CIYD Young Leaders in Ministry Fund 2021

Who is it for?

Church of Ireland young people aged from 15-25 years who can demonstrate a current involvement in the Church of Ireland.

What is it for?

Training and development courses, mission teams, leadership opportunities and placements that can be shown to:

  • Significantly develop the faith of the young adult applicant.
  • Grow the skills of the applicant especially, but not confined to, leadership skills.
  • Be of significant use to the ministry of the Church of Ireland in the 12 months following the completion of the opportunity.

For more information, click HERE.

Closing date is Monday 31st May 2021.

Thy Kingdom Come: an Encouragement to Pray as Pentecost Approaches

Everyone can pray for five people from Ascension to Pentecost

The Church of Ireland’s Archbishops and its Council for Mission have endorsed the Thy Kingdom Come global prayer initiative which takes place each year from Ascension Thursday to Pentecost Sunday, and will this year run from 13th May to 23rd May.

The Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, the Most Revd John McDowell, remarked: “From fairly modest origins back in 2016, Thy Kingdom Come has grown from year to year, and has caught the imagination of many people, perhaps because of its simplicity and directness – praying that our own faith may be deepened, and that others who we love may come to share in the same faith. The wind of the Spirit would appear to be in its sails and I trust it will commend itself to many.”

The Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson, said: “Thy Kingdom Come captures the dynamism and energy that flows between Ascension and Pentecost. Disciples now as then are not left comfortless but are inspired to move from the departure of the Jesus they knew to the arrival of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. We in our day are called to witness and to serve and Thy Kingdom Come invites us to do so.”

The Revd Adam Pullen, Chairperson of the Council for Mission and Rector of Stranorlar, in the Diocese of Raphoe, added: “We in our parish will be taking part in Thy Kingdom Come this year yet what, you may ask, is it?

“It is taking time to pray over 11 days from Ascension to Pentecost, praying that God’s Kingdom will come on Earth. It is as simple as praying for five people, family and friends, that they will come to know Jesus, and have faith in Him. It is for all ages and all situations. Among the resources, there is Cheeky Pandas for the children, Escape Room for the youth and, for the rest of us, an app from Lectio 365 for phones and tablets, and even a paper journal we can follow each day.

“Whatever our age, our circumstance, or our level of confidence, we can all pray. I encourage you to take part and be encouraged that you are making a difference. It is amazing for me that the creator God asks us to join Him in His work: Thy Kingdom Come.”

Thy Kingdom Come is an international and inter-denominational prayer movement which started in the Church of England in 2016. Those who take part are encouraged to deepen their own relationship with Jesus Christ, pray for five friends or family members to come to faith in Jesus, and pray for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit so that the Church would be effective in its witness.

The Thy Kingdom Come website – www.thykingdomcome.global – features a prayer map where participants can pledge their support from where they live around the world, and includes a range of ideas, guides and resources to encourage prayer by children, young people, adults, families, schools, churches and small groups. Resources for churches include suggestions for prayer stations and 24-7 prayer, and prayer journals for parishioners.

Bishops’ Appeal Helps with Fight Against Covid in India

An opportunity to support responses to the crisis from Asha and Médecins Sans Frontières

The Church of Ireland Bishops’ Appeal has released €10,000 (equivalent to around £8,600) in emergency funding to support two frontline agencies responding to India’s second coronavirus wave: Asha, a Christian charity working in communities in Delhi; and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Donations in support of this appeal can be made online or by post using the reference ‘CIBA India Covid Relief’ and all details about how to contribute can be found at www.bishopsappeal.ireland.anglican.org/give

Asha has committed supporters across the world and enjoys good relations with development agencies, diplomatic missions and governments. It is well-placed to bring medical treatment and to model good practice in terms of hygiene and face-coverings.

