FROM THE RECTOR
During my summer break, I read the book Invictus, by John Carlin. You may have seen the film earlier this year, starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman. It is the story of Nelson Mandela, Francois Pienaar and the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa.

I can heartily recommend both the book and the movie, and not just because it’s about rugby! Really the most striking thing in this story is the extraordinary leadership ability of Mandela. He realised the World Cup was a unique opportunity to end the divisions that still ran deep even though the apartheid era was officially over. However to make the most of this opportunity Mandela needed to convince black South Africans to get behind the Springboks. The problem was that the Boks were one of the most potent symbols of Boer oppression, and some of the more extreme of his supporters would have preferred to have seen the Springbok jersey banned.

Let me just point out two fascinating aspects of this story. Mandela realised while imprisoned on Robben Island that he was going to have to win the hearts of his white oppressors. The only way that apartheid could be defeated would be by whites being persuaded that Mandela’s cause was right. So he embarked on a deliberate campaign of seeking to win the favour, trust and friendship of his captors, starting with his own jailer. Mandela learnt Afrikaans, developed an interest in Rugby and build relationships which simply charmed people into realising that apartheid was an expression of injustice.

Secondly, Mandela realised that the reconciliation that he longed for in South Africa had to start in him, in his heart, and in those around him. The movie has a great scene where, soon after he has been installed as President, his black body guards are outraged to discover that they will have to work with white security guards. A short time previously, these white guards would have been actively involved in the persecution of blacks. When his body guards protest to Mandela that they can’t work with these men, Mandela insists they must- because reconciliation must begin with them.

It’s a terrific story of courage, intelligence and grace. If you would like to read (or see) a great story which raises really instructive lessons in leadership, Invictus is a real winner.
Edward Vaughan

Young@Heart
On Saturday 12th June, some 30 pensioners and would be pensioners (!) travelled by coach from Crinken to Russborough House in Wicklow, the Garden of Ireland. We were blessed with the most wonderful weather, splendid and picturesque scenery and an excellent informative tour of the 18th century mansion. This was a pre-recession grand house, with immaculately maintained décor. Well worth a visit even for the non geriatric! Excellent food; a delightful walk in the surrounding parkland; a drive through the Wicklow hills via the Sally Gap to tea, coffee and nosh back at Crinken. Thank you to the organisers, and those kindly folk who do so much to make our declining years memorable and a delight to all the young-at-heart.

Our July event was a Strawberry Tea. Unfortunately we had to pick the wettest Saturday in July, however even the rain couldn’t dampen our spirits as we gathered together in the home of Noel & Jonie Griffin, who kindly hosted us. It was a wonderful afternoon to meet together and enjoy the opportunity of good conversation and catching up.

Derek Langran

Fields of Life Award
On 25 May 2010, Trevor Stevenson (CEO Fields of Life) was invited to an awards ceremony held at the University of Bradford, to receive the African MDG Achievers International Award in recognition of the work of Fields of Life in Africa.

The ceremony was held to honour 11 individuals in total for their work in trying to address the United Nations Millennium Development Goals 2015 through their work. It is a great achievement for Trevor and Fields of Life as the winners were selected from 230 nominations submitted from the UK, Europe, Africa and USA.

Fields of Life has come a long way since 1995, when it began with an agricultural project in Uganda. The work has developed and expanded into the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi not only in agriculture but education, health, water and micro enterprise projects. 2010 will see the 100th school built with over 40,000 children gaining an education. Water drilling has helped over 70,000 people gain access to safe, clean water. Micro enterprise projects have helped over 2,400 families out of the poverty trap.

Fields of Life are working together in partnership with the poorer countries named above to help in the areas of education, gender equality, trying to reduce infant mortality by providing safe clean water, ensuring environmental sustainability and combating the spread of HIV.AIDS.

As I write this, we are looking forward to our summer holidays, and already I notice some people slipping away for their long break. Summer in Ireland is a unique phenomenon. While there may or may not be much sunshine, the summer break certainly goes on for a long while. Perhaps the quantity of holidays is an attempt to make up for the quality of weather?

I have recently been reading a book which I found very helpful, so I thought I might pass it on to you in case you were looking for something good to read during the long balmy (!?) evenings ahead. The book is called ‘Leading a Life With God’ by Daniel Wolpert (ISBN 0835810038). Wolpert has written a book about prayer, but not just about one’s personal individual prayer life. His aim is to help those involved in pastoral leadership think about developing the prayer life of the church.

This has been really helpful for me at this time. As a church we are seeking to discern what God’s desire and direction is for us in the future. We know we need to pray, but we have not been exactly sure how to go about doing that. Wolpert’s book has been useful for me in helping me think about how we might pray as a church in way that allows us to listen to what God is saying. He encourages those in leadership to think clearly about how they are leading spiritually-in fact the subtitle of the book is ‘The Practice of Spiritual Leadership’.

Since reading it I have been reflecting on ‘spiritual leadership’. As I think over previous experiences in ministry, I wish I had have given more time and energy not just to personal prayer but to leading the church to come prayerfully before the Lord corporately. I have found this book challenging and stimulating- I hope you might too.

Edward Vaughan

Church Life
The summer is for many of us, time to recharge our batteries and enjoy holiday time with friends and family. It is also a time of summer camps and short term mission trips and as can be seen below, this holiday season some of our church family are going to be involved in these activities.

Albania
Albania was declared the world’s first atheistic state in the 1980’s by its communist leader Hoxha after he had eliminated all known Christians. The last communist state to fall in 1992, it remains poor and underdeveloped but with a young and growing church. European Christian Mission are sending a team of health and education workers there this June to work alongside some local churches in setting up some services for people with disabilities. Many disabled people there simply never leave their homes as there are no services currently provided for them. Charis Rowan will be part of this team and she would really appreciate prayer for unity with the local church in purpose and for acceptance from the local community as they seek to serve these precious children of God and show by example that they are loved and valued by their Father.

