24/7 Prayer Gathering Taking Place in Dublin This Weekend; Illustrious ‘Skins’ pass into military history; Belfast church in best modern church shortlist; Pastor’s prayer ‘ended Darkley gun attack’ Forgiveness 30 years after attack on church; Nigerian leaders In Fight Against Malaria visit Derry; On Soul Waves radio
24/7 Prayer Gathering Taking Place in Dublin This Weekend
Almost 500 people from 30 different nations are gathering in Dublin this weekend for 24/7 Prayer’s International Gathering 2013.
The international ecumenical prayer movement’s event got underway on Thursday night, October 17 in St Mark’s Church, Pearse Street and participants are meeting at various locations in the city centre over the weekend for workshops and seminars as well as prayer and worship.
The opening event was addressed by the Archbishop of Dublin, Michael Jackson and Fr Kieran McDermot of the Catholic diocese of Dublin’s Office of Evangelisation and Ecumenism.
Fr McDermott spoke about Dublin and the church in Ireland which he explained was going through a time of extraordinary change. The Archbishop encouraged delegates to pray for Ireland. He said that the church had a strong tradition and a new vitality. He asked them to pray for honesty, compassion, neighbourliness and the confidence to harvest in Christian communities here.
24–7 Prayer is an international, interdenominational movement of prayer, mission and justice that began with a single, student–led prayer vigil in Chichester, England in 1999 and has spread, by word–of–mouth, into over 100 nations.
For more than a decade the global 24–7 Prayer meeting has spread throughout the world and along the way has given rise to numerous new initiatives, communities and ministries particularly focusing on the poor, the marginalised, students and those outside the reach of normal expressions of church.
The programme for this year’s event in Dublin includes some numerous contributors, worship bands and musicians, a Ugandan school choir and possibly a fire juggler or two. Greg Fromholz of Dublin and Glendalough’s new Ministry to Young People also spoke on Thursday night.
Illustrious ‘Skins’ pass into military history
One of the most illustrious regiments ever raised by the British Army will consign its colours to history with a special service in Enniskillen this Sunday.
News Letter – In a poignant ceremony at St Macartin’s Cathedral, the famous Standard of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards will be officially ‘laid up’, ending more than three centuries of service and sacrifice around the world.
Affectionately known as the ‘Skins’, the regiment was originally formed to fight in the Williamite wars but survived to earn battle honours from the early 18th century –through the Crimean and Napoleonic campaigns – right up to the Korean War in the 1950s.
The amalgamation of the Skins with the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guards in 1992 created the Royal Dragoon Guards (RDG).
Serving members of the RDG will parade to St Macartin’s along with members of the Inniskilling’s Old Comrades Association for the 11am service.
The parade is due to form up at the Enniskillen Branch of the Royal British Legion (RBL) in Darling Street before moving the short distance to the cathedral. A return parade will take the serving troops and veterans back to the RBL office for a reception.
The modern day Dragoon Guards is an armoured cavalry regiment recruited mainly in Yorkshire, Cumbria and on both sides of the Irish border which has been instrumental in the ongoing military operation in Afghanistan.
Throughout the centuries, a number of historical figures have served with the Dragoons, including Boy Scouts movement founder Lord Baden-Powell and Captain Oates who famously sacrificed himself in the hope of saving Captain Scott’s ill-fated Antarctic expedition.
One of the regiment’s finest hours came at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War.
On the day of the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade against Russian guns, 800 men of the 4th, 5th and 6th Dragoons, fighting together for the first time since the Battle of the Boyne as part of the Heavy Brigade, routed nearly 3,500 of the Tsar’s finest cavalry “with minimal loss” to themselves.
The two Dragoon regiments of the day were both awarded the ‘Royal’ title in the mid-1930s and switched from horses to mechanised vehicles in 1938.
Based in Catterick, north Yorkshire, the Royal Dragoon Guards has recently returned from its second operational tour of Afghanistan and is undergoing a period of recuperation and training before returning to operations next year.
Enniskillen remains the only town to have two regiments of the British Army named after it – the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoons and the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.
Belfast church in best modern church shortlist
St Molua’s Parish Church is one of two Irish buildings in the 20 churches which have been shortlisted for the Best Modern Churches architecture competition being run by the National Churches Trust, The Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association and the 20th Century Society.
