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DEPARTMENTAL LEADERS PLAN THE FUTURE IN THE IRISH MISSION

Irish Mission Communication

Elections are due to take place in Northern Ireland on Thursday 2 March. Political hopefuls are knocking on doors and appearing in hustings. They offer optimistic views of the future and explain why only they can be trusted with the future. On Sunday, 26 February, a completely different set of leaders gathered at the Airport View Hotel in Dublin. Irish Mission pastors met with departmental sponsors who have recently taken office for the new leadership term. Unlike the sometimes-cantankerous election campaign, the atmosphere at this meeting was a breath of fresh air. Plans were shared in a spirit of hopefulness and cooperation.

This is the first of two articles by the Irish Mission News, reporting on the presentations and insights that were shared at this meeting. The second article will appear next week.

Who are the new departmental leaders?

Some of the departmental leaders who were appointed at the Irish Mission Session in October 2016 are:

Clid Negosanu – Communication
Shupai Matewa – Children's Ministries
Bogdan Stan – Pathfinders and Adventurers
Pastor Curtis Samuel – Youth
Betty O'Rourke – Health

Over the last few months, the Irish Mission Executive Committee and pastoral team of the Mission helped to expand this group by appointing several more sponsors:

Mart de Groot – Trust Services
Ropo Dare – Men's Ministries
Joan Birch – Women's Ministries
Pastor Tony O'Rourke – Prayer Ministries
Pastor Dan Serb – Stewardship and Family Ministries

When this complete group of leaders met with the pastors on Sunday morning, the room was filled with 18 enthusiastic people, hoping to make a positive contribution to the mission of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Ireland. As each sponsor shared their perspectives for the future, the group prayed for them and their individual ministries.

Below are a few highlights from the discussion:

Reviving The Celtic Connection

Evelyn Wilson, volunteer Bible worker in Port Laoise informed us that a new edition of a favourite outreach book, The Celtic Connection has been printed. The book tells of the history of Sabbath keeping and other biblical practices in Ireland. It gives evidence that the church that St Patrick started in Ireland was a Sabbath-keeping church.

The new edition of The Celtic Connection is available at approximately £0.80 per copy from the Stanborough Press. It sports a new cover and an up-to-date format. Several churches in Ireland have ordered batches of these books to distribute at upcoming St Patrick's Day festivals across Ireland.

Regular annual events on the youth calendar:

Belfast Youth Weekend (February)
3-Missions Youth Retreat – Scotland (14-17 April)
Irish Mission Summer Camp (15-23 August)
Ballinacrow Weekend (27-29 October)

In addition to these regular programmes the department has also introduced a Day of Fellowship for young people. This Youth Day of Fellowship will take place in Banbridge on 18 March.

Belfast and Dublin are areas in the Irish Mission where there are large numbers of young people. Together with local Youth leaders, the Irish Mission supports regular youth programmes in these districts. Pastor Curtis spoke about the humbling responsibility to provide spiritual nurture for very committed young people of the Mission. He gave tribute to his team, and to the leaders who came before him. He shared his vision of setting up a youth advisory with leaders from each church who would provide input in the plans of the Youth department.

Next Week's Report

In next week's report we will provide more details about Children's Ministries, Communication, Health Ministries and Prayer Ministries in the Mission. We will also share reports of developments in Waterford and Cork.

A recurring theme in all the presentations that were given on Sunday morning, was the need for church members who would volunteer to help in the various programmes of the church.