Peru
This July Jonathan Douglas and Chloe McGovern from Crinken will travel to Peru with a team from Ireland. Through the organisations IFES Ireland and Latin Link, the team will be involved in a variety of activities. “Arriving in Lima we will take a 22 hour bus ride to the city of Cusco. There we will be involved in painting a play park and building of a shower and library. We will then help AQEUP, the student movement in Peru, do various outreach activities such as lead English Bible studies, English speaking classes, mime, drama, worship. We will also be involved in their mission conference and generally support the students and community. We will also take part in 3 church services while away. Please pray that language would not be a huge barrier and that we would confidently and humble embrace Peruvian culture as we proclaim Jesus through our words and actions.”

Germany
This summer 16 teenagers from the older church youth club called ‘Generation’ will be going to TeenStreet. This is a Christian youth camp in Germany run by OM (Operation Mobilisation) and is attended from across Europe by over 4,000 young people. We had a brilliant time last year enjoying a great week of games and activities, sunshine and fantastic talks about Jesus. It’s a great time away to learn about God and to build a real relationship with Jesus. This happens through group bible studies and in ‘Sssh time!’ 30 minutes each day of quiet time by yourself to pray and read the bible. You may not be able to imagine 4,000 teenagers being quiet for 30 minutes but they do! Our prayer is that this trip will be a week where our teenagers will be taught to follow Jesus as their King and Saviour daily in their lives and become part of their church family.

Crinken Kids
This is my last Church Review as the Crinken Children’s worker. I have replaced Therese Hargraves as she was on maternity leave, and the last 6 months have absolutely flown by! This is a great opportunity to thank all the wonderful volunteers who have worked with me in the Thursday Clubs and in Crinken Kids on Sundays – you have been fantastic! Thank you also to all the great kids who have come along to the clubs this year; I have enjoyed getting to know you and it has been fun to learn about God’s Mega Plan with you this past term. I hope to see you all at the Holiday Club in August! Therese will be back for the summer programme and of course for the full programme in September – details to follow!
Sarah Keene

Holiday Club: Wednesday 25th – Friday 27th August – primary school age children invited!

Generation
Every Sunday morning at 11am in July, Generation Youth will be running ‘world cup feva football clinics’. All are welcome. Bring a euro, bring a friend. Come dressed in the colours of your favourite football team or player. Many prizes to be won. All money raised will go towards sending our Generation Youth to Teenstreet.

Our dear friend Alison Hall, who had turned 100 only last month, passed away less than a fortnight after her birthday. Of course, her passing is a cause of sadness for us. And yet at the same time, Alison’s memorial service was a time of great rejoicing and celebration. Rarely has anyone faced their mortality with more certainty about their eternal future. Alison was absolutely convinced that she was going to be with Jesus, and as her body continued to fail, she was increasingly keen that this might happen soon.

Alison’s life was quite extraordinary. Although she lived a very simple life by many standards, she had a very significant impact on many people. For much of her life she looked after her parents. She never really worked in paid employment. She did spend a brief time in Africa on mission service, but Alison decided her real role was not to be a missionary but a mission supporter. And she did that with relentless passion and determination. Through her weekly baking for a stall at Kilternan Country Market and many other projects Alison constantly raised money, all of which was directed towards mission in Rwanda and Burundi.

But even more than her fund-raising, Alison was a prayer-warrior. In her 90’s, Alison learnt how to use a computer, because she realised that to rely on prayer points by mail meant that they were out of date before she had even prayed about them. She wanted to be totally up to the mark in her prayers! The list of people she prayed for was vast. It was relatively easy to get onto Alison’s prayer list but almost impossible to get off.

Bishop Ken Clarke, a former Rector of Crinken, spoke at the service. Ken reminded us what an extraordinary person Alison was. He also reminded us what an eccentric, determined, blunt and at times downright outrageous person she could be as well. Stories of Alison, especially her driving, are legendary, and probably better not to be put in print. But she certainly did not appreciate speeding tickets from the Gardai!

As the Rector of our church, as I see people like Alison go to glory, it causes me to think. We so value the memory and example of the great and godly older folk who model the Christian faith. I just wonder whether the people of my generation will be like them when we get to be their age.

Edward Vaughan

Alison Hall – Memories of a Life.
We had waited in anticipation for a least one year for it but Alison had waited one hundred years to celebrate the centenary of her birth on 15 April 2010. It was two days later when Young @ Heart had the pleasure and privilege of hosting her party in Crinken – and what a party that was! Surrounded by her family and friends in a packed hall Alison’s 100 years were marked with celebration and joy. During the event messages from friends and family around the world were relayed by video with photographs and memorabilia from a packed life on display. Speeches, banter and jollity were the order of the day and Alison held forth observing all before her with delight. The following day, the whole church celebrated with her again as we had another party after the morning service.

It was a happy weekend made all the more precious when we heard that ten days later on 27 April 2010 Alison had gently passed away. Throughout her life, and all the changes she saw during her tenure in this world, Alison kept a tight grip on her faith and continued to be a feisty inspiration and encouragement to old and young alike, even in her final days. Despite failing health she was determined to see her 100th Birthday so that she could donate her cheque from the President to one of her favourite Christian charities, Fields of Life.

The sadness we feel at Alison’s death is comforted by the knowledge of the love Alison had for her maker. Her devotion throughout her life was firm and sure and while we, as her friends and family will miss her deeply, we are grateful to have experienced her friendship and to know that she is safe with the Lord.

