Issue 65 TheGate December 2019 theGate

What are we about?

Teaching the Bible; Ministering in prayer; Making disciples of all ages; Proclaiming Jesus locally and globally; and Caring for people in Jesus’ name locally and globally.

Teaching the Bible Faithfully teaching the Bible in Church and in homes; equipping everyone in our care to live out the truth wherever they are.

Ministering in prayer Praying for one another after church on Sunday mornings, praying for the life of the Church at a regular prayer meeting and in our homes. We are available to pray; no prayer request is too big, too small or too inconvenient.

Making disciples of all ages Creating a learning community, which helps people at all stages in their faith journey to move towards maturity in Christ.

Proclaiming Jesus locally and globally We believe that we have something so exciting to share that we can’t keep it to ourselves. We want our community, and other communities across the globe, to meet Jesus and discover real life.

Caring for people in Jesus’ name locally and globally. Jesus commands us to ‘love our neighbour as ourselves’, so we seek to support people in their emotional, physical and relational needs. Jesus wants his people to be a blessing to others, both on our doorsteps and further afield.

Join us on facebook: facebook.com/atstpatricks theGate We are St. Patrick’s

RECTOR: REV. WILLIE NIXON B.Sc, B.Th The Rectory Mob: 07764277771 64 Drumbeg Road, [email protected] Dunmurry BT17 9LE

Rector’s churchwarden People’s churchwarden Alexandra McClung: 07515395921 Wendy Kidd: 07970861489

Lay Reader Glebewardens Margaret McVeigh: 07711844532 Michael Barnett | Ryan Roberts

Parochial Nominators Margaret McVeigh Susan Brown Nicola Wadsworth Ryan Price

Diocesan Synodsmen Michael Barnett Nigel Quinn

Honorary Secretary Honorary Treasurer Nicola Wadsworth: 07708577119 Trevor Martin: 02890826992

Gift Aid Treasurer Graveyard Treasurer Ian Hunter: 07769681089 Robert Jordan: 02890614197

Youth Children’s & Families Co-ordinator Rachel Pascu: 07766764318 | [email protected]

Sexton Hugh Crookshanks: 07702064312

Bell Ringers Joshua Armstrong & Trevor Armstrong Tel: 07715965761

Select Vestry Susan Boreham Suzanne Brown Rosemary Bunting Dr. Brian Dean Nicola Wadsworth Candida Corscadden Trevor Martin Margaret McVeigh Michael Barnett Mabel Quinn Leo Rossi Ryan Roberts

3 theGate Open the present this Christmas!

‘Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”. (John 1:12)

This is the wonderful promise in John’s Gospel, where we are counselled to receive Jesus so that we would become the children of God himself. It seems to me that the gift of Christmas is indeed Jesus the Son of the living God; not a gift to be gazed upon or casually sung about in the familiar Christmas carols, but rather a gift to receive into our lives by faith.

It is interesting that John notes that becoming children of God is about receiving and believing in Jesus. As Christmas comes around with all its fun, razzmatazz and celebrating it would be easy to think about him only in the context of tradition or even to reduce his coming to a fairy tale and folklore. Yet the living word of God whispers to us “receive me” “believe in me”. In many ways Jesus is the gift of heaven to earth; a gift that for too many remains unopened and undiscovered.

A few years ago now, at Christmas, I received a bole bag from a friend. I assumed it was just another bole of wine and in the busy Christmas rush we were visiting a friend and I grabbed the bole bag, removed the label, and did what I guess many of us do at Christmas and recycled a gift. About three days later our friends sent us a very nice card thanking us for the voucher for Rockmount Golf Club and the bole of wine. They wrote “the bole of wine would have been more than enough, but we will use the Rockmount Vouchers in the new year”. I didn’t say anything or do anything, but then knew I had to write a leer to the friend I had first received the ‘bole bag’ from and note my thanks for the voucher. A voucher I was never going to get to spend, simply because I hadn’t opened the present.

Christmas can be like that for too many of us. Jesus is the present of salvation and only by receiving him and believing in him are we given the privilege of becoming the sons and daughters of God himself. A privilege offered freely by God himself.

This Christmas let us make sure we open every present and don’t recycle in haste! Yet more importantly let us not only gaze on the nativity scene, but rather let us welcome Jesus into our hearts, our lives, our ways, our wills and know the joy of his salvation. It seems to me that without Jesus in our hearts, Christmas is just one big empty party, but when we receive him and believe in him it is a foretaste of a heavenly party and banquet which will carry us into eternity as God’s children.

Wishing you every heavenly blessing for Christmas, Rev’d Willie, Caroline, Anna, Alice and Sam.

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“Prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well”

IMPROVING HEALTH IN NYAPEYA. AN ONGOING STORY with Dr. Keith Steel.

