The Drop

For the last few years Dungarvan Christian Fellowship has had a church youth group.  However, we were not sure what was going to happen with the group because we knew many of the church teens attending would be moving for various reasons.  Our group was dwindling, and we only had a few local ‘non-church’ youth around.   So did it fizzle out?  Nope… it has tripled or maybe even quadruped in size!  It all happened because we read this new book on multiplication…ok that’s not true.    We didn’t do much of anything; God just ‘dropped’ it in our lap, so to speak.

Here’s the story:
A Christian youth group from a bigger town an hour north of us has this youth summer outreach they do, and they came to our church to do it.  They team up with high school youth groups from the States, come together in Ireland, and hold 2-week youth drop-in centers in Irish towns.  They invite youth from the town and tell them to come hang out, play cards, have snacks, games, Xbox and chat.  Well they did exactly that at our church for 2 weeks, for about 5 hours a day, and called it “The Drop.”  We could see this approach was extremely successful.  It is a very casual way to build relationships with the youth in our town.  There isn’t much for them to do around town, and they love being a part of something fun, relaxing, and accepting.  This also leads way to deeper conversations about life, and we are privileged to have the opportunity to be an example to these young people.  So long story short, when the American team left the youth kept coming. We are now open every Thursday and hope to expand as we get more volunteers.  What an exciting time for us as we see God moving in the youth of our town!

This is an incredible outreach God literally ‘dropped’ in our laps.  Our prayer is that God will continue to draw young people to this new youth center, where they can be touched by the love of Jesus.

Horizon Gathering

DCF is a part of the Horizon International Family of Churches. This is a network of churches that has been based on individual church friendships developed over time and with the purpose of encouraging the work God is doing in each ministry. Each year, several leaders form these different churches will come together to worship, pray and support each other with both challenges and encouragements. This year, with Steve as our new pastor, DCF was able to host this gathering. Leaders from Ireland, England, France and Germany gathered together in Dungarvan. It was a great time of reconnecting and even making a few new friends. We were also able to have a special midweek evening service for our fellowship so everyone could get to know each other, as we pray for these churches regularly as a congregation. We look forward to the year ahead and all that God does through these relationships. We have loved having these leaders as guest speakers during the year as it brings a fresh outlook into the community.

Worship in the Park!

It was during a week long session of prayer that Steve got the inspiration for doing Worship in the Park.  As a way to do something for the community, DCF decided to run with the idea, giving it all right back to God.  In the course of just a few weeks, all the details were sorted.  The town gave us all the required permissions, we had sound equipment hired and al the music sorted.  God even brought out the sun in spite of the rainy days prior.  So on the Sunday afternoon of October 16th, the DCF worship team began to praise in the center of Lookout Park.  Armed with tea, coffee and biscuits, some of the ladies served the onlookers and provided lyric sheets for those who wished to join in.  It was a great event with folk from the community attending, even some passersby stopping to join in the music.  It was an exciting thing to be able to declare the praises of God in such a public space.  We are grateful for all those who helped, contributed and showed support for the event.  The feedback was all quite positive and we look forward to hosting another such event in the spring.

DCF DiY DaY!

 Things have been busy over at Harbour Mill House lately!  One day last week a few folk from DCF got busy using their talents with some do-it-yourself type projects to make our space even better.  We are planning to liven up the children's Sunday school room with some bright colors and pictures, but Lorita and Holly started the process by using a special paint to make a chalkboard.  The kids are going to love using that and so will our lovely volunteers.

Don was hard at work rebuilding a door jamb and properly fitting our new doors that will help with both warmth and sound without sacrificing visibility.

Meanwhile Jason was hard at work transforming the closed space under the stairs into an extra storage space.  He removed the paneling then reassembled it as a door which fits seamlessly back in place.

Well done lads!  

We are so grateful for the improvements!

Coming soon!

An Evening of Transition

Steve Hamer stands with pastors from across Ireland and abroad.

Kyle and Wendy Holland have been involved in ministry here in Europe for twenty five years. It has been such a joy to have their family with us at DCF for the past two years. While serving as pastor at DCF, Kyle has been an encouraging leader and a passionate visionary for the work God is doing across the country as a whole. Having been so blessed by his leadership, we were honoured to bless him as he begins a new season joining in the leadership team at Cornerstone Christian Church in Dun Laoghaire, even as he formally handed the position of DCF pastor to Steve Hamer.

Kyle opens the evening to set in Steve Hamer as Pastor.

On July 10, DCF celebrated this formal setting in of Steve Hamer as Senior Pastor with a special evening service.  Steve and his wife have been active in DCF since it began years ago as a Bible Study with the Gregstons who founded DCF. They are a couple of great integrity and have played a major role in the encouragement of others within the fellowship, as well as having served in various leadership roles. The event was described by Kyle Holland as, "a commisioning to a new level of responsibility."

Tom Burke of GCF, Cork

Harbour Mill House was filled with family, friends, and pastors from multiple churches across the country and abroad for the special evening. Tom Burke of Grace Christian Fellowship in Cork gave a rousing message regarding the importance of unity and support amongst the Christians in this country as well as the impact God is making on the community at large.

Stephen Brooker of RHCC, UK

Stephen Brooker from Red Hill Christian Centre in Stratford-Upon-Avon, part of the Horizon Family of Churches, also gave an encouraging message about building relationships for encouragement and support.