Crinken Kids
As the school year draws to a close, we are finishing up our Thursday club programme. We have been learning about God’s Mega Plan and the last 3 weeks have been spent getting crafty and creative. One group made a fantastic banner, another made 3D dioramas and a third group made flip boxes. All of these things illustrate God’s amazing plan to rescue us and remind us to tell others of this good news.

Crinken Kids on Sunday is as busy as ever! We were excited when so many of the kids signed up to be part of the Crinken Kids Band – what a talented bunch of singers and musicians we have! It’s great to be able to lead the whole congregation to praise God, as the Kids Band do every couple of months.

Confirmation
On Sunday morning of April 25th five teenagers from Crinken Church were confirmed at Kill O’The Grange in a joint confirmation Service. David Griffin, Jenny Scargill, Georgia Vaughan, Sarah Buggy & Rosalie Lockhart made a significant public confession as they declared that they follow Jesus and that they intend to do so in the future with a community of believers around them to support and encourage them as a Christ follower. It was a delight to be part of this and a great joy to make promises with many other members of their church family, that we would support and encourage them in their walk with Christ. Please join with us in prayer for them, that they would grow in knowledge and love of their creator and saviour and that they would live a life of worship for their Lord Jesus, now and forever more.

On Easter Sunday we had the privilege of having our Sunday morning service broadcast on RTE radio. While this has happened from Crinken before, it was my first time of being involved in the radio broadcast of a service.

There are a number of challenges involved in such a service. The timing is necessarily very precise (43 minutes!), so everything needs to be scripted and planned very carefully. The service was live, so there is no room for off the cuff comments, and one has to be mindful of the fact that people are listening from many different places.

While I am sure that this programme is not the highest rating on RTE, the audience is probably quite large and it struck me that it was probably the largest audience that I have ever preached to. One imagines that some people might find themselves in a context where clear Bible teaching is quite hard to find, and so there was a real opportunity to proclaim clearly the good news of Easter.

If you are interested in hearing the sermon I preached, you can find it on our website (http://www.crinken.com). The whole service can be accessed via the RTE’s website, I believe.

A couple of days after the service we received a letter from a lady living in Dublin who had listened and was very positive about the service. And I also received a message on Facebook from our friends in Capetown, Karen and Christiaan Snell, who listened to it on the RTE website. I had thought about people from all over Ireland listening, but I hadn’t imagined people listening from all over the world!

Edward Vaughan

Crinken Kids
We are very pleased to welcome Jen Leech to the Sunday morning team! Jen is taking the junior/senior infants group and we are delighted that she has come on board.

In our Thursday Clubs we have started a new programme: God’s Mega Plan 2. We are following the adventures of the crew in the amazing time travelling fridge as they discover God’s Rescue Plan. We are having great fun with our games, songs, crafts and time to read the Bible together. It turns out that God had a plan all along… and we are discovering what that plan was and how it affects us.

Church Life
The Crinken Community Gospel Choir is an all-age, interdenominational, outreach music programme being sponsored by members of Crinken Church. Musicians, singers, and support workers gather to share a love of music and to bring a positive, uplifting spiritual message of God’s support and love. The aim is to work together in fellowship to use one’s talent positively to raise money for various charities. It was with great excitement that the choir officially launched this Good Friday, 2nd of April. After singing together for a scant three months, it was spiritually fulfilling for the members of the choir to share their music with the public. The CCGC looks forward to other such events, and feel fortunate to have found such an outlet for spiritual expression.

This Easter for our Good Friday service we celebrated the death of Jesus for our sins by acting out the entire Gospel of Mark! The actors were 15 talented and eager young people from our church youth club who spent the 6 weeks before Easter reading through Mark and learning the sequence of events off by heart. There was no script, no microphones and no professionals! It was a fantastic service which presented the life and death of Jesus, giving us all a chance to experience the real meaning of Easter and see an entire book of the bible in one sitting. 72 copies of Mark’s Gospel were taken by our visitors and it is our prayer that for some it will have been the beginning of a new life with Jesus.

Last month a number of people from Crinken attended a day conference organised by the New Wine network called ‘Good News for the Poor’. It was held on the north side of Belfast, and the speakers were Duncan McLea and Craig Stewart from Christ Church Kenilworth in Capetown, South Africa.

Kenilworth is a middle class suburb in Capetown, and their church reflects their location, but they have developed a ministry of outreach to areas in need around them. Capetown is apparently a city which has a vast disparity between rich and poor, which continues to reflect the racial history of South Africa.

It was a very helpful and encouraging day. Of course, the particular circumstances that this church finds itself in are unique, and it would be a mistake to think that a church in Ireland should respond in exactly the same way. Yet I found the story of how this church sought to reach outside itself and make contact with people in need to be very challenging and thought provoking.

At Crinken we are praying that the Lord would show us which way he would like us to move forward. Much of what we heard on this day encouraged us to move slowly and thoughtfully, to be prayerful and to wait upon his guidance. In particular I was struck by Craig’s teaching from Luke 10 where Jesus sends out the 72 disciples. Jesus instructs the disciples to enter a house and look out for ‘the man of peace’. The man of peace is the one who welcomes you in, who is pleased with your coming and wants to receive your ministry into the community. Craig spoke of waiting for a long time until they were welcomed into some of the townships of Capetown. At first they were treated with suspicion and fear. But after much perseverance and by demonstrating a desire to be a blessing to the community, a key gate-keeper, a ‘person of peace’, accepted and welcomed them in. This opened the way for their ministry to go forward.

If you are praying for us, pray that we will wait upon the Lord as he shows us his way forward, and pray that he will show us the ‘people of peace’ in our local community.