Two years ago during our visit to NyApeya we were privileged to meet Dr Nick Laing,a 32 year old Kiwi who was practising Medicine at St Phillips health centre under the auspices of one of our partners the Diocese of Northern Uganda. We were humbled to meet this Christian doctor who had been working in the community for four years,living amongst the people and drawing a subsistence salary of 100 dollars per month. Although there is a health service in Uganda it is very patchy particularly in rural areas. Dr Nick had pioneered Nurse led health centres in four or five rural districts where accommodation for a nurse had been identified . The nurse lived in the community working using evidence based protocols,having access to a supply of commonly used medications while maintaining contact with Dr Nick by telephone who could advise on difficult cases. We asked Dr Nick if such a centre could be located in NyApeya where access to health care was a hour away travelling by motorbike taxi . Emma,His nurse administrator visited the community to check if a service would be welcome and try and locate premises to rent. We got the thumbs up and were informed that if we had £1500 we could set up the centre for a year. It would then be audited to determine its viability. This would be determined by the number of patients seen and the income generated (maximum cost for consultation,tests and treatment is one pound and free if you cannot pay) Members of Drumbeg Parish held Billie can run from Shaws bridge to Drumbeg and along with the help of friends outside the Parish we raised circa £4200

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Our prayers were answered when we arrived in October this year.The centre had been established 5 minutes walk from the school. Our nurse who is 22 year old Ugandan is called Innocent. He is fresh out of nursing school,is a commied Christian and prays with every patient.

We visited the centre most mornings .80 percent of his patients were suffering from malaria. We watched him take a careful history from the patients followed by exami- nation. Using a drop of the patients blood applied to a test strip the diagnosis of malaria could be confirmed or refuted. Artesunate could be prescribed which decreas- es the parasitic load by 70 percent in twelve hours.We saw first hand how our bus driver who had symptoms of malaria felt beer by close of play that day after a course of medication.

We intend to supply a motor bike to the health centre(£600) so that Innocent can commute to Gulu to report back to Dr Nick at St Phillips and visit his family and friends. The bike will also be used for transporting medicines to the centre, and to facilitate home visits in the community. Innocent has already integrated his work with the school and the children have all been treated for hookworm infection and given vitamin supplements We would hope that going forward he would have a preventative(school nurse) role in NyApeya school

Thanks to all who contributed to Gods project in Nyapeya. Please consider coming out next year to experience same first hand.

Dr Nic and Rev James. Body and Dr Keith Steel with Innocent Mahew, the Headmaster Soul looked after at Nyapeya

6 Keith Nurse Innocence and theGate Mike at the Nurse-led clinic Brian and Dara doing medical investigation.

8 theGate A Christmas Reflection with Audrey Curry

Christmas... it’s often a time of year when we are flooded with memories, some happy and some sad! It’s also a time of year when we can become overwhelmed by the expectations of friends and family! ... Or ... is it our percep- tion of their expectations? Robert Louis Stevenson’s beautiful Christmas prayer encourages us to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. Loving Father, help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and worship of the wise men. Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting. Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake. Amen. As Christmas passes and the New Year approaches I challenge myself to take a moment to catalogue my many blessings. Although my life may be riddled with the distraction of busyness, I ask God to give me eyes to see His great gifts. Then, in thankfulness, I surrender all the distractions I have in my head and in my hands so that I can receive the wonderful gifts and amazing peace He longs to place in my life! Two wonderful bible verses I reflect on as one year ends and a new one begins: Psalm 46:10: Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. Exodus 14:14: The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.

May His blessings abound in our lives, Audrey Curry

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Mission & Charitable Giving Update A great effort from a small Parish Church!

Within our church accounts we have what we call the ‘Mission Account’. Put simply this is the account where we lodge all monies raised for mission and charitable work throughout the year. As a Parish we both give away and raise funds for a variety of mission and charitable projects both at home and overseas. To date, in 2019, we have been able to give away £39741. This is a tremendous effort and is thanks to the kindness and generosity of this parish and community. Highlights this year have been: our continued help with feeding 50 families a week through the Larder Foodbank in East Belfast, the installation of a Water Collection System at our School Project in Northern Uganda with Fields of Life, an update of the Fire Sprinkler system at the Harper Hospital in Cairo with CMSI, funding a Youth and Children’s Camp in Alexandria in Egypt with CMSI, the training of a Sudanese refugee clergyman at the Nuba Mountains Bible Institute, our monthly Christian Aid lunches, providing English lessons for Syrian Refugee Children in Lisburn, funding a nurse-led health clinic in Nyapeya, helping to fund IJM in advocacy for those suffering Domes- tic Violence and Land Grabbing in Gulu, our Missions Cookery Demo, Emergency Disaster Relief through Bishop’s Appeal and all those smaller events which have raised funds for local charities. The list of others we have supported in 2019 is below: • Belfast City Hospital Haematology Unit • Cancer Focus NI • Marie Curie (Tea dances) • Save the Children • Tiny Life • Northern Ireland Kidney Research Fund • Barnardos Sudanese Refugee Relief Fund • Irish Nepalese Education Trust • Tearfund • Kerala Flood Appeal • Bishop’s Appeal (International Disaster Relief) • SAFFA • Sarah & Jose (Mission Project in Spain) This effort is something we should give thanks to the Lord for and one in which we should always only seek to do beer year on year.

