Via, Veritas, Vita

Wednesday 16th April 2014

Africa Bible College, Lilongwe

Via, Veritas, Vita (“Way, Truth, Life”) is the motto of Glasgow University where Ruth and I studied in the 1980’s and summarizes Jesus’ amazing assertion in John 14:6 – “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” And today we saw three different examples of faithful Christians looking to proclaim this truth in modern Africa.

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Tapita Malawi

Jacara Malawi

What images will persist, I wonder, for Ruth and I as we leave Malawi and Africa? For sure there will be images of rolling seas of tea bushes, of bright lilac colored jacaranda trees, of vast planes of dusty bush, of proud exotic animals, of litter strewn slums, of mud floors and tin roofs.

However I am convinced that the truly persistent images of Malawi and of Africa will be of the faithful brothers and sisters we leave behind. Compared to our homeland we found friends materially poor, struggling with a lack of education, and adrift for the want of more of Christ’s shepherds. But we also found friends with faces shining with the love of Jesus, humble homes thrown open in wonderful hospitality, and lives where the little they did have was completely dedicated to the growth of God’s kingdom.
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In the name of love

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10 – 11 September 2013

I wish I knew more about Jessie Rowland whose grave sits all alone at the top of a prominent hill that commands an amazing 360 degree view of a huge plain of African bush between Blantyre and Lake Malawi.

Monday in Blantyre was quiet but interesting as we met with Pastor Mvula J Mvula, the leader of the River of Life Evangelical Church that has recently become a partner of Zambezi Mission. Formed in 2001 ROLEC is an indigenous church that aims through the preachong of the Word of God to transform people’s lives and their communities both spiritually, socially and economically. In looks and in force of character there is something of Nelson Mandela about Pastor Mvula, and we had a fascinating time understanding his primary need to rapidly train ROLEC pastors to be better shepherds for their flocks. 
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Light of the world

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8th September 2013

In a country where Christian church buildings are so conspicuous, our time in Malawi is giving us a real insight into the ongoing need for the gospel in the country.

As you drive at night through the Malawi countryside you are immediately struck by the physical darkness of the place as so many struggle with the expense of providing lighting for their home, and the government struggles with the expense of lighting the streets. And certainly during our trip we also had to get used to repeated daily power outages that too often plunge everybody into deep black from 6 pm to 6 am.

However when you talk to the people of the countryside you understand – beyond their physical need for light – their far greater need for the spiritual light that only the Holy Spirit can bring.
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Well done good and faithful servants

7th September 2013

Kondwani and Evet Kwerani epitomise what it means to be good and faithful servants of Christ whatever our culture. They live in a small rough brick house in rural Choda, south east of Blantyre, with their three children Hope, Paul, and Kondwani jr.

Kondwani was born in the country and, even with a time studying in the relative comfort of Blantyre, he says he is more able to cope with being back in the simple rural life than his wife who was born in the city.

I say “simple life”, but in an area where the church members are essentially struggling to survive – and although they would never say so themselves – it would be more accurate to talk about a life of material “survival”.
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Bibles and biscuits

5th September

A change of plan meant that Ruth and I had the opportunity to travel with Michael Priestley and his ZM driver Anthony, to visit five ZEC churches in the Mulanje area east of Blantyre.

Michael is the sort of older Christian who is a challenging example to us all. He must be well into his seventies and he has been visiting Malawi from England for 23 years. Initially he came with his wife Joy, they fell in love with the people and the place, and even after her death eight years ago Michael has been coming back regularly to buy and distribute bibles in the local Chichewa language using money gifted by Christians in the UK.
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Colonial Comfort

4th September

I got my history fix early in our visit to Malawi when we visited the gallery, museum and cafe within Mandala House, the oldest standing house in Malawi.