Edward Vaughan

Crinken Kids
It’s been an especially exciting time at Crinken Kids Thursday Clubs! We have produced all kinds of amazing things in the final weeks of this term in small groups. One group painted big canvases with scenes from Joshua’s adventures. Another group became journalists and filmed several interviews to record ‘faith stories’. The theatrical among us produced a piece about one of Joshua’s battles, where God intervened spectacularly. And finally, the group called ‘Gotcha’ dazzled us with tricks, puzzles and illusions. All of this was performed and showcased at the end of term party, which was a great success! Pictures hopefully to follow next month!

Youth Work
‘prodigal’-adjective: 1. recklessly extravagant 2. having spent everything. The story of Luke 15 ‘The Prodigal Son’ often focuses on the younger brother but as we look closer we will see that it is a story about two sons and a father who gives everything to see that the two sons enter the feast. The story ends with us not knowing the state of the older brother, if he entered the feast of the Father. It turns out that this story is a picture of two ways to reject God: by being really really bad, or by being really really good. It is a story of two sons who seek to get the Father’s stuff but not the Father, via the path of self discovery or via the path of religion. It is a story about a Prodigal God, who through his recklessly extravagant love, gives up everything through the sending of his Son, to bring us to himself (1 Peter 3:18a). On April 25th a number of youth from Crinken seek to be confirmed at Kill O’The Grange Parish at 10am. As part of this preparatory journey we will be following a course based on the book ‘The Prodigal God’ by Tim Keller. This course seeks to prepare us to make a confession at our confirmation as neither a younger or elder brother but as one who truly seeks out the Father through the true elder brother, Jesus Christ. For more details on this course go to: http://www.theprodigalgod.com.

Church Life
Congratulations and best wishes to Nicolas and Sylvie Reitsch on the birth of their baby boy, Alexander, February 24th.

On a sadder note, we lost a good friend in Norma Heatley who passed away March 2nd. Despite the huge challenge of advanced MS, Norma made it a priority to attend the Morning Praise Service each Sunday in Crinken as well as socialising cheerfully at the Y@H events with her many friends. We will miss Norma but her Christian example of determination will not fade with the years. Our thoughts and prayers are with Howard, Karen and Mervyn and their families at this sad time.

Our condolences also go to Matthew Hickmott and family on the recent death of his mother.

Crinken InterNational
Crinken InterNational is the group within Crinken whose role is to support our mission partners and communicate their news to the congregation.

Two important events are coming up involving some of our mission partners.

‘Around The World in Prayer’ is a day to pray for persecuted Christians in 10 countries around the world – China, Egypt, Eritrea, India, Iran, Mexico, North Korea, Pakistan, Turkey and Uzbekistan.

Around The World in Prayer will be held at Crinken Church Hall, Shankill, Co. Dublin from 11am – 3pm Saturday 10 April (bring packed lunch – tea/coffee provided)

Visit the colourful prayer stations around the hall (one for each country), learn about the needs of the church in that country and join others in united prayer.

Contact David Turner 01-282 5393 or http://www.churchinchains.ie

April 17th is the WEC Conference in Carlow at the Dolmen Hotel, Kilkenny Road, Carlow. 12.30pm – 4.30pm. Lorretta Carroll who is home for a short visit will be speaking. This promises to be a great day with missionaries reporting from Afghanistan as well as Africa and closer to home.

As a church, our desire is that we reach out to our local community in order to offer people the good news of Jesus. There are many different ways of doing that, and we are always looking for new and creative approaches.

One of the more exciting developments in this direction for us has been the establishment of the Crinken Community Gospel Choir. The Choir is an outreach music programme which seeks to connect with anyone wanting to develop their spiritual connection to God. They see themselves as messengers of the Gospel, singing words of life that they hope will bless those who listen, and also encourage them in their walk with the Lord.

The choir is coordinated by Sharon McKimm, Delwen Giles and Jonie Griffin. Marion Smith is the musical director. There are just over 20 people who have signed up at this stage. Membership is open to anyone who wants to praise the Lord in song, and they are interested in people who have technical skills and musical ability as well as people who can sing. The choir will be making their debut at a special Good Friday service that we are holding.

If you are interested in finding out more you can contact me (ed@crinken.com or 01-28 24 391) and I will point you in the right direction

Edward Vaughan

Crinken Kids
Crinken Kids have a busy programme every Sunday. Our pre-schoolers to 2nd class children have been learning about may different kings in the Bible since September. This Spring, the younger groups have started to look at the most important King of all: King Jesus. One of the children thought he was the most special king because ‘He’s magic!’ but in fact we are finding out that he is God’s son, which is what makes him a very special king.

The Thursday Clubs have been finishing up the Joshua Adventures and are getting set for our end of term party – to which parents are invited! It’s sure to be a fun event!

Sarah Keene

Young@Heart
Our Young@Heart group started off the New Year with a dinner party on Saturday 23rd January. 30 folk gathered in the hall to enjoy a sumptuous meal and an opportunity to catch up with one another after the Christmas break. February 28th will find us gathering in the hall again, this time after our morning service to enjoy lunch together. Our March event will be a movie night (yet to be decided!), again in the church hall.

We were able to set up a stall at the Shankill Christmas Festival. Our aim was to bless people in the local area, so we gave away over 400 Christmas decorations to passers-by. It was wonderful to see how such a simple thing brought people great joy. We also gave away fridge magnets and key-rings that had our church’s website address on them. As the festival was held close to Christmas we also gave out flyers with the times of the Christmas services in the three churches in Shankill.

One other thing that we did was ask people three simple questions. We wanted to know what they liked about living in this area, what they saw as the key issues or problems in our area, and what they thought a local church like ours could do about them.

