What Rwanda can teach us about reconciliation; Battle to save Cregagh Presbyterian Church; A welcoming inner city church ‘without walls’; Jennymount Methodist Church – A place in the community working for all; New Places of worship in warehouses
What Rwanda can teach us about reconciliation
Sometimes we are so obsessed in Northern Ireland with flags, emblems, territorial disputes and street confrontations, that we do not realise, or care about, what is happening in the big world outside, writes Alf McCreery in the Belfast Telegraph
Therefore it is important to note that the new Presbyterian Moderator, Dr Rob Craig, will be preaching tomorrow morning at Gikonda Presbyterian Church in Kigali, as part of his official visit to Rwanda and Burundi in Central Africa.
This is part of his fact-finding mission on behalf of the Presbyterian World Development Appeal which raises well over £200,000 each year from the church’s members throughout Ireland. He will be travelling with representatives from Christian Aid and Tear Fund who receive the money for work in the developing world, in association with their church partners overseas.
Part of the money raised for the Presbyterians’ World Development Appeal next year will be sent to Rwanda to help the excellent peace-building centre Moucecoure, so the Moderator’s visit is timely and relevant.
I am sure that he will also have to deal with some of the pertinent questions which I was asked when I visited Rwanda earlier this year, such as, why do our brothers and sisters in Christ fight with each other in Northern Ireland?
Battle to save Cregagh Presbyterian Church from demolition
BBC – A petition has been launched to save an “iconic” church from demolition.
The congregation at Cregagh Presbyterian Church in east Belfast has decided to rebuild their church rather than repair and refurbish it.
But one parishioner, Stewart Barbour, whose father and grandfather were both ministers at the church, has applied to get listed status for the building.
He launched an online petition to save the church 10 days ago and has been “overwhelmed” by the response.
In 2008 the congregation had originally voted to refurbish the church, but the funds to do the work were tied up in the Presbyterian Mutual Society (PMS), which subsequently went into administration.
Now they say the church is “no longer fit for purpose” and they are in the process of commissioning designs for a new church “which will be a strong likeness of the current building”.
Bobby Cosgrove, a local historian, described the church as “an iconic building, one of the finest pieces of architecture and brickwork in the city of Belfast”.
More at –
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23810512
A welcoming inner city church ‘without walls’
Methodists have worshipped in Lower North Belfast since 1869. The first Methodist presence was in the form of a Wesleyan Chapel built in North Derby Street which opened its doors for worship in 1869.
News Letter – The building which accommodated 150 persons and included a National School was provided by Philip Johnston JP who later beame Mayor of Belfast in 1871. Jennymount, which was part of the North Belfast Circuit, was established to provide for the needs of an increasing population coming to live in the area. The Circuit was given permission by the Methodist
Conference to provide a minister who would ‘labour at the new Mission Station at Jennymount’.
The church takes its name from the merchant’s house and grounds situated where the new church was to be built. It was an impressive building which wasn’t completed fully until 1908 when the hall and classrooms were opened.
Constant refurbishment, maintenance and alterations were needed throughout the following century.
There was no structural damage during the blitz but windows were blown in and internal damage was sustained. A major post-war refurbishment took place in 1946 and there was further major renovation in 1986. In 1987 a report on the condition of the church showed that a further major programme of repairs was urgently needed. This was finally completed in the autumn of 2002 but just a few months later in January 2003 a fire, caused by a fault in the central heating boilers, destroyed the building.
Offers of help came from the other churches in the area and the generosity extended by the Canon, Select Vestry and congregation at St Paul and St Barnabas by moving the time of their service to accommodate the Jennymount congregation meant that we were able to meet for worship in their building in York Road for the duration of the new building programme.
The “homeless” organisations were able to meet uninterrupted in local church halls. Amazingly, after such a short period of time, the old site had been cleared, and a new church complex was dedicated on September 25,2004, just 610 days after the 98-year-old building was completely burned to the ground, and in time for the centenary celebrations in December.
As the new church buildings emerged from the ashes, so too did a newly invigorated and envisioned church family emerge with the desire to be a church in the community for the community.
Reference – http://www.newsletter.co.uk/a-welcoming-inner-city-church-without-walls-1-5419888
Jennymount Methodist Church – A place in the community working for all
As we grappled with the challenges of being a church in Lower North Belfast we soon realised some very hard facts. One was that we are not an island, that there are people living in the houses all around us.
News Letter – Another was the continuous use of the word ‘interface’ in news bulletins and the media. For us as church we began to grasp that an interface stood starkly at the front doors of our church building. Something needed to be done and as we journeyed we recognised that God was teaching us a new language, the language of inclusion and loving action.
It was around this time that a young 16-year-old who participated in the drop-in activities sadly took his own life after overdosing on ketamine tablets. As a result of this tragedy I along with some other community leaders was invited by the boy’s mother Alison Clarke to set up the Dean Clarke Foundation in 2008 in memory of her son Dean.
Following Dean’s death Alison called for the dealers to be caught and appealed for “justice to be done for Dean and all other kids affected by drugs”. This was a significant event not only in the life of the community of Lower North Belfast but in the life of Jennymount Church family as well for it brought us face to face with the real issues facing our community.
It was at one of our Church Council away days when our leaders were discussing our mission and influence in Lower North Belfast that we felt that our aim needed to be amended. Our aim was “To extend God’s family by making disciples of Jesus Christ”.
As we discussed and debated we realised that what we really needed to communicate was that we are not better than anyone else and that the word ‘making’ needed to be changed to ‘being’. Now our aim reads “To extend God’s family by being disciples of Jesus Christ”.
More at –
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/a-place-in-the-community-working-for-all-1-5419877
Places of worship: ‘When we first arrived it was just an empty room’
Warehouses on industrial estates are used by Orthodox Christians, Muslim and Pentecostal groups
Irish Times – Changes in the practice of religion in Ireland can be witnessed in industrial estates dotted around the country.
Dozens of warehouses on obscure back roads in towns and cities of Ireland come alive at odd hours of the week with sounds of cars arriving, children playing, gospel music, the Islamic call to prayer or a multitude of voices praying in different languages.
These industrial units are often unidentifiable as places of worship from the outside. Occasionally there is a board on the outer wall with the name of the religious group using the premises. Inside, there is usually one large windowless room and smaller office-style spaces surrounding it.
The units vary in size. Some cater for congregations of up to 500. Others cater for smaller groups of maybe 50. The décor varies too, depending on the financial resources available. Money is used for paint, carpets, seating, altars, PA systems, toilets, kitchens, heating, electrical wiring and internal walls.
Warehouses are used by migrant Pentecostal and Muslim groups as well as sometimes by Orthodox Christians and other religious denominations. Renting them is affordable, particularly during the economic downturn, and objections by the public on the basis of planning or parking are rare.