David Livingstone was the ultimate “Jack-of-all-trades” whose contribution to Africa’s development covered aspects as wide as missionary, linguist, explorer, anti-slavery advocate, anti-apartheid advocate, physician, and zoologist. However he was also a great promoter of commerce as a way of helping improve the life of the indigenous people whom he loved. One response to this was the formation of the Africa Lakes Company, headquartered in Glasgow. They traded under the name Mandala, and Mandala house was built in 1882 on a strategic hilltop in Blantyre to act as their trading centre and a strong defensive location for settlers during the intermittent inter-tribe conflicts.
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Zambezi Evangelical Church

3rd September 2013

Our escorts here in Malawi, David and Janet Brown, attend the same church as Ruth and I. We consulted them early on when considering a move into mission and they lovingly offered to escort us on this trip to a country that had been on my heart since my Scottish upbringing. David and Janet work for Zambezi Mission (ZM). ZM (originally Zambezi Industrial Mission) has served God since 1892 along the Zambezi river in Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) and more recently in northern Mozambique. It founded the Zambesi Evangelical Church (ZEC) in 1894. Simon Chikwana, the Director of ZM in Malawi, is hosting us at the ZM guest house and has helped develop a great itinerary that will give us insight into ZM, ZEC, and their various ministries.
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An African “auld alliance”

2nd September 2013

We Scots usually think of the “auld alliance” being the one between Scotland and France to contain the expansionist plans of mediaeval England. However there is another “auld alliance” between Scotland and Malawi that is already making me feel very at home here in Blantyre.

Ruth and I arrived in Lilongwe International Airport too late to catch our noon bus to Blantyre (a four hour journey) and instead killed a few hours absorbing the new atmosphere of Malawi. Initial impressions were: less litter, less threatening, less people, less colourful clothing, more heat!
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Kwaheri Kenya

1st September 2013

The last two weeks have passed so very quickly and thanks to the gracious support of our hosts, Silas and Rahab, we have learned so much about Kenya, about its people, and about ourselves.

So it is only fitting that we have spent our last day in Kenya with our amazingly hospitable hosts; back again at their lively church, and then at home with them for a family meal around their big dining table.

It is an example of their open hearted character that “family” included us, a brother, a nephew, a missionary friend, his children, and our driver!
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Born free

29th – 31st August 2013

After an intense few days helping out in the various ministries of Silas and Rahab, it was good to have time to chat things over together while we had a bit of a safari experience in the famous Masai Mara game park.

The journey to the park was another lesson in how varied the Kenya landscape and climate is. We left the lush green fields of Thomson’s Falls very early as the heavy dew lay on the ground and the morning mist still filled the valleys of the rolling country. Within an hour we had plunged down into hot scrubland. Then we were quickly into beautiful parkland where savannah had been transformed into rolling wheat fields picturesquely dotted with acacia trees in a scene I knew my farmer friends back in Suffolk would adore.
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When washing feet saves lives

28 August 2013

Today, Wednesday, we were privileged to journey with Simon, Lucy, Silas, Rahab and their teams an hour further north to where the paved roads of Kenya finally finish and any travel – especially in the rainy season – becomes a real adventure.

We were off to a marginalised village of Turkana and Sanburu people living in those wood and mud round houses surrounded by thick thorn fences – the very archetypal African scene to westerners brought up on a diet of public service broadcaster documentaries and National Geographic magazines.

We had been forewarned of the challenges that would face us but, as ever, the full sensory experience still came as a shock.
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Baboons for breakfast

27th August 2013

Ruth and I breakfasted in early morning sun with the sound of Thomson’s Falls in the background, baboons searched for food in the lawn outside, and a walk back to our rooms through blooming flowers. It was idyllic.

However, even though most of the guests were holidaying Kenyans, it was difficult not to feel awkward at the comfort we were living in, and difficult not to feel isolated from the real world that lay outside the gates. And certainly, as we passed through the guarded gate on our way to Nyahururu the manicured lawn was replaced by dusty packed earth, the smooth drive for potholed road, and the colonial lodge for wooden shacks.

Today Silas and I were scheduled to train pastors gathered in a Nyahururu church from the 33 churches overseen by Simon in this part of Kenya and from other churches in the region. But just getting to the church was an adventure as our van inched through the crowded marketplace of rough built stalls to a three story building that stood proud in the centre. The church was literally an “upper room” with a pub below and shops on the ground floor.
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Equatorial Kenya

26th August 2013

Monday was an early start as Ruth, Silas, Rahab and I drove “up country” to visit the ministry of Simon Mwaura in northern Kenya from his base in Nyahururu.