Like many churches, we feel that there is more that we could do to connect with people in our area. However its not always clear what are the most appropriate ways of doing this. It would be very easy to make assumptions about what is needed and to start to do something which may not be what people actually need. So the reason we wanted to ask these questions is that we want to have some idea of what might be the significant local issues before we get involved in any action.

One of the really positive things that came through was just how much people like living in Shankill and surrounds. Clearly, many really value the amenities in this area. People did feel there could be more done to support and help youth in the community, and to prevent anti-social behaviour. The other issue that many people mentioned was the lack of shopping facilities, brought about by the closure of a local super-market a couple of years ago.

While it may not be immediately obvious how we should respond to this information, we do feel it gives us a place to start praying and thinking about what steps we might take next. The process of determining how we might engage with our local community is very significant, and we feel that it is right that we take plenty of time to get it right.

Crinken Kids
On Sundays in February we are looking at two very different characters from the Old Testament. The older groups are learning about Elijah and how God used him in powerful ways to bring His message. Our younger groups are continuing to learn about kings in the Bible and will be finding out about Solomon in this month.
The Thursday clubs are full of fun and excitement as usual. It’s been great to explore the story of Joshua and to learn how we too can trust that God is with us all the way, no matter how scary things around us may become.

Crinken Youth
Crinken Generation Youth Ministries are back in full swing for the year. On Friday evenings those in 6 class to 2nd year meet from 7-8:45pm at the Crinken church hall and those in 3-6th year meet from 8:45 to10:30pm.

Over the month of February the initial preparations have started for those in 3-6 year heading this August to Germany for ‘Teenstreet’.

Engage
By definition the church is a body of believers sent into the world. But many churches seem to have developed a more stationary identity, requiring the world to come to them to receive the healing, redemption, and salvation promised through Christ. We have issued the call of “come to us” and planted our feet rather than promising a “we’re coming to you” proven by moving our feet. From mid February we begin a 6 week SENT series at our Engage evening service with the challenge of getting out of the huddle and living the Missional Nature of the Church. All are welcome, Sunday’s, 7pm.

Church Life
Congratulations and best wishes to Michael and Therese Hargraves on the birth of their daughter Lucy, on Sunday 20 December and to Joe and Jean O’Sullivan on the baptism of Nathan on Sunday 4 January.

This was the third time that the GLS was held in Dublin, and there was a record attendance of about 250 people. For those who haven’t experienced it, the GLS is physically held in Chicago each year in August, where it is recorded on video. Then in hundreds of sites around the world a GLS event is held. Even though it is watched on video, it is a powerful and compelling event. The aim is to train, equip and encourage Christian leaders.

There were many highlights on the two day programme this year – in fact, from my point of view it was perhaps the best I have attended. Tim Keller, the minister of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York, delivered an exceptional exposition of the so-called ‘Parable of the Lost Son’. Keller dealt with the role of the older son in the story, and unpacked the incredible difference between religion and grace. Bill Hybels’ opening talk, which was really about leading during the time of massive financial disaster, was thought provoking and challenging. In fact, each year I go thinking that surely Hybels will have nothing new to say, and his material will be a repeat of something that he has said in the past. This is never the case!

Of the many other excellent sessions, perhaps the other one that stood out was that of Harvey Carey’s. Carey is the pastor of a racially integrated church in down-town Detroit. The great achievement of this church is its ability to reach out and connect with its local community. I was particularly struck by this. Currently, one of my big questions is what it would look like for a Church of Ireland to be deeply connected to the broader community in an urban setting- to be, in effect, a community church. There are not many models of this, and Carey’s presentation has got a number of people in our church thinking about how our church might respond.

The GLS will be held again in Dublin in the autumn. I would recommend you have a look at the DVD of the 2009 material, and aim to invite some people from your church to attend.
Edward Vaughan

Crinken Kids
The big change for the children’s work was that Therese has gone on maternity leave and I am delighted to be filling her shoes for the time being. My name is Sarah Keene and I am very excited to be part of the team here at Crinken!

The Christmas party for the Thursday Clubs was a great event, with face painting, mince pies and plenty of chat with the many parents who came with their children. Clubs start back on January 14th and we will be finding out about Joshua and all the exciting things that happened during his life.

On Sunday mornings the older groups have been infiltrating the Roman Empire as spies to discover everything they can about the early Christians. Using our stealth equipment we have found out about the Holy Spirit and how Jesus sent him to give his friends power and comfort. We will continue to crack the codes and will report back soon…

Crinken Youth
A New Year for Crinken Generation Friday night clubs and Sunday morning community groups begins on January 15. Each Friday night we run a youth club at 7pm for those in 6th class to 2nd year and at 8:45 for those in 3rd year to 6th year, with about 40-50 coming along each Friday.
Why do we run these different activities each week? Well “Crinken Generation, with Jesus as King, is a youth ministry that exists to love, engage and grow young people, so in turn they may become a Generation that loves, engages and grows.” The first line is key in understanding what drives these activities. The love, engagement and growth is in relationship to the King, Creator and Saviour of all, Jesus Christ. The two elements that are basic to Friday nights then are the creating of a fun night where relationships can develop and secondly it is a place to introduce a new generation of young people to their loving eternal King and Creator, Jesus. All are welcome, hope to see you there.

It’s a good book because it approaches the issue of how we should be ‘doing church’ from a really well thought out theological view. Based on a careful reading of Scriptures, the authors argue that church is shaped by the Gospel word to be a Gospel community. The church is created by the ‘Gospel word’; that is the declaration of the Good News by Jesus that calls the Church into being. The church is that group of people who believe in the Good News and seek to live in obedience to the Lord Jesus.

But that Gospel word creates a group of people in relationship with each other. They become a Gospel community in the way that they live their lives with each other. By becoming a Christian, I belong to God and I belong to my brothers and sisters.

