Diocesan News
Phone call brings good news to Donaghcloney rector
Canon Bryan Martin, rector of Donaghcloney and Waringstown, answered the phone on Easter Sunday evening to hear that two people in the parish had just come to Christ.
“It’s real proof that Jesus is risen, alive and working in people’s lives,” says Bryan. “I pray that I would get phone calls like that every Sunday night!”
One of the two was a daughter of a parishioner. “She had been watching our services on Facebook and had heard through Matthew 28:1–10, that Jesus still meets people, lovingly comforting them. She was really challenged and comforted by the fact that Jesus is alive, that He seeks after people like her and He wants to meet with people like us.”
Bryan and his Pastoral Assistant, the Revd George Okikiolu, have also begun an online Christianity Explored Course which runs until Monday 8 June.
Bryan says: “I published an advert for CE not knowing who or how many would join… I just thought I would do something, and praise God, little by little, people emailed me to receive the Handbook and now we have 21 each Monday night studying Mark’s gospel, through Zoom, to find out Who Jesus is? What did he achieve? And how should we respond?
“Please pray for us… please pray for Emmaus road experiences – hearts burning, eyes opened to who Jesus is and what the implications are for each one of us. Pray for the two people that have come to Christ that they would grow through the course in their knowledge of Jesus. Pray for the technology to work (we had a little hitch with trying to stop sharing my screen with people last Monday, but I think that just makes people relax, we’re all human). And finally, pray for me that as I teach and lead Christianity Explored that I would grow in my love for Jesus. I never want to lose my wonder, joy and excitement about Jesus Christ.”
Christianity Explored Ministries have published an article about how to use their materials online.
It’s not too late to join Alpha Online which is being run for the diocese and begins on Monday 4 May: events.downanddromore.org/alpha
For further information please contact:
Diocesan Communications Officer, Down & Dromore
07840 006899
Mrs Annette McGrath
dco@downdromorediocese.org