Downtown Nairobi was quickly left behind as we climbed north past the grim slums that ring Nairobi and on into surprisingly misty rolling green pine forests very reminiscent of a cool Scottish hillside. Imperceptibly we had climbed up to 8,000 feet as we turned a steep corner to be faced with the famous Rift Valley.

Unfortunately Kenya wanted to continue masquerading as the highlands of Scotland and the “Internationally Recommended View Point” looked more like a view of the Cuillins of Skye on a bad day!
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A sweet Nairobi Sunday

25th August 2013

Our first Sunday in Kenya started much as our Sundays in England, with church. We had the privilege of attending Kilelesha Covenant Community Church (K3C) which is the suburban home church of our hosts Silas and Rahab. Both the well designed building, the smartly dressed, multi-generation congregation, and the well designed multi-media presentations, would not have been out of place in any major city in the UK and the US.

It was a special youth service and the excellent multi-lingual music ministry of the young praise band, the energy of the guest rap artist, and the culture of clapping God in praise, might have raised a few eyebrows in quiet rural Suffolk. However the clear bible teaching, the obvious love of the church for it’s youth and children, and the church’s dynamic focus on reaching out to make disciples, all made Ruth and I feel very at home. Even the report back from the teenagers about their summer camp showed the same breathless enthusiasm and energy of our own young people.
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Retreat from the street

24th August 2013

Lydia of the bible (Acts 16) was obviously a woman of strong character and good education. A dealer in purple cloth, she became a believer and invited Paul and his fellow travellers into her home. Today Ruth and I met another Lydia of strong character and good education who, on becoming a believer did the unthinkable in Kenya and gave up her safe and secure job with a bank to create a home for some 30 of the orphan street boys she saw every day at the street corners of her town.

It was a long drive north through coffee and tea plantations to reach a height of 6,000 feet and the El Shaddai boys home on the outskirts of Limuru. El Shaddai is an ancient name of God meaning “All Powerful One” or “All Sufficient One”. And as we stepped through the solid metal gates into the small grounds of the home we quickly realised that this home survived day to day only through faith that the God of the bible truly is all sufficient for all our needs.
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Dancing with the Maasai

23rd August 2013

I can’t be the only one who grew up with those amazing BBC documentaries about the African savannah and their stories of the nomadic cattle warriors of Africa that means the name “Masai” is so very special.

So I must admit to some disappointment as we drove far into the savannah south of Nairobi to Kisaju to participate in a praise service at the Glad Tiding Evangelical Church.
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New Life in the slums

22nd August 2013

Today we learned that Nairobi has the dubious distinction of having the second largest slum in Africa after Soweto. We learned this as we drove the relatively short distance from the government district, with all its well dressed business folk, to the shanty town of Kawangware.

We were faced with the usual vision of dirt roads, rotting refuse in the streets being picked over by goats, and groups of youths standing aimlessly at corners. But what we were not prepared for was how much we were going to learn about church planting in a little concrete shack sandwiched between two dingy shops, and the joy we were going to have hearing the wonderful stories of young (and not so young) men and women born-again to a new life with Jesus Christ.
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Training trainers in Muthure

21st August 2013

The first full day in Kenya for Ruth and I involved an exciting drive up into the rural hills north of Nairobi to help at a Pastor’s seminar being run by our hosts, Silas and Rahab Waweru, at Cornerstone Mission Church in Muthure.

As we drove through the posher suburbs of Nairobi, those that had formerly been the residence of the colonial British, it was quite a shock to see how quickly they transitioned to the shanty towns that encircle the city just outside the official town limits. It is clear that living in our guest house in the centre of the government district we were getting a rather rarefied vision of Kenya.
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Kenya at last

20th August 2013

We arrived! Ruth and I arrived early this morning in Nairobi without too much hassle – except I dropped and cracked the screen of my iPhone. Nor did we get much sleep on the plane.