Now at one level, those statements hardly seem revolutionary. But it’s the way that the authors take these theological principles and work them out in the life of the church that is really impressive. To be honest, I liked the book more and more as I got further into it, because they are able to explain how an authentic Gospel church is shaped by both word and community.

The world in which we live is one of radical individualism and the Gospel word challenges us to live in a community with brothers and sisters. The reality is that most of our churches (of all denominations and churchmanship) are a far cry from that. Gospel community is largely an unknown experience for most of us. Because our experience of community is so stunted, it prevents us from genuinely engaging in mission, evangelism and social justice.

I especially liked the way they drew out the implications of Gospel community for pastoral care. Our culture, even in Christian churches, is largely therapeutic, and we engage in pastoral care in a way that is totally disengaged from the Scriptures. Yet the authors argue that at the heart of many of our emotional and psychological issues is a failure to really believe the truths about the Lordship of Jesus. The way they see pastoral care operating in the life of the church is at the same time both confronting and challenging.

Chester and Timmis are part of the Crowded House, a missional community that operates out of Sheffield in the UK, and has a growing ministry in some of the toughest and most challenging areas of the north of England. If you haven’t read a book recently about what the Church is and how it is to operate, let me recommend ‘Total Church’. I am sure it will be of benefit to you.

Edward Vaughan

Engage
Our evening Engage community just finished 40 Days of Purpose where we were challenged to Worship God – together – with all that we are. Church can become a place where we come solely to meet our own spiritual needs, but that is not what the Gospel about Jesus calls us to. We have been saved into a family and that family exists for a purpose, to bring Glory to God through living the life he purposed us to live. Over 40 days we explored that, together we are to worship Christ, together we are to encourage each other to become like Christ, together we are to proclaim the good news of Christ as we live in gospel community, week in week out, for Sunday is just 1/7 of our weekly call to worship. We come then, in November, to the book of Hebrews with the call throughout the book to live in community, so…you don’t drift from Jesus…and so you don’t become an ineffective follower of Jesus…“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:23-25)

Crinken Kids
All’s a go with Crinken Kids. We have been exploring who our “Father God” is on a Thursday afternoon, discovering all about what he is like, how much he loves us, and all the things we can talk to him about. He sure is someone we can trust. During November we will be spending time in workshops exploring who God is, through things such as Clowning, Puppets, art, sculpture and dance. It’s sure to be a load of fun.

Sunday Mornings, we have all been looking at Kingship and how all through the bible people have looked to a king to lead them. It’s been quite a journey starting with the book of Samuel and King Saul. We have learnt that even the very best of kings will make mistakes, we are looking forward to meeting the King that doesn’t make mistakes or let us down, and his arrival is just around the corner as Christmas approaches.

Oh What a Night!
Saturday 19th September seems quite a while ago but those who attended the Crinken Dinner will have much to remember from that splendid evening. The event took place to mark the beginning of the church year and the restoration of the tower clock and bell mechanism. The evening commenced as we sipped upon a tasty punch and with Alison Hall (a mere 99 years of age) pressing the button to set off the bell mechanism of the clock, ringing out to an enthusiastic round of applause. Thanks to Robert Thompson & Arthur Fortune for their technical expertise.

The standard of cuisine as prepared by Orla Wood & Joyce Sparkes regularly excels and this occasion was no exception with favourable comments emanating from all quarters. Consumed in surroundings decorated by Jane Vaughan, Barbara Douglas, Brenda Mercier & Rebecca Todd our happiness and contentment would have been complete.

Little did we realise the depth and breath of ability within our walls as we were treated to the undeniable and individual musical gifts of Dan Carollo, Helen Das, Jeeban Das & Scott Slate – if “music be the food of love” then we had enjoyed a sumptuous feast of talent!

Thanks must go to all those involved (including our sound engineers Ray Ekins, Richard Douglas & Dermot Cochrane) and of course the driving force behind the evening, Barbara Douglas & Geoff Scargill, who pulled it together with a calm and capable disposition.

At Crinken, Jean was known for her wisdom, prayerfulness, encouragement and inspiration. She prayed as someone who was very familiar with talking to God. Even though she was eighty-four years old, she had a remarkably modern outlook. Her unwavering trust in Jesus was combined with a very realistic view of people and how hard their struggles could be. Needless to say, Jean will be deeply missed by many in the congregation at Crinken.

At her thanksgiving service, Bishop Harold Miller preached from 2 Corinthians 4, the passage in which Paul writes about being ‘a jar of clay’. The apostle mentions how many challenges he has in his life, and recognizes that his physical body is wasting away. Yet he says that he ‘carries the death of Jesus in his body’- his experience of the risen Lord Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore Paul doesn’t lose heart. Even though he is physically ‘wasting away’, he is encouraged because he is being spiritually renewed every day by the Spirit.

It was a fine sermon, and a very appropriate passage. In the last two weeks of her life, cancer advanced in her body at an unbelievable rate. Her death caught many by surprise, yet she gave a powerful testimony to Jesus right up until the end. Jean provided us with a model of how to face the certainty of death with the certainty of eternal life.

Jean’s husband Raymond passed away at Christmas time. It is very hard to believe that both of them have left us in such a short space of time. Jean and Raymond were a great team in the years of ordained ministry that they shared in Cork.

Thanks to Dr Peter Marshall, of Rathmichael parish, who was a wonderful support to the family at such a vulnerable time. Peter cared for Jean with great skill and care.

For those of us who knew Jean, we realize that we have known one of the great ones of Jesus’ kingdom. We look forward with hope to that time when both Jean and we will be united with Christ.