Judges will select their Top 10 from a shortlist of 20 and award a National Churches Trust Diamond Jubilee Architecture prize to the three places of worship judged to be the best sacred spaces built in the last 60 years.
The awards are to be presented by the Archbishop of Canterbury at a ceremony taking place at his official residence, Lambeth Palace, on 7 November.
The shortlist has been compiled from over 200 churches nominated by members of the public, churches and heritage organisations.
The nominations were for church buildings or significant extensions to an existing building of any Christian denomination in the United Kingdom which opened for worship after 1 January 1953.
The Best Modern Churches competition is being held to mark the 60th anniversary of the National Churches Trust, which has provided over 12,000 grants and loans worth £85 million to help fund the repair and modernisation of Christian places of worship since 1953.
Judges for the awards are: Sherry Bates, President Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association, Richard Carr-Archer, Trustee of the National Churches Trust, Catherine Croft, Director of the 20th Century Society, Jonathan Glancey, writer and architecture critic.
The churches up for awards are: Our Lady and St Columba RC Church, Wallsend English Martyrs RC Church, Wallasey St Mary’s RC Church, Leyland Scargill Chapel, Skipton St Mark’s Church, Broomhill, Sheffield St John the Baptist Church, Lincoln St Joseph’s RC Church, Leicester St Paul’s Church, Harlow St Paul’s Church, Bow Common Lumen United Reformed Church, Tavistock Place, London WC1 St Paul the Apostle, Harringay All Saints Church, Croydon SS Mary & Joseph RC Church, Poplar Church of the Ascension, Wembley Park Abbey Church, Douai Abbey, Woolhampton Church of the Ascension, Crownhill, Plymouth Bishop Edward King Chapel, Ripon College Cuddesdon RC Chapel of St Albert the Great, Edinburgh University Brucefield Church of Scotland, Whitburn, East Lothian St Francis Xavier RC Church, Falkirk St Bride’s RC Church, East Kilbride Kildrum Parish Church, Cumbernauld Our Lady of Lourdes RC Church, Steelstown St Molua’s Church, Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast
Pastor’s prayer ‘ended Darkley gun attack’ Forgiveness 30 years after attack on church
The pastor of a south Armagh church that was riddled by republican gunfire in 1983 believes that prayer during the shooting jammed a terrorist’s weapon and ended the attack.
Pastor David Bell of Mountain Lodge church was speaking to the News Letter yesterday just before the launch of his new book about the 60-year history of the church.
Three elders died in the attack and nine other members were injured. The men who died were David Wilson, Harold Browne and Victor Cunningham.
The book, ‘Fire on the mountain – the true story of the Darkley church’, covers the history of the church from 1953.
“After the shooting we had around 1,000 letters of support from every denomination,” he said.
David was in the church that night, aged in his mid-twenties.
“It was reported that the gunmen came in but they never did. They stood outside and fired in through the closed door.
One of the elders, David Wilson, ran in and shouted for everyone to drop to the floor before he died of his injuries.
“Afterwards, the gunmen reloaded and started walking around the church, spraying us with gunfire. Then Pastor Bob Bain stood up and took authority over the situation.
“He shouted ‘in God’s name stop’ and one of the gunmen’s weapons jammed. Shortly after they fled. I do believe it was a supernatural intervention.
“The local GP who arrived on the scene said they were astonished to find peace and serenity in the building.”
His wife’s elbow was totally destroyed by a bullet but she later recovered 98 per cent use of it.
“The orthopaedic surgeon said ‘a higher power was obviously at work’,” he added.
“Everyone, whether gunman or someone who stole some rubbers from school, are born as sinners,” the pastor said. “But anyone who turns away from their old life towards God can find new life.
“It is much easier to move forward in forgiveness and faith than in a life of bitterness.”
Nobody was ever arrested or charged with the attack, claimed by the Catholic Reaction Force, a cover for the INLA, in supposed retaliation for loyalist murders.
But the pastor says to sceptics that God can still be in the midst of tragedy.
“We live in a fallen world full of man’s unkindness to man. But God provides us with forgiveness and comfort to deal with the past.
“God is a God of forgiveness. If any of the men responsible come forward and show remorse we would offer them the hand of forgiveness.”