But it is amazing how quickly the Kenyans have set up temporary workarounds at the airport, using big tents to get things moving despite the huge fire they had. It was still faster through immigration than Heathrow on a good day – but that is not saying much!
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Return to Budapest

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26-28 June 2013 

We finished off our road trip of Romania by driving back across the flat plains of Hungary to Budapest. In a previous life I founded and directed Walt Disney Hungary when I was an executive of the “mouse house”. During that time I had grown to love Budapest, which became my second home. And over the years I saw the city grow out of the ashes of communism and regain much of its ancient beauty. However Ruth had only seen Budapest once and that was in the cold, dark, snow of December when we visited the office Christmas party; we were long overdue a summer visit.

It was also a great opportunity to meet again with my old friend Gabor, who had headed the Budapest office for me, and enjoy some great Hungarian hospitality at his beautifully crafted Budapest town house.  We were greeted by Gabor and his wife with a wonderful Hungarian goulash cooked in the traditional way in a cauldron over an open fire in a slow process that takes many many hours. But, for the visitors at least, all the effort was worthwhile!

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The next day I made an early visit to my old offices near “Heroes Square”, and had a lovely opportunity to meet up with the team leaders who so faithfully led my central teams over my time in Disney. The rest of the day was full-on touristic sightseeing, and what a lot there is to see, and hear, and taste among the many glories of the ancient and imperial city: from citadel to ancient fortress to cathedral to parliament building to Victorian marketplace to grand opera house to the beautiful and ever changing Danube – every taste is catered for!

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Gabor is a designer at heart, and has recently shown himself to be an excellent photographer. He certainly showed a wonderful eye for the varied architecture of Budapest as he guided us through the beautiful streets.

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Our time in Budapest was a wonderful way to close the loop on our stay in central Europe. Budapest gave me time to look back from an emotional distance at the commercial executive life that I once really enjoyed and at the time so fulfilled me. At the same time Transylvania had excited me with the glimpse of so many lives given wholeheartedly to God. Together Budapest and Transylvania gave Ruth and I a wonderful opportunity to reflect on just how much God had challenged, stretched, and changed our hearts and minds and souls in just one year.

Faith in the heart of ancient Transylvania

Alex and Sam with three of their visitors

25 June 2013

Eventually we had to tear ourselves away from the God-given peace of Casa Harului and head across to the ancient city of Alba IuliuStrategically located on the Mureş River, this city has Roman roots, was the capital of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom, capital of the Principality of Transylvania, and sports an immense Austro-Hungarian bastion that excited my love for all things historic.
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Road trip in the Transylvania alps

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24 June 2013

On this trip to Romania we were determined to see more of the reputedly beautiful Romanian countryside, and to get a taste of some of the wider Christian ministry in the country. So Ruth and I – accompanied by our daughter and church friend – headed off eastwards on a road trip that took us through the beautiful green pastureland of Transylvania to the Casa Harului (meaning “House of Grace”)Christian campsite near Deva.

On our January trip to Carand we had met Beni Medrea and we were keen to meet up with him and his wife, Maria, to check out the stories we had heard about their alpine campsite that provided holidays, good food and sound Christian teaching to children from a wide variety of backgrounds. With clear vision, starting with army tents, and through decades of hard effort and strong partnership from UK Christians, this very special place rose out of a pasture near their family hill farm. Today it serves the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of disadvantaged families, physically disabled children and children with learning disabilities from a wide area of Romania.
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Abundant Gospel sowing in Transylvania

Daniel and Danny Ispas with family and visitors

Pastors Daniel and Danny Ispas with family and visitors

21-24 June 2013

In June Ruth and I had the privilege of returning to Carand in Western Transylvania in Romania. This time we were joined by our daughter and a young woman from our parent church who has a heart for this lovely country and its people.