(If you go to our teaching section – podcasts – you can hear the address that Bishop Miller gave at Jean’s thanksgiving service, and the sermon I preached in church on the following Sunday about Jean, entitled ‘Jars of Clay’.
Edward Vaughan

Voices of Life
On Saturday 29 August, Crinken Church was privileged to host the first concert of the Voices of Life Choir tour of Ireland. These young performers are a group of Ugandan secondary school youths who are currently studying at Fields of Life schools.

These students represent some 35,000 children in Uganda that people throughout Ireland have helped over the years, through the organisation Fields of Life. To this end, the choir wish to be a ‘Voice of Life’ for the many children in East Africa who have not had the opportunity of receiving an education. While in Ireland they are seeking to raise an awareness of the plight of children in Burundi.

Burundi is a very poor country, still suffering the impact of a long civil war that lasted about 30 years. There are not enough schools in the country and as a result, many children do not have the opportunity of an education because of the long distances they have to travel to school.

Fields of Life have built 15 schools in Burundi, and the choir wish to add one more to this number. At their request, all proceeds donated at the concerts are going towards a new school build in Burundi.

Despite having travelled overnight and arriving in Ireland at lunchtime on the Saturday, the choir (after only 2 hours rest!), ever eager to perform, wowed the audience with their singing and dancing.

If you missed the evening, it’s not too late to catch up with the choir. They will be performing in Kill o’ the Grange Church Wednesday 7 Oct 8pm and Athy Church of Ireland, Thursday 8 Oct 8pm. See http://www.fieldsoflife.com for further details.

Church Life
As we approach the darker days of winter we thank God for a summer which, while not being of a radiant disposition was filled with Christian endeavour and adventure for many of the Crinken family.

In late June a team of Scripture Union (Ireland) supporters including our very own Robert Thompson climbed Mount Toubkal – the highest mountain in North Africa, in aid of funds to refit the kitchen in Ovoca Manor – a short presentation of this can be viewed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyMRc7hSWhw. With the help of friends and family, Robert raised the incredible sum of €5000.

Not all of the summers’ achievements were geographically challenging but remained demanding in their own way – we were delighted to observe the maturity and focus of our younger members as they ploughed their own exciting furrows. Chloe McGovern worked during the summer in India with Tear Fund, Emma and Jim Wood visited South Africa to help our Mission Partners there (new parents Karen and Christiaan Snell!!) while a team of 14 young folk went to Offenburg in Southern Germany to Teenstreet (an annual international week-long conference presented by Operation Mobilisation for Christian teenagers).

It’s always a delight to welcome ‘one of our own’ Simon Donohoe (currently in Theological College in London) as our guest speaker at our August 2nd Morning Service while Neil Douglas preached most meaningfully at our service on July 19th. Neil’s brother, Jonathan, is also taking a big step as he moves to Cork to work with IFES, a student organisation whose aim is to inspire and equip students to follow Jesus.

It was great to welcome another of our Mission Partners Linda and Werner Holmes-Ulrich with their children Tatjana and Ciara. Werner is a pastor in Austria and the visit provided some respite from the challenges of that role. Plenty of hard work on the home front also and none more manifest than Bas and Glynis Goods now legendary SU Family week.
Just prior to school recommencing our Holiday Club was held in Crinken with many local children attending along with the Crinken ‘regulars’ – all had a safe and healthy time of fun and learning.

We thank God for keeping everyone safe during the summer and rejoice together as we watch his people grow in him.

In more recent times, however we have understood that welcoming is not the only thing you have to do to help new people find their place in the church. It can take some time for new people to find their feet in a church. Building relationships and working out how things operate in a new place can take some time and be a somewhat lonely experience.

In the last while, we have had quite a number of new people join our church. This is a delight, and brings us great joy. Yet we have realised that we needed to do something to help these people establish themselves and feel included.

So at the end of March, on Sunday 29th, we are holding a ‘Connect Lunch’ after church. The idea is really quite straightforward. We have invited those who have recently joined the church to meet some Crinken folk over a simple meal. We also want to give them some information which they might find hard to access in any other way. I will speak briefly about our church, our mission, and some of the key ministries of the church like our small groups and pastoral care system. We will provide a creche and children’s programme because quite a few of our newcomers are young families. We also want to let them know about the youth and children’s work in Crinken, and give people an opportunity to ask any questions they may have.

The aim is to make these new folk feel welcome, and to provide them with information about the church that will help them get connected. We hope that the Connect Lunch will enable us to keep on being a welcoming church into the future.
Edward Vaughan

Engage
Crinken’s evening service Engage began a series on Isaiah at the end of last month entitled “Life Wars: a new hope” which will reach its climax on Easter Sunday when we see the foundation for this new hope clearly expressed as we look at Isaiah 53. If you like contemporary service, based on vibrant and modern music style and a commitment to Biblical preaching, then join us at Engage this Easter Sunday, 7pm and meet the Lord Jesus.

Generation
Crinken Generation, which is the name of our youth ministry here, launched its youth website last month. Check it out in the Youth section.

Crinken Kids
It has been a busy term with our EXTREME program, we finished March off with a visit from pro skateboarder Gerrad Evans and our ministry team workshops, which included candle making, cooking, gardening, glass works and lessons in Safety and CPR. We finish our term with a celebration activity on Thursday April 2, 6.30 – 8.00 all are welcome, it’s sure to be a great way to see what we have been learning about Jesus and his extreme statements.

Clubs will go back for Summer term Thursday April 23rd, and we will start a new unit, Living Legend, powerful friend!! yep it’s Jesus. It’s sure to be as high energy and action packed as last term.

On Sunday Mornings it’s all go, once booted out of church we sing, investigate the bible and have a laugh. This term we unleashed our new and VERY groovy kids band, the verdict is not yet in, but they have worked hard so well done to the Crinken Kids band.

