest greetings to you as we begin another year of service for God. This month we made it into the Methodist Newsletter with the following article and a photo. Hopefully it will give you a taster of the way in which our thinking is going at present…………
The Lay Witness Movement new ideas and new challenges for a new generation
Recently Lay Witness has been doing a little bit of timely reflection and planning. Twenty five years is an important milestone in the life of any movement or organisation. Back in 1975 the Irish Lay Witness Movement was launched in the wake of a visit here by some American Methodist lay people. Following on from this experience local churches were courageous enough to invite teams of witnesses to conduct weekend faith sharing missions. It became clear from the start that the simple formula of ordinary Christians sharing their story with other lay people was one that God was using in a remarkable way to bring blessing and renewal to Methodist congregations. Since then scores of weekend missions have been held; rallies, training events and conferences have been organised and teams sent to England, USA and recently to Sri Lanka. Twenty-five years on many of our original witnesses are as enthusiastic as ever. They feel uniquely privileged to have been part of such a special move of God’s Spirit but they think it only right to ask direct questions about the future. It is clear as invitations from churches continue to line up that the ministry of the Lay Witness Movement is still needed and wanted in the Connexion. It is clear too that we still have lay people with remarkable stories to tell of the saving and life changing power of Jesus Christ. Moreover in all our congregations there are people who will not be reached by sermons but who can be touched in the depths of their being by hearing a personal story told in sincerity and honesty. All of this means that Lay Witness must remain in business staying true to its original mandate of Acts 1 v8 “You shall be my witnesses”. But our methods may need to change. We certainly need to see a new generation of young people come into our ranks. We need to think more widely about how we help and enable lay people to be witnesses in their everyday lives and not just on special missions. We need to harness the energy of the young and make use of the experience of the old. Can we as a Movement develop new programmes helping churches connect with their local community? Can we mobilise mature lay folk as prayer teams helping congregations get a vision for what prayer can accomplish in their midst? These are some of the ideas and visions before us at the moment. We would ask all our friends and well wishers to support us in their prayers. · Why not consider whether God is calling you to be part of this new phase of Lay Witness? A simple letter or e-mail as a result of reading this article could be the start of something new that God has in store for you. · Why not consider coming to our weekend conference in Castle Erin, Portrush 22-24 March? This will be an opportunity to meet and make new friends and have input into some of our new plans. We want it to be a time of discovery when we look at the gifts and ministries that God gives to ordinary lay people to enable them to be His witnesses. · Ministers, why not think and pray about whether your church might benefit from a weekend mission experience? For further information or for details of the March conference at Castle Erin contact Heather Boland 8 Oaklands Rise, Newtownabbey BT37 0XB or e mail heather |
Fellowship House Meetings
We are presently organising some 13 Lay Witness House meetings on an area basis to enable us to renew friendships, pray for the movement and for the March conference. These will be held on Saturday 2 February from 2.30 – 4.30pm. You should be receiving an invitation to one in your area shortly. Please keep the date free and plan to attend. Castle Erin Weekend 22nd to 24th March 2002 We want this year’s March conference to be a really special one. You will have seen from the Newsletter article that Lay Witness is having a serious look at how it operates and what its mission should be twenty five years on from its first beginnings in Ireland. With this in mind we are planning what we call a “Weekend of Discovery”. We will take a good look at Irish Methodism and then seek to discover how we are being gifted and called by God as individuals and as a Movement to serve in exciting and challenging times. To help us in our time of discovery we hope to have input from Rev Des Bain of Home Missions and from Rev Colin Meneely. We believe that this could be a life-changing weekend for those who attend. Please do your best to come to Castle Erin from 22nd to 24th March. Your help to spread the word about the weekend to others would be very much appreciated. Perhaps you know of someone who is interested in Lay Witness but has never been to a conference. Farewell to Harold In the summer Harold announced his decision to step down from the Lay Witness Steering Group after some twenty years involvement with the leadership of the Movement. Apart from leading several weekend missions many of you will be aware that Harold did more than anyone else to organise and coordinate the work of Lay Witness especially with regard to the annual weekend conference at Castle Erin. He was, however, much more than an organiser providing vision and spiritual direction on countless occasions. Teams members will remember how he never failed to ring them up on the eve of a mission to give encouragement and offer prayer. He will be sadly missed for his energy, administrative ability and Godly wisdom. We thank God for his friendship, fellowship and faithfulness and wish him well in fresh avenues of service especially in Dundonald. News of Wilson Many of our members will know that Wilson was diagnosed as having prostate cancer some months ago. He is now coming to the end of a course of 6 weeks radiotherapy treatment at Belvoir. This has involved daily travel from Portstewart that has been wonderfully assisted by folk in the local church providing drivers! The last few months have not been easy but he is making excellent progress now and is deeply grateful to God for this. He and Shirley would like to thank the many friends who have prayed for and supported them during this time. Please continue to remember him in your prayers. Wishing you God’s richest blessings in 2002, |