Last August I traveled to the global headquarters of One Mission Society (OMS) where I had an eye opening, and life challenging, introduction to their approach to church planting and multiplication. One of the biggest personal impacts came from being trained by an amazing group of humble, faithful, obedient disciples who had decades of real hard-won experience evangelizing and church planting around the world. The other big impact was the wonderful opportunity to meet with so many committed church planters from around the world, including the father/son pastor team of Daniel and Danny Ispas.
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Historic County Meath

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Ireland feels a little like Israel: every corner you turn you discover another piece of fascinating history. So poor Ruth had to endure another day of satisfying my habitual cravings for all things historical and archaeological. And County Meath has much to offer such an addict!

Newgrange

Newgrange is a massive passage tomb constructed over 5,000 years ago making it older than Stonehenge or the Great Pyramid of Giza! Nestled in a bend of the Boyne river in Ireland it is a UNESCO world heritage site and rightly so. The archaeologists tell us It is also a place that had astrological, spiritual, religious and ceremonial importance, much like the cathedrals of more recent years.
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The Loughran clan

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12-15 July

After the wonderful scenery, hospitality and fellowship in Midleton and in County Mayo, Ruth and I drove across Ireland’s green and pleasant countryside for our final stay, in Trim and County Meath.

Last August I had the privilege of being an “honorary Irishman” for two weeks when I sharing lodgings with a dynamic group of Irish church planters at a conference organised by One Mission Society in Greenwood, Indiana. In Trim I was looking forward to repeating the long evenings of practical theological discussions with Ciaran that I had enjoyed in Indiana, and to worshiping with the Living Hope Church that I had heard so much about. I was not disappointed on either front.
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Fellowship in Castlebar

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11th July

It never ceases to amaze me – that instant sense of bonding in the Holy Spirit that comes when true Christians meet for the first time, even across cultures and nationalities. And that was certainly the blessed experience Ruth and I had when we met at the midweek evening meeting of the church in Castlebar that Calvary Mission has recently established.

We met in the house of Stephen and Nikki Childs as their children, Saoorse and Eoin, were just being put to bed. We had a wonderful time talking and praying with Stephen, Nikki, Andrew and Larry about things of the Kingdom, the state of Christ’s church in Ireland, and the work God is doing through them in Castlebar. It was heart warming to witness the commitment and dedication of these disciples to live 100% for their Saviour in this key town in County Mayo.

Stephen and Nikki grew up on the west coast of Ireland and moved a year ago to Castlebar after education and work in Ireland and London; Andrew and his wife are from the US and been in Castlebar from April 2012; while Larry is a native of Mayo. They are looking forward to September when two new families join them, and they hope to start meeting regularly on Sunday mornings in a venue that will make it easier for people to come along.    

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Around Mayo

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10th July

After our time in Westport with Paudge we had the wonderful opportunity to see County Mayo in the exceptional summer weather. So we spent a wonderful afternoon/evening driving round the coast from Westport to Achill Island to find at Keel the most amazing of beaches full of children swimming and surfing in bright blue water against white sand and clear skies. Ireland is just not meant to look like this!

In the midst of all this fun and beauty, a God-given discussion with a dog walker turned into a deep talk about spiritual matters. It drove home a point Paudge had been making about the cultural environment of Ireland: unlike the UK, and despite the recent public failings of the established church, gloriously the Bible’s words are still respected here and are a sound bridging point for sharing the true Gospel of Jesus. Continue reading

Westport

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The Octagon, Westport

Wednesday 10th July

Our first full day in County Mayo started with a major discovery: inside two weeks we had been in two places with public spaces that were, for obvious reasons, called “Octagon”. The first was in Budapest, Hungary, and the second in Westport, County Mayo. Perhaps you know of more places by this name?

We were in Westport to meet Pastor Paudge Mulvihill who is the experienced but unassuming leader of Calvary Mission – a network of Christians working together to establish Bible-centred churches in the West of Ireland. Paudge is also a key partner for One Mission Society in the Republic of Ireland.
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Galway Bay

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Tuesday 9th July

The fun of a road trip, wherever you are going, is the excitement of that chance discovery. Turning off the main road just south of the city of Galway to find somewhere for lunch we stumbled on the quietest of bays in the complex of inlets that is Galway Bay. Aging traditional fishing boats lay haphazardly on the shingle beach in an all-enveloping silence that was so deep that the munching of grass by the sleepy cows was as piercing as a jumbo jet passing over Trafalgar Square, and the fishermen a mile away on the mill-pond still bay could be heard chuckling over a joke.

