We set off to Sligo, West of Ireland for our first of three weeks holiday, with everyone in the car and all our stuff in our mobile caravan we left Belfast for the West of Ireland. Tolling the caravan was not easy and it demands a lot of concentration. We arrived in the evening and parked our mobile home in Rosses Point which is one of Sligo's beautiful spot. We were very close to the beach and having set up our camp we began to look forward to the rest of our time there. We have planned this visit so that we could join with the New Wine Summer Conference. We all enjoyed meeting people and it was a time where we experienced God's refreshing and equipping. The whole family had a great time and we are really encouraged in knowing what God is doing in our lives and what He will do with the Living Room.
Next stop was Galway, this is a big city and full of life. It was here where we experienced the best of the Irish weather!! But it was great fun. Especially walking to the city centre and spending the whole day there exploring the city, the Latin Quarter reminds you of Paris and there we found people from different parts of Europe and beyond. Denise had a great time practicing her spanish with a young mother from Spain. During that week we took a trip to see the HQ of Operation Mobilisation Ireland, it was great to see Mike Mullins, (Director) and to hear everything what God has done and will do through OM Ireland.
Our last week we travelled from West to East, to Avoca Valley in Wicklow. There we joined the Scripture Union Family Camp 2. It was a great week, the weather was kind too!! Our children were well looked after and that gave me time to reflect and seek the Lord's direction for the Living Room Church Plant. We made new friends and really enjoyed God's nature, the scenery is amazing.
As I reflect on the three weeks, we give God thanks for our family, for the fun, the good memories and the friendships that were formed. My youngest son said to us when we arrived home that he wanted to be back in the caravan!! He was not the only one saying that...
We are Victoria and Pablo
Mandresa. In 2004 we started our journey as Christian missionaries as a family
in Buenos Aires, Argentina with our little daughter Priscila. After serving two
years as volunteers on board OM Ships God called us to prepare ourselves in
Bible studies, because of that since 2008 we are studying at Belfast Bible
College. During this summer as part of our studies we are working with Dario
and Denise, at the Living Room Belfast in Clifton Area, North Belfast.
As a
result we’ve been helping them with the Alpha course on Thursday evenings,
doing prayer walks and making contacts with local people. It is a time of great
blessing where we are doing the most of every meeting to cultivate friendship,
to strength our relationship as a team and come closer to God. Product of the
contacts did by Dario we are working with the Salvation Army. They run a hostel
house for families with children that need a place to stay for several reasons.
Thanks to Jenny, the chaplain, we are doing activities for children from 4
years old on Wednesdays afternoon for an hour. We also have a meeting and a
short service-celebration with the staff ones a week. It is an enormous
opportunity to help them and pray for each other. We are really exited about
working in the Living Room and we are looking forward to see more people coming
to the meetings. Please continue praying for us and the people coming to the
Alpha course on Thursdays.
They grew up in south America, worked in influential jobs within the media yet struggled to find their voices in the atmosphere created by two military regimes. Now they are partners in a new expression of church in north Belfast, where they long for people to find and raise their voices…. The paths of Dario Leal from Chile and Pablo Mandresa from Argentina only crossed in Belfast, yet their stories share some remarkable parallels. As Dario explains: “We grew up without voicing our voices, we didn’t express our stories, because in the 80s over there you couldn’t say you were against the regime. But stories are the right of every individual.”
And now through the Living Room project, based in the Cliftonville Road area, these two men and their families are seeking to release people to tell their stories. “I guess we feel,” Dario explains, “that humanity has lost its dignity, there seems little hope, people are demoralized and discontented. It was never meant to be this way.”
North Belfast is one of the areas most scarred by the Troubles, experiencing some of the worst inter-communal violence and the shadow from that still holds sway. So, through a ministry of presence and serving, the Living Room aims to foster hope in this community. “In the gospel we find the most amazing story of all,” says Dario. “There’s regeneration, restoring dignity - and that’s what we like to do. We want people to find wholeness in God and to give them back their dignity.” It’s a model of church that many in Belfast are perhaps unfamiliar with - as these church planters seek to create a space where people can share stories and explore faith issues. As Dario says: “In a city full of history we want to start a small worshipping community that unites our stories with the story of Jesus…”
"Dynamic and erratic, spontaneous and radical, audacious and immature, committed if not altogether coherent, ecumenically open and often experimental, visible here and there, now and then, but unsettled institutionally. Almost monastic in nature but most of all...enacting a fearful hope for human life in society." W. Stringfellow
Woodvale and Abbots’ Cross Presbyterian Churches hear about the Living Room
It was a great blessing to share in Woodvale and Abbott’s Cross Presbyterian Churches last Sunday (morning & evening). Although we share one denomination our churches are different and that enriches all of us. But honestly, what really unites us is not just the denomination’s name but something more profound, radical and revolutionary—the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the reason why we do church, we are HIS church and HE is the Head of the church. No man or institution can compare to the greatness of Christ and his Lordship over the church.
