Ballyholme Parish explore mission priorities together
Tim Burns and Julie Currie from our Youth, Children and Families Department, recently spent an evening with Ballyholme Parish at the invitation of the rector, Canon Simon Doogan (right). They were joined by John Beattie, Community Pastor in Moneyreagh, and Diocesan Development Officer, Andrew Brannigan, for an open forum to discuss the church’s engagement with children, young people and the community.
“We had a great discussion about the importance of children and working with them and their families, said Tim. “There was a good mix of ages, from teenagers to pensioners, and we agreed about the need for young people and adults to know each other and how a multi–generational approach to church community leads to healthy diversity and community and growth.
“John Beattie also spoke about the need for the community of the church to be healthy in order to properly impact the community of Ballyholme and the need to base all our initiatives in prayer.”
The open forum was part of an ongoing process of examining the mission of the parish. Rector, Simon Doogan explains:
“In 2009, the year after I arrived in Ballyholme, we conducted a consultation ‘Have your say’ to think about our mission and direction as a parish family. We have spent the last seven years since then building up to a major restoration of our much loved Church building which is now due to begin in May.
“In the hope of moving from physical restoration to spiritual transformation, we felt that this Lent was the time for us to talk and to pray. Looking beyond our six month building programme when we will be worshipping on Sundays at a local secondary school (St Columbanus College), we wanted to identify some clear practical priorities in terms of worship, discipleship, young people, children, seniors and our local community.
“Under God, our evening with the team proved a searching, energizing and timely exercise which we will be able to draw on and grow from over the next stage of our life together in Ballyholme.”