May 2020 Ministry Update

Ministry Update – May 2020

Dear friends and ministry partners,

Dia dhaoibh! We are so thankful to be able to have the technology to communicate with you all, especially considering the current circumstances. Let us share with you what God is doing here in Ireland!

Over the past several months, the country of Ireland has been in self-isolation. COVID-19 directly impacted our children’s school and it’s community of families and teachers. We have been homeschooling since March, and will continue to do so until their term is finished in June. 

John has been able to continue doing youth nights twice a week, but now they are just online using the ZOOM platform. The first few weeks were well attended, but gradually all but a few teenagers lost interest. We are seeking on ways to use this tool in other engaging ways. John has begun starting to reach out to the teens individually rather than in the large group format. Please pray for our teens; this process has hugely impacted them all.

As church, along with many other activities, has been deemed nonessential by the government, we have been unable to meet as a church body since March. Thankfully, we have been able to record and stream our services online, so the singing and preaching has continued. A blessing from all of this is that a few people in our community have joined our online services who have never attended our church! We pray that the truth of the Gospel will penetrate their hearts. We long for the day when we can all be gathered again in congregational worship to the Lord.

Most of our disciplers have the technology to continue meeting with their disciples, and we are proud of those who are nearing the end of their discipleship process, which normally takes over a year to complete! We have continued to reach out to our church family and to our community, and our church has stepped up their commitment to share the Gospel to others through posting on social media and inviting others to attend our online services.

Emily has been brainstorming ways that we can continue to be present in the hearts of our church members and community. She personally sent cards to each family in our church, as well as all of our supporters. She has cooked meals for families who needed encouragement during times of stress and loss. She has been reaching out to many friends and neighbors through social media to keep our relationships growing. She is also working on sending all of our members a special package from our church for them to have a little fun and a few treats during isolation. What an incredible partner!

We also have some exciting news about our son, Josiah. Our daughter, Abigail, was born again two years ago, and she has always desired to share the Gospel with her friends. She has also been sharing it with Josiah  during their playtime. She encouraged him to talk with us about following Jesus. We both have spent many hours over the past few months telling him about Jesus, and, just before his fifth birthday, he chose to surrender his life to Christ!

Finally, we want to thank you all, especially those who have reached out to us to pray with us, to invite us to join your church gatherings online, and to fulfill our needs. Thank you all for continuing to sacrifice during these severely difficult times to ensure that our financial support does not waver. We cannot begin to express our love and gratitude for you all. God bless you! As always, thank you so much for your prayers and support for our family and our ministry!