‘Fire on the mountain – the true story of the Darkley church’ was launched this week, priced £9.99, from www.ambassadormedia.co.uk
Nigerian leaders In Fight Against Malaria visit Derry
Mayor Martin Reilly has welcomed Bishop Ken Good and two visitors from Nigeria to The Guildhall in Derry / Londonderry.
The visit took place on 17 October, on The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Rev Canon John Okoli and Mrs Nanlop Ogbureke, both from Nigeria, are visiting the diocese of Derry and Raphoe to promote the Nets Work Project.
Nets Work is a year–long diocesan project to raise enough funds to save up to 40,000 lives. It has inspired everything from Fashion Shows, 5–Aside Football Tournaments to Pantomimes – all part of the effort to raise enough funds to buy 20,000 mosquito nets.
Mosquito nets are a surprisingly effective weapon in the fight against malaria. The mosquito (the female – is the one that passes malaria and is silent, unlike the male) normally bites between 10pm and 5am. When people sleep under mosquito nets it protects them during the most vulnerable time of the day.
In one area where a project to distribute mosquito nets took place the death rate from malaria fell by 67%. The World Health Organisation estimates that there were 216 million cases of malaria in 2010 resulting in 655,000 deaths. This is equivalent to roughly 2000 deaths every day.
A net costs around £5 / €6 but for a family who spend more than 90% of their income on food this is an expense they cannot afford. Sadly, in many rural communities having a fever is just a way of life so this project also educates communities on how that fever is caused and how it can be prevented.
Bishop Good said “ I am very excited that Derry and Raphoe has identified a life–saving project in Nigeria – providing thousands of mosquito nets for people who can’t afford them.” A short promotional video for Nets Workwas shown at the synod and can be seen on the diocesan website www.derryandraphoe.org.
Revd Canon John Okoli is Programme Manager of ADONHADC (Anglican Diocese of Nnewi Health and Community Development Centre). During his visit to the diocese he will speak at the Diocesan Synod. He lives and works in the Anambra State in Nigeria and since 2008, has been working on projects which focus on children and their vulnerability to both malaria and HIV.
Mrs Nanlop Ogbureke works for Christian Aid Nigeria. She has been monitoring the effectiveness of the Nets programme since it’s inception and will speak to a range of groups during her stay.
All Ireland Mission to Seafarers Conference
Volunteers and staff of the Mission to Seafarers in Ireland, north and south, attended a two day conference in the City North Hotel, Dublin, October 17 and 18.
The All Ireland Mission to Seafarers Conference was conducted by personnel from the London headquarters of the organisation.
The conference covered a wide range of topics including looking at where the organisation stands now and planning ahead for the next three years as it prepares to mark 160 years in 2016.
Delegates also received a global review and examined local sustainability which looked at the options for maximising fundraising and marketing opportunities.
There were workshops on fundraising and marketing, volunteering, operational planning and being part of the global picture.
A proposal to establish a regional council for Ireland was examined along with seafarers issues and global ministry developments.
On Soul Waves radio
The Revd. Ása (pron. Awsa) Bjőrk Ólafsdőttir is the Vicar of Dun Laoghaire and Diocesan Development Officer for the COI Archdiocese of Dublin and Glendalough.
She is very strong on following Christ’s teaching to look out for and after your neighbour. She already works on a ‘food bus’ travelling around the area with meals for the homeless. People can get on the bus and have their meal in relative comfort. Rev Ása cooks hot meals herself and brings them around on the bus. She is also looking for ways to open a facility locally which will provide for homeless but also for those fallen on hard times.
Rev Ása Björk has a unique sincerity to her mission as a pastor and is in conversation here with Paul Loughlin PRO Soul Waves Radio about the financial crash and how it impacted Icelandic people in particular and how they reacted in such a magnanimous manner.
She has been iterviewed by Soul Waves radio and an audio is available her:
http://www.soulwavesradio.ie/2013/10/17/paul-loughlin-talks-with-rev-asa-bjork-olafsdotirr/
Both the Church of Ireland and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, in which the Rev Ása was ordained, are part of the Porvoo Communion, a fellowship of Anglican and Lutheran churches in northern Europe who celebrate their unity as churches and who share a common sacramental life and ministry through the Porvoo Declaration.