NEWS BRIEFS

Bookings for Kilbroney Adventure Camps are LIVE!

Kilbroney is now taking bookings for its Summer 2020 Adventure Camps. This year they have moved their entire booking system online. Places can only be allocated through completing the online form which includes the deposit.

These highly rated and popular camps for children and young people are action–packed and filled with fun and adventure –something to look forward to in the middle of the summer holidays!

Click the link below which will take you to the Kilbroney Adventure Camps booking home page, then select the appropriate camp for your child and complete the registration form. You must book a place for each child you wish to attend. [ ddyc.eventbritestudio.com ]

The dates for the camps are:

JUNIOR CAMP

Sunday 26th July – Thursday 30th July 2020

(For those going in to Yr. 8, 9 & 10)

MIDDLE CAMP

Friday 31st July – Tuesday 4th August 2020

(For those going in to Yr. 10, 11 & 12)

SENIOR CAMP

Wednesday 5th August – Sunday 9th August 2020

(For those going in to Yr. 12, 13 & 14)

J.A.M CAMP

Monday 10th August – Wednesday 12th August 2020

(For those going in to P.6, P.7 &. Yr. 8)

COST

£159 per person for Junior, Middle & Senior Camp

£79 per person for J.A.M Camp

(A deposit of £40 is required to secure a place.)

There is a 15% discount off the total cost for 2 or more siblings attending the camps.

If you have any queries regarding Junior, Middle or Senior camp please contact Tim Burns ([tim@downanddromore.org]). For J.A.M camp please contact Julie Currie [ julie@downanddromore.org ]

Kilbroney Centre to host its first Women’s Weekend

The Kilbroney Centre (above) is delighted to announce its first Women’s Weekend which will take place from 27–29 March 2020.

If you have a smaller church or women’s group this is an ideal opportunity to join with others for teaching, worship, fellowship, relaxation and fun activities at the centre just outside Rostrevor.

Teaching input will come from Fiona McDonald, who is Director of National Ministries with the Scottish Bible Society.

Speaking about the weekend, Kilbroney Centre Development Officer Jan Peach said:

“We are incredibly excited to be hosting the Kilbroney Women’s Weekend in March. Hosting groups here at the centre is always a blessing, but we get really fired up by the chance to host ministry weekends which we are running ourselves. Fiona McDonald will be a challenging and inspiring bible teacher, the food will be great and the setting here in Kilbroney is like nowhere else.”

The early bird rate for the weekend (before 31 January) is £70, with the cost moving to £80 from 1 February.
For more details, or to book your place, contact Jan on 07342883538 or email[ booking@kilbroneycentre.com. ]

Find out more about the centre at [ www.kilbroneycentre.com ]

Irish bishops visit Gaza

Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ and Bishop Noel Treanor visit Gaza with the Holy Land Coordination 2020

Interested in the biblical prophets?

You are invited to the annual meeting of the Irish Biblical Association, taking place at Renehan Hall, St Patrick’s College, Maynooth, on Saturday 15th February (10am-4pm). More info: [ bit.ly/36WwsdW ]

Discipleship Masterclass

Mount Merrion Church, Belfast, is the venue for a discipleship workshop hosted by Pais, an organisation with years of experience in many different countries.

If you want to learn more about the biblical principles of discipleship and get some tools to use, then come along to this free half–day workshop delivered by Pete Baker of Pais Movement.

There will be three one hour sessions that will equip you with practical knowledge, tools and skills to use while discipling others, as well as for your own walk with Jesus.

This is open to anyone, regardless of age, length of time you’ve been a Christian, or church you attend.

Refreshments will be provided throughout the day and there will be a break for lunch. (Please bring your own food).

When: Saturday, 1 February 2020 from 10.00 am–2.30 pm

Where: Mount Merrion Church, Mount Merrion Avenue, BT6 0FS (beside the Kingspan Stadium)

For more information email [ info@mountmerrionchurch.org.uk ]

Find out more at the workshop at [ masterclasssuite.com ]

150th anniversary of dynamic dockland Dublin church

January 22, 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the founding of a unique church in the history of the Church of Ireland, that of St Barnabas in the docklands area of Dublin. This church stood for just over 100 years and was a dynamic presence within the Church of Ireland and the community that it served.

St Barnabas’s was located on Upper Sherriff Street in Dublin, a predominantly urban, industrialised, and working–class area of the inner–city. In the 1860s – and, indeed, for much of its history up until the present day – this area was witness to high levels of poverty, and suffered greatly with regards to inadequate housing that was available to its residents. The Church of Ireland clearly felt the need to create a new parochial district in this area, which was served previously by the parish of St Thomas. The Revd John Grainger, the incumbent of St Thomas from 1866 onwards, saw an area of potential growth for the Church of Ireland, with an already sizeable community of members of the Church, and one that was growing all the time. There was also a recognition of the need to minister to those transient workers – primarily members of the Church of England, but also other Protestant denominations – working in the shipping industry that docked in the area. A bequest of Miss Jane Shannon, originally from Belfast, but residing in Rathmines in Dublin, allowed for the funds to create a trustee church and the erection of a church in the area, with the consecration occurring on 22nd January 1870.

Given the overwhelmingly working–class nature of the area, it is unsurprising that the church itself devoted much of its pastoral care to aspects of social justice and reform, particularly with regards to attempting to solve the housing crisis that afflicted the area for much of its history. Of particular importance in this matter was the admirable work that the Revd David Henry Hall achieved in administering housing projects during the 1920s. The famous playwright and keen advocate of social justice, Sean O’Casey – who worked the railways in the area during his formative years – developed a lifelong admiration for the work of the church and in particular his rector, the Revd Edward Morgan Griffin, even dedicating the second volume of his autobiography titled Inishfallen Fare Thee Well to the rector with the inscription: ‘The Rev. E.M. Griffin B.D. M.A. who kept the door of the Church wide open for all to enter by refusing to be either Orangemen or Freemason’. The church of St Barnabas and the docklands feature prominently in O’Casey’s play Red Roses for Me, first premiered at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin in 1943. The play is set during the Dublin Lockout of 1913, and the church, stylised as ‘Saint Burnupus’, features prominently throughout.

The middle part of the 20th century saw a decline in the members of the Church of Ireland in the area, and the parish was united with Drumcondra and North Strand in 1965, with the demolition of the church itself in 1969. This month’s Archive of the Month is a celebration of a unique church within the Church of Ireland, highlighting the community work of its many pastors, which was so admired by many within the Church, as well as civil organisations throughout Ireland.

You can view the archive at [ www.ireland.anglican.org/library/archive ]

God in creation