St Mary’s Ballybeen Celebrate God’s Goodness and Commit to Growth
Harvest Thanksgiving on Sunday past was a busy day at St Mary’s Ballybeen.
The morning saw the conclusion of a process of refocusing vision – Growing St Mary’s. Each member of the congregation was given a prayer card to remind them of this corporate commitment to pray and work to see the church grow over the next three years.
Harvest gifts of non–perishable foodstuffs were brought to support the ongoing work of Dundonald Foodbank in which St. Mary’s partners with six other local churches. Almost 150kg of food was donated!
Also at the morning service, Jason Waterworth, one of our young adults, was commissioned by Youth for Christ to serve with their NOMAD football outreach team over the coming year.
At the evening service, the theme was very much one of celebrating God’s goodness. This was reflected in the praise and worship, in the stories that were shared by a number of people of God’s goodness and faithfulness touching their lives and in the message brought by Revd Colin Davis (Carrowdore and Millisle), reminding us of how God delights in difference. He illustrated this by persuading the Rector and another willing volunteer to make pizza whilst he spoke! The results were enjoyed after the service.
It was also a real joy to welcome Fr Martin Magill from Sacred Heart in the Oldpark area of North Belfast to worship with us. Martin was with us as a guest of Michael Wardlow and cycled across town to get here.
A busy but incredibly encouraging day which was truly FOR HIM!
L to R: Fr Martin Magill, Rev Mark Harvey, Norma Burns (Foodbank Rep) and Revd Colin Davis.