‘Just do it’ – Bishop Harold Miller’s Bible week plea
‘Just do it,’ was Bishop Harold’s plea as he brought the seventh Bishop’s Bible Week to a close with teaching on, ‘The Practical Practice’ of mission.
The bishop laid firm foundations on the first three nights, preaching from the Book of Acts on: The Preparation of Prayer, The Pouring Out of the Spirit at Pentecost and The Preaching of Penitence.
‘We are working as a diocese towards a whole year of mission in 2015,” he said. ‘We are going to think differently, act differently, live differently – we are going to become a missional diocese and we’re well on the road this week.’
He acknowledged, however, that the critical thing is to ‘make it all real in every single one of our parishes and churches.’
‘Sometimes,’ he continued, ‘parishes have an aspiration and they don’t put the strategy in place to make it happen. And that’s what today is about. Just do it.’
On the first night, Bishop Harold launched an exciting new appeal – ‘plant forHim’ (Down and Dromore Church Planting Fund) with an initial target of £100,000. This seed funding will be used to train church planters and diocesan evangelists and to enable new church plants to be set up in the areas that the diocese has already identified. There are immediate plans for The Braniel and Moneyreagh and other locations will unfold in the future.
That same evening, 12 of the 14 ‘graduates’ of the Bishop’s Bible Course were presented with their certificates by the bishop and the course lecturer, Canon Robert Neill, rector of Drumbo.
The four nights of Bible teaching and worship was hosted in the Diocese of Dromore by Shankill Parish, Lurgan. Last years’ large attendances were repeated as people of all ages and from all parts of the diocese gathered for fellowship in the church building.
Worship at the Bible Week embraces both contemporary and modern music and was led this year by Shankill’s Musical Director, Carl McCambley and his team. We were also delighted to welcome SAMS Mission Director, Bishop Ken Clarke, as our host.
Another characteristic of the Bible Week is the offer of prayer ministry each evening from a trained team of volunteers from around the diocese. Many people took this opportunity in a time of response after Bishop Harold’s teaching.
Prior to the Year of Mission 2015, the diocese plans a year of 24/7 Prayer in 2014 which will require the participation of every single parish. A model prayer room was set up in Shankill’s side chapel to give a taste of different ways to engage in prayer and provide a model for those for whom this is an unfamiliar concept.
On Tuesday 28 August on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous ‘I have a dream’ speech, Bishop Harold 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. A copy of what he said, along with all four Bible Week talks can be downloaded from this page on the website.
View a Bible Week gallery here.