Nigel Woods, Team Leader, writes:

Let Go and Let God - that was the theme for the Lay Witness Weekend at Florencecourt or Drumduff Methodist Church as the folk there like to call it.

Lorna and I met the folk at Florencecourt in early June 07.   As we chatted and asked questions about the church, it became evident to us that this was going to be a different kind of Lay Witness Mission than either of us had ever been involved in before.   The congregation were looking to be, as they put it, "refreshed and renewed".    Travelling home from that meeting, we were in no doubt that God had a definite plan for the "Weekend".

As we prayed for guidance in the selection of team members, it became evident that God had people lined up and ready to go.  With our team in place, we continued to pray for guidance and it wasn't long before God confirmed that the theme for the weekend was definitely "Let Go and Let God".

The weekend kicked off with an evening meal in the Church of Ireland (prepared by the ladies of that congregation) and we remained there for our first meeting.

On Saturday morning the ladies of the team did "visitation" while the men had a "Men's Breakfast", where more turned up than had been anticipated.   In the afternoon there were 3 Coffee Afternoons (we had great difficulty with the terminology), while Jacqui had "Kid's Zone" for the young folk. They had one whale of a time.

Conversations, that took place in the homes of our hosts and hostesses, as well as the Friday and Saturday meetings, and as team members witnessed one after the other carrying the theme of letting go and letting God have His way, and at other times, were preparation for Sunday Morning Worship.

God opened up the passage from scripture about the Shunamite woman where she had learned a hard lesson on what it really meant to let go and let God.

We knew from the first meeting in June that God was going to open the "flood-gates" on Sunday morning but, even with this awareness, we stood in amazement as people literally flooded to the front of the church, signifying they were indeed letting go and letting God have His way in their lives.

During our time in Florencecourt, many pounds were gained as a result of Fermanagh hospitality, lasting friendships were made, tears flowed, but most of all God did a marvellous work in team and congregation alike.

What an amazing God, our Father is!

Florencecourt Team

Jacqui Galbraith, David Ferguson, Nigel Woods, William Newell, Stephen Carvell

Wesley Stirling, Lorna Douglas, Trevor Wells, June Parke, Anne Aldred, Pauline Whan

Zelda Kingston, Florencecourt, adds……….

On the Sunday evening immediately after the team had left, many of the Florencecourt congregation shared what the weekend had meant to them. From the many conversations that they had as they opened their homes to the team members, they sensed how God had moved in their lives to bring healing and wholeness. This was a great encouragement to walk daily with God, to trust him and enjoy his presence. It was reassuring that God does indeed work in ordinary people’s lives.

One young father related how he had was greatly blessed by helping to organise the weekend and how easy it would have been to leave it to someone else. He realised the importance of passing his faith onto his children. Reviewing priorities was very much on everyone’s minds. 

There was a beautiful sense of God’s presence that night and the children in their sharing of the new song “My God is a great big God”, articulated what many had already related.