• 29 August 2013

’I have a dream…’ Bishop Harold shares a vision for the diocese

On the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I have a dream’ speech, Bishop Harold has shared his dreams for the Diocese of Down and Dromore. It was a postscript to his address, ‘The Pouring Out of the Spirit at Pentecost,’ delivered to a congregation of over 600 people in Shankill Church, Lurgan. 

Listen to or download the audio excerpt here.

Download the text below as a PDF.

‘I have a dream…’

  • I have a dream of a diocese in which every single church is vibrant with the life of the Holy Spirit;

  • I have a dream of places all over this diocese, where, when people come in among the people of God, there is electricity! They know that heaven and earth are meeting;

  • I have a dream of a church with open walls, open doors, open hearts, engaging with and welcoming all kinds of people, no matter what their situations may be, loving and serving them into the Kingdom;

  • I have a dream of a church that re–engages with the poorest of the poor and is particularly alive in poor communities;

  • I have a dream of a Church that is led by young leaders, who will pass on the faith to generations still to come;

  • I have a dream of a church that has all generations in it. And that lives out what it is to be church in a way that relates to all generations – translates, interprets the Gospel for all generations;

  • I have a dream of my generation repenting of what we have done * and leaving a legacy for the generations still to come and, by God’s grace, putting some of that right;

  • I have a dream of us using all our money and buildings and structures and everything else that has been passed on to us, for eternal gain and not for keeping an institution going;

  • I have a dream of a Church which rids itself of sectarianism for once and for all. And loves everybody in this community which is not two communities but one community;

  • I have a dream of a Church that really believes in prayer and gives itself to prayer. That will enter into a year of prayer with gladness and not with a heavy heart;

  • I have a dream of a Church that sends out leaders into every single part of our community – the business life, the political life, the artistic life… every single part of our community;

  • I have a dream of a New Pentecost in our generation. Of a Lord who rejoices, who pours out his Spirit on his people and baptises them, drowns them, fills them, with his Holy Spirit, so that they can do what he wants to do and live how he wants us to live;

  • And I have a dream that someday or other, people will look back to this time in the life of this diocese and say, ‘That was when God changed things; and that’s why we’re here now’. 

*in failing to adequately pass on the faith to younger people.

+Harold Down & Dromore28 August 2013