Dear Friends

 Our warmest greetings to you as we begin another year of service for God.   This month we made it into the Methodist Newsletter with reports on recent missions, a photo and the following article.  Hopefully it will give you a taster of the way in which God is leading at present…………

A Busy Year For Lay Witness

 So far this winter Lay Witness Teams  have been invited for  weekends to Tempo, Knockbreda and Brookeborough. Teams are scheduled to visit Moville and Holywood in the New Year.  We thank God for the opportunity to serve and for the evident signs of His blessing on the churches involved.

 We are more than ever convinced of the need for ordinary lay people to find their voices and tell others of the wonderful difference that Jesus makes in lives given over to Him.  Again and again we find that when team members share their stories in openness and honesty, hearts are touched, non-believers are challenged and wavering Christians are encouraged and restored.  This has certainly been our experience this winter.

 The new “Connexions” initiative, which is being introduced into the Church, is one that is dear to our hearts.  It rightly seeks to put emphasis on empowering lay people to exercise their gifting and ministry.  We hope to explore this theme at our annual Lay Witness conference in March.  We want to encourage as many as possible to join with us for that important and timely event.  This year we are asking people to think about inviting and sponsoring their minister to attend.  After all, there is little point getting fired up about “body ministry” in the church if your minister sees things differently.   This could be a wonderful opportunity for ministers and lay people to think and share together.  It will also provide some practical advice and training in how to share faith naturally and clearly with others.

 Sometimes people wrongly get the impression that the Lay Witness Movement is a closed shop or that belonging to it is “by invitation only”.  This is simply not true!  We constantly want to draw in new recruits – especially younger people.  If you sense that God is leading you to be part of this work or if you would just like to be added to our mailing list so that you can pray and add your support please do write to us at the address given below.

 Leaders, what about a Lay Witness weekend for your church?  We are waiting to hear from you.

Our Records  

 We keep a note of your name, address and telephone number together with the mission teams you have been on, if any.  Please notify us if you wish to have any details updated or deleted.  If there are others you think would like to receive this Newsletter, please ask them to contact us c/o:

contact.us AT laywitnessireland.org