Irish bliss.

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Cobh

Cobh Waterfront

Monday 8th July

Even born in Scotland the pronunciation of Gaelic names comes as a challenge to me, whether in Ireland or the West of Scotland. And with no k, q, v, w, x, y or z in the core alphabet the English speaker gets very confused by the combinations of letters used in, for example, my daughter’s name Mhairi (pronounced “Vari”) and Cobh (pronounced “Cove”).

However difficult to pronounce, Cobh is a beautiful spot in the heart of what is said to be the second largest natural harbour in the world after Sydney Harbour. It has a lovely water front of brightly painted shops that reminds me of a bigger version of Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, and still gives a great view of the military and container ships using the port. And the quite modern cathedral towering above the town is well worth a visit for its fresh architecture. Continue reading

Lismore

Lismore Castle

Monday 8th July

Andy Compton said that the drive from Youghal through the countryside of West Waterford to Lismore would be delightful, and he was right. But that still didn’t prepare us for the beautifully manicured little town we discovered, with its lovely historic castle, quietly beautiful St Carthage’s Cathedral, and peaceful riverside Lady Louisa’s Walk.

The citizens also still seem to be rightly proud of their town with a pristine town square and lovely Millennium Garden which we frequented with the local mums and toddlers as we soaked up the Mediterranean style sunshine.

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Midleton Evangelical Church

Andrew and Sharon Compton

Sunday 7th July

The primary reason for Ruth and I recently being in Ireland was to meet up with various pastors of newly founded churches in the Republic of Ireland, to understand their challenges, and to see whether we might be called to such an environment. I had met some of those guys in Indiana last summer when we were receiving training together in approaches to “church planting and multiplication” with One Mission Society. For a while I became an “honorary Irishman” and we enjoyed great “craic” together as we cooked and ate together, and discussed all matters scriptural and theological long into the night – as so often seems the habit of the Irish!

One of the folk I got to know in Indiana was Andrew Compton who is the pastor at Midleton Evangelical Church in County Cork just down the road from Youghal where we were camped. The church has been going for a good few years now and, having outgrown their original premises, they now meet in some function rooms in a hotel in the center of the town.
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A lovely welcome in a troubled land

Yougal harbour

At the start of our recent tour of Ireland, during the evening of 6th July, Ruth and I arrived at our little campsite a few miles outside Youghal as the sun moved fast towards the horizon and the midges, that love my skin so much, started to rise out of the grass. It was a beautifully green and manicured site, if a little cramped for our not-so-pop-up tent.

The lovely people around the camp site seemed determined to fit our British stereotype of the Irish: friendly fun loving hospitable people. The campsite owner welcomed us like long lost friends, and invited us to attend the rather noisy but good natured “Mad Hat” birthday party barbecue underway for her 30 year old daughter. And while erecting the tent I was hindered by the good intentions of an older relation of the owner’s, giving me his life story, his favourable prognosis for the weeks weather ahead, and his depressing if realistic prognosis for the Irish economy for the decade ahead.

But it was when we took an evening walk in Youghal itself that we really saw the contrasts that make this beautiful, welcoming, but troubled land so intriguing.

For Youghal is a lovely place resplendent in the faded 18th century splendour of an ancient walled port. So much so that it reminded us of a wonderful architectural mash up of the grandeur of Crieff in Pershire, the quiet harbour delights of North Berwick in Lothian, and the faded Victorian seaside attractions of Felixtowe in Suffolk! 

But Youghal is also a place where – post tiger economy boom – only the pubs and the national church seemed to be getting any investment. We found the local park teaming with youngsters who were partying in the dusk; literally intoxicated by the worlds temporary liquid pleasures in a seemingly vain attempt to forget the spiritual and economic challenges their country faces. Perhaps it is little surprise that we discovered the net influx of young from around the world in the first decade of the new century has now reversed with emigration jumping back to 87K a year in 2012 as Ireland’s young once again strive for a better life overseas.