Christ has given us his Gospel to be shared openly and freely. As I shared with brothers and sister I realized that we enjoy a great freedom to share the Gospel with people around us. I grew up in a country where freedom of speech was controlled by the military government that ruled Chile for almost 17 years. I grew up suspicious knowing that we were told half truth and lies. It was forbidden to criticized the government, freedom of speech was not there. Yet we all have the right to express an opinion, we all have the right to tell what we think and we all have the right to tell our stories. When we do that we become not just more informed but we are actually challenged and changed by the stories of other people. Our task is to share the best story of all, the Gospel.
I had the opportunity to escape to London for the very first Holy Trinity Brompton’s leadership conference, the home of the Alpha Course.
From Monday 1st to Tuesday 2nd we were encouraged and challenged about leadership in our context, looking at Jesus’ leadership model and the importance of team ministry. It was great to be with like minded people and the conference was great in terms of seminars, worship and fellowship. The highlight of the whole conference was Monday evening when Nicky Gumbel interviewed Rev. Sandy Millar former Vicar of HTB. It was so refreshing, listening to a man with so much experience and a man who has fought for the Church of Christ and still going so strong. His passion, his vision, his love for the the Lord was contagious. After the interview Sandy led us into a time where he asked the Spirit to move among us, I was moved by His presence and that movement I hope will impact the Living Room. It was good to share that conference with John and David, Paul and James.
Sunday morning was very sunny, it was great to see the city with a clear blue sky. That morning my son and I got ready to visit our new friends from Redeemer Central, a new church plant led by extraordinary young leaders. We found the place and it was easy to to get there, my wife used to work in that street for a couple of years. Church should be unpredictable and that is what I love about the church. Redeemer Central meets in a place that is used for live music, and for young musicians to explore and grow in their talents, from punk to pop and that Sunday for us was from fellowship to be lifted up by the prayers of our friends. That morning I was concerned about the people in Chile and my heart was with my family and those closer to me, yet as we worshiped I realized that God is supreme and has control over our lives. It was great to be worshipping there with my son, he really enjoyed the experience. As I was sharing with Redeemer Central I became aware too that God is the God of new beginnings and that our work is going to impact like the aftermath of an earthquake. It will rock the foundations and break the power of strongholds that prevent people to find God’s given dignity. Great Morning, blessed and thank you for your words of wisdom.
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church hears about the Living Room
It was great to be back in the church where I spent almost three years as an Assistant Minister and where my family not only attended the church and made very good friends. We also contributed to the growth of the church with the birth of Samuel and Isabelle, they were baptized in St. Andrew’s! Snow!!! We have been in Northern Ireland for almost 15 years and this winter has been one that we will not forget easily. We had snow, freezing temperatures and that Sunday morning we looked through the window and the white stuff was there again. It was a beautiful sight to travel from the North of the city to East Belfast. As we arrived and seeing the streets where I visited many people was a pleasant memory. We set up the computer and the projector and we were ready to share about the Living Room with our friends. David Maxwell the Minister prayed for the Living Room and for us as a family. The Lord was there in the worship, in the prayers and through his Word. After the service we had a great time with David’s family over lunch, it was a really great Sunday. Thank you St. Andrew’s.
Do you know what Nehemiah did before he left for Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls?
He waited, he planned and prayed to the Lord. Nehemiah 1 & 2
Nehemiah was moved by a devastating vision, he heard that the walls of Jerusalem were down, that is like seeing the pictures from Haiti. That same vision of reality became a vision of hope and transformation. So he wept, fasted and prayed, chapter 1.
But he also planned for that vision. Once he got the opportunity to share the vision of restoring the city walls he had action plan , chapter 2. That vision gave him passion, motivation, purpose and direction.
I think this is where we are with the Living Room, a time of waiting on
the Lord, a time of planing and a time of praying. The key is to know
that God is working in the background.
Waiting is never a waste of time when we wait upon the Lord.
