I wanted to give a report on our recent mission trip to Ireland. From October 13 - 20 Fleming Straughan, Shelly Straughan, and myself visited several Serge workers and church planters around Dublin, Ireland. The purpose of our trip was to see how God has been at work in Ireland.
For two decades Grace Community Church has partnered with Serge workers Tom and Vicki Gilliam in their efforts for the spread of the Gospel in Ireland. Today, “the Gilliams serve as regional supervisors of four teams (17 individuals in Dublin, Cork, Belfast and Edinburgh) engaged in Facilitation Church Planting in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland. These teams support and encourage Irish and Scottish pastors and church leaders in their church planting and church renewal efforts in a variety of denominational and non-denominational contexts” (from Serge Website).
I’ll give a brief run down on our trip. I will drop a bunch of different names. However, the main thing is that Tom and Vicki’s Serge team directly supports all these different indigenous Church planters.
We stayed in the Grand Canal district of Dublin near Google’s European headquarters. Our traveling in Dublin really got started on Thursday as we hopped on the bus to meet with Mark Peach and Kieron Lynch at Volumes Café. Kieron is the Minister of Immanuel Church Dublin. Immanuel is part of Irish Church Missions (ICM) which is a church planting network and is a part of the Anglican Convocation in Europe. Kieron has been a key leader in training and sending out church planters in Dublin. He is also one of the leaders of the Dublin Collective (A cohort for Dublin church planters). That day we had lunch with Mark and Melissa after visiting Adelaide Presbyterian Church in Dublin. This is the Church where the Peach’s worship and serve. That evening we traveled south of Dublin to the Peach’s home to have dinner there. I was reminded of the simple everyday sacrifices of missionary life like children leaving friends behind and going to schools where they have to learn all new local customs in order to fit in.
On Friday we took the bus to a town just outside Dublin called Tallaght. There we met with Serge worker Russell Jeffares and Jeff Hay. Jeff Hay is the minister and Church planter of Ballycullen Community Church. Ballycullen is a part of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland. My big takeaway from meeting with both Kieron and Jeff Hay was how faithful they are to preach the whole counsel of God’s Word and to reach the lost. Dublin is even more hostile to Christianity than Charlottesville and yet God is at work there using the authority of His Word to make and mature disciples of Jesus Christ.
Saturday, we took the DART train down along the coast, south of Dublin. We spent time in the villages of Greystones, Bray, and Dun Laoghaire. To my surprise each town had a Presbyterian Church that teaches the Bible and proclaims the Good News. Fleming Straughan was able to visit the location of a Serge Conference he attended 20 years ago in Greystones.
On Sunday we took the bus out to a city called Maynooth, “a university town of 18,000 located on the western outskirts of Dublin…Tom and Vicki Gilliam were part of the core group of Maynooth Community Church [a Presbyterian Church]” (from Serge website). Sunday morning, we worshipped with the good people of Maynooth Community Church and heard a sermon on Romans 1:17. They are currently in a sermon series on the book of Romans. After worship we had lunch at the Gilliam’s home with the pastor Keith McCrory and his wife. After lunch Tom gave us a walking tour and history of Maynooth. One of my big takeaways here was how well Tom knew his neighbors and the city of Maynooth. I lost track of the number of people we passed on the sidewalk who knew (and liked!) Tom. It was inspiring to me to think about my own potential to know my own community like this.
On Monday we took the train (much better than the bus!) out to Rathmines to visit Serge worker Kathleen McAlister who serves with Holy Trinity Church (Church of Ireland). Finally on Tuesday we flew home.
It was such an honor for Grace Community Church to send us to Dublin to see how God has been at work there. I can say that our support of Tom and Vicki and their team has borne much fruit over the last twenty years. After seeing these faithful growing Churches in Dublin, it inspires me to want to be a more faithful part of Christ’s Church here in Charlottesville, VA. I have the same Bible, the same savior, and the same Holy Spirit. It’s amazing that our Lord is bringing people into his Kingdom right here in our community just as he is doing “across the pond” in Ireland.