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The more we talked to people as the week went on the more we understood that, with under 200 evangelical churches in the whole of the Republic, and despite the impressive buildings of the established church all around, their was a desperate shortage of people to quietly witness in word and deed to Jesus, the one true hope for a people who feel betrayed by their political class and betrayed by their national church.

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While English speaking Ireland might look like an obvious place for us to consider spending the next phase of our lives, it fast became clear that despite the common language we needed to remember the huge cultural differences that appeared to lie just below the surface.

Like so many places we have recently visited, Ireland may give the visitor a lovely welcome, but it is also a troubled land that desperately needs to be loved and reached anew with Jesus’ Good News about true life in all its fullness.

Why do the Celts have all the best vistas?

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Driving across Wales to Fishguard on 6th July on the start of our Ireland trip, in the beautiful weather that came as such a surprise in our normally dismal British summers, I could not help but be struck by the beautiful rolling green vistas of Pembrokeshire as we approached Fishguard. It reminded me of so many spots in the foothills of the Highlands, but that was only a foretaste of the beautiful drive we had from Roslare to Youghal.

The Republic of Ireland that Ruth and I first started visiting back in the eighties had at least one key similarity with the Romania we visited recently – the roads! Wherever you went you were faced with narrow winding roads and with potholes that would swallow a car, or at least wreck a suspension. So much so that almost every car was an old banger – why invest in a decent car that could be wrecked on the first outing?

If not mangled in a pothole then any car was at risk of being crumpled in a head on collision on the “shared overtaking lane” roads that were the ubiquitous low cost alternative to a dual carriageway. For my younger friends who have not had the privilege of driving on these types of roads let me explain: cars traveling in either direction were given the right to move out into a shared central third lane for overtaking. Of course two cars coming in opposite directions could be lulled into a false sense of priority, move out to overtake, and crunch! Just as when dealing with the overtaking and tailgating habits of the average Romania, the visitor had to keep their wits about them!

But decades of “Tiger Economy” status and EU development fund investment has transformed the roads of the Republic of Ireland into snaking smooth ribbons of tarmac that rivals anything seen in the UK. And with the low density of traffic, on a quiet island that is one again exporting its young to the rest of the world, it is easy to cruise at the generous speed limits while watching the beauty of the rolling fields and broad coastal estuaries of the south coast of Ireland as the sun slowly falls in a rate pale blue sky.So, my friends, am I biased do you think? Wales and Cornwall, Scotland and Ireland – the best of our islands countryside seems to be westward facing where the Celtic people in all their forms have clung tenaciously to the green coated rocks over the millennia. Perhaps it’s that the countryside that shaped the people. Or perhaps – like so many parts of the world – the weaker Celtic tribes were left with the marginal corners of land that more successful invaders did not sufficiently value.

What do you think? Why do the Celts have all the best vistas in these emerald islands of ours?

Stepping out with God

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Saturday 6th July

It is 2pm Sat 6th July. Ruth and I are sitting in the sun on the ferry in Fishguard harbour after a drive from the east to the west of mainland Britain on our way to Youghal, County Cork in Ireland.

This is the second part of our great adventure this summer as over the next few months we visit and share with Christian missionaries in Romania, Ireland, Kenya and Malawi. (Our second visit to Belgium has been postponed to October). It’s all part of our quest to understand God’s call for this next phase in our lives.

The first part of our summer adventure was a return visit last week to Daniel and Danny Ispas in Carand, western Transylvania, Romania. Over the coming weeks we will post more about that physical and spiritual journey as time (and internet connection) permits.

Please support and encourage us by following our posts on Facebook and on our new WordPress blog. At both places you can leave your own contributions and comments to help us on our way.

The idea of the blog is to allow our friends to share in our thoughts and experiences as we spend time in so many different places. However, perhaps more importantly, it will give Ruth and I a mechanism with which to reflect on the experience and the lessons learned.

We hope you enjoy sharing in our great adventure this summer as we step out with God.