Asha’s founder, Dr Kiran Martin, who has worked in over 60 slum communities in Delhi for 25 years, has made an impassioned plea for support. The agency needs N95 masks and medical masks, nebulisers, pulse oximeters and thermal scanners, steroids and anti-coagulants, or the funds to purchase the supplies. Her team is treating people who present with Covid in their homes. Dr Kiran says: “Asha has instituted a protocol for home treatment of Covid patients with mild, moderate or severe disease. The situation with hospital beds and oxygen continues to be horrendous. We are treating severely ill patients with amazing success. I truly think it’s a miracle of God through willing and compassionate hands.”

Holywood Parish, outside Belfast, became associated with the charity almost 20 years ago and has sent a number of teams to visit two projects in the slums of Zakhira and Peera Garhi. The parish has funded building work for community centres and the creation, resourcing and staffing of IT centres. The work of Asha has also been embraced by many schools in Northern Ireland where young people have learned valuable life lessons.

Canon Gareth Harron, Holywood Parish’s Vicar, says: “When you visit an Asha centre in the slums of Delhi the values of the society – dignity, empowerment, justice etc. – are not displayed on posters on the walls; they are held in the hearts of the people who have embraced them. Asha means ‘hope’ and I had the privilege of seeing their hope-bringing work first-hand when I visited with a team from our parish in March 2020. We flew home just as the number of cases of Covid-19 began to rise in Delhi, not anticipating the crisis levels that have now been reached there. Having stood alongside the work of Asha for some years, we are grateful and encouraged that Bishops’ Appeal has pledged its support as we know this will bring relief to the poorest residents of Delhi.”

Médecins Sans Frontières has restarted its emergency response amid a surging second wave of Covid-19 in Mumbai, in Maharashtra state. The city’s population density, poverty, and poor hygiene conditions are a triple trigger for the virus to breed, infect and spread rapidly.

“This is the largest upsurge since the pandemic started,” says Dilip Bhaskaran, Covid-19 Co-ordinator for MSF in Mumbai. “MSF stands ready to further pace up its services in support of the health facilities that are currently completely overwhelmed.”

Among many other responses, MSF is supporting two units within a jumbo hospital in Mumbai. The units will include two tents with the capacity for around 1,000 intensive care beds in each.

 

Church of Ireland Bishops’ Appeal Releases Emergency Funds to Respond Urgently to Covid in India

The Church of Ireland Bishops’ Appeal has released €10,000 in emergency funding to support Covid relief efforts in India. Individuals and parishes are invited to contribute to support these efforts. Funds will be channelled to partner agencies working on the ground in communities in India providing vital support and supplies.

More than 200,000 lives have been lost to the pandemic in India. The pandemic has spread from large cities to smaller cities, towns and villages where its impact is largely under-reported, and the peak of the outbreak may still be two to three weeks from now.

Bishops’ Appeal’s Diocesan Representative for Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh, the Revd Albert Dawson, says: “As we look at the news bulletins over the last few weeks, the situation that has evolved with Covid-19 in India is very distressing to watch. We can only imagine the distress the doctors and nurses are working in to care, as best they can with extremely limited resources, for the sick and the dying in the hospitals.

“Let us remember the doctors and nurses who have travelled to our country from India and provided care for our citizens over the last year in the hospitals and nursing homes throughout Ireland. These are very valued members of our healthcare staff and it would be one way of showing them how much we value their contribution to our society.”

Donations can be made online or by post using the reference ‘CIBA India Covid Relief’ and all details about how to contribute can be found here: https://store.ireland.anglican.org/donations/the-bishops-appeal

Crosslinks is hosting a Link Meeting on Monday 24th May 2021

Crosslinks is hosting a Link Meeting on Monday 24th May 2021, 7:30pm, via Zoom. David Kleinhans will be joining us from South Africa! David is a theological student at George Whitefield College and is currently receiving a bursary from Crosslinks through the BEST scheme. BEST stands for Bursaries Enabling Strategic Training. Crosslinks set up BEST to offer bursaries for theological education to clergy and ministry workers around the world.