The various leaders then all came forward to lay hands on and pray for the Hamers. Steve then followed with a few words spoken from the heart in appreciation of those who have taught him.

We at DCF are excited for this new adventure with Steve as our Pastor. We are thankful for the smooth transition and cannot wait to see what God will bring about in the time ahead.

Beyond Our own Walls

Since we at DCF have a desire to see the church in Ireland grow beyond just our own walls, we were thrilled to host a team this summer that would help reach the youth in areas across the country. In June/ July, DCF hosted a team of youths from Living Faith Christian Church. Accompanied by Pastor Ollie Gray and his wife Cyndi, these teenagers engaged the young people of Ireland through outreaches in Cork, Mallow, Middleton and Dun Laoghaire with the cooperation of the local pastors in those areas.

Included in this group of young Americans was Malachi, a rapper with a heart for Jesus, who connected well with the lads that came for the activites.

In addition to sharing Christ's love across the country, the team also shared with DCF one Sunday morning through leading worship, Pastor Ollie's preaching, and a special prayer time led by team members.
We are also thankful to members of DCF for their willingness to provide meals for this team as they laboured across the country. God is definitely stirring up the hearts of youth across this land and it was a joy to have the team here with us. Living Faith Christian Church is based in Waterbury, Connecticut and is a part of the Horizon Family of Churches, in which DCF is greatly involved.

A Healing God

We have been blessed this year to have so many guests coming to minister at DCF. We were recently able to host Armand Lefeu and his wife Natelle from Holland. The Lefeu's are a part of Levensstroom ("Living Streams"), a healing ministry with international evangelist Jan Zijlstra. This ministry has seen many amazing miracles and physical healings. We had many people attend our special Sunday service to hear testimony of God's goodness and to receive prayer. Many people reported being encouraged and some experienced healing immediately, such as one person whose knee problems had been constant source of pain for many years. God healed her and immediately she felt the pain leave and was able to move the knee freely and fully. We are so thankful to serve a God who cares for every aspect of our lives (Matt. 6:25-33) and it was such a joy to have the Lefeu's with us to encourage us as we pray for each other (James 13-18). At DCF, we believe that God can do all things and are always willing to pray for anyone who have needs.

Spirit Radio Ireland comes to DCF

We at DCF were recently blessed to host a concert provided by Ronan Johnston, know as RoJo in the Mornings on Spirit Radio. Ronan was accompanied by his lovely wife Joanne as they filled Harbour Mill House with beautiful music and friendly banter. The concert was a prize won by Holly Krebs in conjunction with Spirit Radio. Spirit Radio was launched earlier this year as the first nationally broadcast Christian radio station in Ireland. While they are only in the five major cities, the plans are for this listener-supported station to reach all the outlying part sometime next year. In the meantime, folk can also stream the station live via the internet. With the concert at DCF, many folk from the area were able to come and enjoy the Johnstons' musical talents. It was such an honor and joy to host such a lovely couple and we feel very blessed to have had the space and opportunity to host this kind of comfortable community event for everyone's benefit. We hope to have more events like this in the future.

Visit from New Zealand

This month we were blessed with the arrival of Kyle's good friends Jon and Julie Steele. Hailing from New Zealand, the Steeles have a powerful ministry that takes them all over the world. They have a passion for strengthening leaders and churches and desire to see the church community to utilize the gifts the Holy Spirit had given them, as a church and as individuals. During their time here, DCF was able to hold two special evening services where Jon ministered to large numbers through teaching and prophetic words. The people that came expressed excitement about the message and what God has for them. Julie was also able to speak to the ladies at a special Saturday brunch. It was a great time of learning, prayer, and fellowship! We at DCF love the opportunity to have people such as the Steeles coming in, as it gives confirmation regarding the work God is doing and a fresh voice of encouragement to the community at large. We look forward to having more opportunities for special guests such as the Steeles so that more might be encouraged to move forward into the plan God has for them.

God's Faithfulness and Transforming Power

This week at DCF we had some friends down from Cornerstone Christian Church in Dublin, one of whom shared his powerful testimony of how God saved him literally as he lay dying as a result of his gang lifestyle. Upon opening today's edition of our local paper, we were able to see a nice little feature on us. One of the folk in attendance on Sunday is a staffer at the paper and was moved enough to give us a shout out, even listing our location and service times. This is a special thing for us in a small community like ours. We love sharing the good news of God's faithfulness and transforming power.

DCF Thanksgiving

We have a handful of Americans here at DCF, so this year DCF decided to celebrate the American holiday of Thanksgiving by having a huge feast and inviting all our friends to join us. With the crash in economy, struggles with government bailouts, and a rising unemployment rate over the last year here in Ireland, an event focused on being thankful regardless was a welcome pause amongst those in the community. We had many guests and everyone enjoyed the chance to relax, mingle and of course eat! It was our first event of this nature in our new place, so it took a bit of planning. There were plenty of decorations to make the space warm and inviting and everyone helped with binging food as well as keeping things flow smoothly. It's this kind of community spirit that makes events like this a success. And it WAS a success, with everyone merry, full of food and enjoying great conversations! It was such a joy to share such a great time of fellowship with each other and all our friends. Thanks to all those who participated in making our first DCF Thanksgiving such a special time.