Young@Heart
A heady mix of comedy, a high tea, chat, laughter and a genuine bone-fide usherette combined to make for an enjoyable afternoon on St. Valentines Day for the Young@Heart members. Hearty chuckles were heard emitting from the most reserved of souls as together we enjoyed the movie ‘Waking Ned’. The ‘High Tea’ was engineered as usual by Orla and Joyce (ably assisted by an efficient Jenny Scargill) who cannot but help produce a sumptuous feast seemingly at the drop of a hat.

More than a touch of nostalgia was evident in the form of usherette Joni Griffin who ‘reeled in the years’ for us by donning the appropriate outfit complete with a flashlight and the obligatory tray of goodies. An afternoon brimming with fun was had by all and we departed in hearty spirit looking forward to our get-together in March when we join for some hymn singing, a short thought and a light tea in the Church Hall. Our get-together in April (25th) consists of a trip to Mount Usher where thoughts of the recession will be banished in favour of what we enjoy at every Young@Heart gathering. Good humour, excellent food and that rarest of commodities in the modern world, fellowship.
Crinken InterNational
Crinken InterNational was realaunched on the 7th Feb with a Travelling Supper. The aim of the evening was to introduce new people to our mission partners abroad and for everyone to get a chance to visit our new home mission partner – “The Factory” YFC drop in centre in Bray. About 70 turned up for soup in a couple of houses. From there they were directed to the “The Factory” for a delicious main course. Everyone enjoyed wandering around the drop in centre, looking at the pool tables, computers, fuzeball, table tennis table and graffitti done by a local artist. Crinken are now partnering with YFC to run a teenage mums and tots group there and the hope is that drop in sessions, homework clubs, music evenings etc will begin there soon. Of course, the whole idea is to reach out to our community in a safe and comfortable place and show them, however we can, God’s love. Finally, people travelled down to the church hall for dessert. At the door, they were greeted by a life size papier mache Lorretta – our mission partner in Chad! Over coffee, they browsed stands from our mission partners: Church in Chains, Fields of Life, Karen & Christiaan in South Africa, Linda & Werner in Austria, Lorretta and YFC Bray, before taking part in a fun quiz to see how much we really know about those representing us abroad. The evening closed with a challenge to be involved in mission through prayer, partnership or even going – home or away. The following day, we had Suzie Evans and Lisa Fitzsimons from YFC share with us in our services about their work and challenging us to realise the extent of God’s glory and the implications of that in our daily lives. It was an inspiring weekend, enjoyed by all. Now the real work begins as we, as a church family, engage fully in mission and our mission partners.

Crinken’s Christmas celebrations begin with our Carols by Candlelight on Sunday December 7th at 6.30pm. This year our service is a few weeks earlier than usual so I could be there. This will be our usual service of bible readings and carols, with some special items added in as well. We have our Kids Carols on Christmas Eve, December 24th at 4pm. And on Christmas Day we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper at 9.30am and have a Family Service at 10.30am. Rev Trevor Stevenson is preaching and presiding.

Happy Christmas to all from us here at Crinken. May the blessings of our God who sent his Son to earth for us be upon you!
Edward Vaughan

Generation & Crinken Kid’s

What is going on in December….
Sunday mornings are all a-go in both Children’s and Youth ministry. In our Sunday Morning Children’s programmes we are closing in on Christmas and looking back in the Old Testament to see how Jesus was promised right at the very beginning and how his arrival really is worth CELEBRATING. So celebrate it we will! Especially on Christmas Eve at our Kids’ Carols service (4pm) it’s sure to be a ripper with guest appearances from the “Christmas rap trio”, as well as “big band” style Christmas carols. How we hold the two genres together is sure to be a treat and in itself worth coming along for.

Our Sunday Morning Generation groups continue to meet, the 6th class to 2nd year meeting in the youth room over hot chocolates and marshmallows, games and a good bit of bible action as they work through the Good News about Jesus through the eyes of a man named John – a real live eye witness to the man himself. Meanwhile the older guys have been busy at work getting together a few classy looking DVD’s for our ENGAGE service on Sunday evenings at 7pm. They hit the park and interviewed a variety of people on what God thinks about religion and what God thinks about sex – educational and amusing. They have also put together a spin on the good old MAC Vs PC advert.

Of course that is just Sundays. Our week night groups for Children on Thursday nights (2nd and 3rd Class 4.30 – 6pm) and (4th and 5th class 6.30 – 8 pm) have been working at high speed to get an overview of what the bible is about. We started at Genesis and have been closing in rapidly on the promised Saviour. We saw through the Old Testament again and again how people needed God to help them out, and then skipping through to the New Testament how he sent Jesus and we are now waiting for that restored Kingdom “Heaven”. Of course it’s not Thursday night without a wild fast and furious game with Denis and the gang. Our last night together before the Christmas break will be Thursday the 18th, where we will watch a movie and relax with popcorn and other goodies. Parents will be welcome to join us for minced pies and a few Christmas goodies.

Friday night Generation has been racing along also. The new meeting times are winners with a good crowd coming along, of course the high energy activities and discussions have made the nights really worth while. The recent weekend away where a group of about 30 headed down to Glendalough was fantastic – lots of laughs … and sleepless nights! We will be sad to say our last night before Christmas break will be Friday the 19th, where we will PARTY and celebrate Christmas and the arrival of Jesus, who we seek to follow.

Christmas Services
Sunday 7th December at 6.30pm – Carols by Candlelight
Wednesday 24th December at 4pm – Kids Carols
Christmas Day at 9.30am – Lord’s Supper
and at 10.30am – Family Praise

A very blessed Christmas and a happy new year to all our readers!