This meeting will highlight the importance of theological training and how the Crosslinks BEST scheme is helping men like David be equipped to correctly handle God’s Word.

Holy Week services

Lent Podcasts from Bishop Ferran

Join Bishop Ferran this Lent as he explores some of the places Jesus went on His journey to the cross, thinking about what it means to keep close to Jesus and follow Him.

In the final episode of the Lent and the Bishop podcast, we think of Jesus’ entry into the city of Jerusalem as described in Mark Chapter 11. This climatic point in the journey to the cross raises a number of questions for our own following of Jesus and encourages us to renew our allegiance to Christ our King.

The Saint Patrick’s Confession Project

There are lots of legends and misconceptions about who Saint Patrick was and what his mission was. However, we are privileged to have the real Patrick preserved for us in his own words in two writings: his ‘Confessio’ and his ‘Epistle to Coroticus’, both of which are readily accessible (https://confessio.ie/).

To celebrate Patrick and the biblical Gospel he believed and preached, and also to make people — young and old — more familiar with the truth about him and the Lord he served, over 30 young people from the majority of parishes in the Diocese of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh recorded themselves reading a section of the Confession (based on the translation by Pádraig McCarthy and published by the Royal Irish Academy, as found at confessio.ie). The completed video will be available to watch (from 7 pm on 16th March) at this link: https://youtu.be/kb7WnhYcV3I.

This video was created for Saint Patrick’s Day 2021, when, in the midst of continuing Covid-19 restrictions, the usual events and celebrations for this day cannot happen. We hope that it will be an encouragement to all who watch it, and that they, like Patrick, will know personally the difference the Lord makes to those in difficult circumstances.

A Joint Statement to the Members of the Church of Ireland from the Archbishop of Armagh and the Archbishop of Dublin

Love our neighbour • Protect our communities

The Archbishops of the Church of Ireland have issued the following statement in support of the Covid-19 vaccination programmes in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland:

‘We encourage all Church of Ireland members to take up the opportunity offered by the Covid-19 vaccination programmes currently being rolled out across the island of Ireland.  We believe, as Christians, that it is our civic obligation and duty to serve others and to love our neighbours as ourselves.

‘Vaccination against Covid-19 helps to protect individuals in our communities by preventing and reducing illness and death caused by the virus.  In the past, vaccines have made a significant difference in society, and they continue to do so.  The Covid-19 vaccines are already bringing hope and a possibility of a return to relative normality, and should be made available globally as a priority. 

‘The Church of Ireland has, throughout the pandemic, advocated following public health advice from trusted sources, including the Health Service Executive in the Republic of Ireland and Health and Social Care services in Northern Ireland.  All who have questions about vaccination are encouraged to consult those sources of information and discuss their questions with health professionals.’

Revd. Mark Smith appointed to the Kildrumferton Group of Parishes

The Revd. Mark Smith has been appointed as Bishop’s Curate of the Kildrumferton Group in the Diocese of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh. Mark has previously been serving as Curate in the parish of Holy Trinity, Frogmore (just south of St Albans over in England) since 2017, and had several years working for a church in London in a lay capacity before that. 

Mark is married to Ruth, a chartered accountant by training, but currently working full time as a Mum, looking after their 16 month old daughter, Martha. Ruth is originally from the other side of Castleblayney and so is looking forward to moving back to a good Irish border county after a longer-than-expected stint in England!

This is obviously a somewhat difficult time to be moving country and to be beginning ministry in a new place. But Mark is nevertheless very much looking forward to getting to know the parishioners, community and schools in the local area; and throwing himself into life both within the churches and beyond.

Mark has a passion for good engaging preaching, for visiting and spending time with individuals, for children’s and youth work, and for reaching out into the community with the good news of the Lord Jesus. He also enjoys playing and watching sport, reading and watching a good box set. Mark and Ruth love people and are looking forward to their home in Ballyjamesduff being a place of hospitality, fellowship and friendship (when restrictions permit!)