Thank you for being so generous to those in need. Rev’d Willie.

10 theGate Introducing Mark Seneda.

Mark will be with us for just over two weeks as part of our developing relationship with Cairo and the Diocese of Egypt. This trip has been facilitated by CMS Ireland. He arrives on Friday 29th November. Mark is here to learn as part of his pre-ordination training. He will be staying with Parishioners during his visit and taking part in community and parish activities.

If you would like to learn more about Egypt and the church there, please do not hesitate to get in touch to arrange a coffee, lunch of dinner with Mark.

My name is Mark Senada. I am thirty four years old. I was born and raised in an Anglican Church in Egypt. I majored in business, and I worked as an accountant for two years before entering formal ministry. I moved to Cairo to aend the Alexandria School of Theology shortly after being asked by Bishop Mounir Anis to lead the diocesan youth ministry. I served as the youth director for the diocese for seven years. I was also the Alpha Youth regional coordinator for the last four years before I left on 2015 to study a Masters in Arts in Religion at Trinity School for Ministry, Ambridge, Pennsylvania. My thesis focused on the Old Testament studies: a comparative studies between Jihad and the conquest of Joshua. I retuned back to Egypt on September 2017 when I began my new job as a full-time lecturer at Alexandria School of Theology in the Anglican Church. I am planning to earn a PHD degree in the Old Testament in the next few years.

I have been teaching biblical studies for the past two years. I was called by Bishop Mouneer for ordination. I did not accept the call in the beginning because I wanted to focus on my academic life. In the second year of my teaching I was responsible for mentoring four students. I realized that academic life will be even stronger with ministry in the church. Teaching can be empowered with experience in how different people respond to the gospel. With this in mind I went to talk with my bishop about ordination for two reasons: First: to empower my teaching with practical ministry. Second, to be part of the church while I lecture in AST. I want to officially belong to church while I practice both my ordained ministry and my academic teaching. While I move forward to ordination, I will still pursue my PHD studies because I believe that preaching in the church and lecturing in seminary is a great responsibility and I want to be equipped with the best tools to do both for God’s glory and for building his kingdom in the church.

Mark Senada, November 2019

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Winter Warmers... A Cookery Demonstration with Barbara Farris.

It was dark and wintry as a queue began to form outside the Parish Hall. The stillness and cold of the night contrasted sharply with the warmth, buzz and brightness from within. People came from near and far on Thursday 7th November for "Winter Warmers - a Cook- ery Demonstration with Barbara Farris." Prosecco or apple juice on arrival allowed for browsing the seven stalls consisting of a variety of local produce from cheeses to bath products. Barbara held her audience enthralled throughout the hour and three quarters demonstration, creating ten dishes in the most professional and entertaining manner. Not only is she an accomplished cook but a humorous and fascinating raconteur. One mouth watering dish followed another. We found each one in the Recipe Booklet provided. Along the way, Barbara paid tribute to her strong team, to Alice her able assistant and to the Stall holders who had each made a contribution to the success of the evening. Their produce was incorporated into the Winter Warmers dishes. The ballot ensued with twenty six prizes including the ten dishes which Barbara had made. Other prizes were donated by the stall holders, local businesses and parishioners. This wonderful evening concluded with a delicious supper enjoyed by the two hundred and twenty people present. Huge credit must go to Barbara in the planning and preparation for the event and to the strong team work at St Patrick's. £5000 was raised on the night to support those in need locally through the work of the Larder Project and those in need globally through the Uganda School Project. 12 theGate

Thank you Barbara for helping us to make this evening such a great success!

The Winter Warmers Cookery Demonstration with Barbara Farris was outstandingly successful and a Winter Warmer in more senses than one as anyone who a ended this magnificent event will affirm. by Alexandra McClung. Thank you for your support...

13 Greetings from St. Jude’s Ballynafeigh!

I want to be sure to extend my most sincere and deepest gratitude to all at St. Patrick’s for the endless prayers and support for Sarah, myself, (and the boys!) as we have made our transition to serving in a new parish.

We feel, and always will I believe, that Drumbeg is our home church and that you are our sending church into the seas of further ministry. I am a ministerial intern at St. Jude’s, which is essentially a job that shadows the rector and learns on the go. This opportunity was seen as a continued part of my development and discernment process for ordination in the Church of Ireland. I am happy to report that things are going well, and the Reverend Bourke has surely made good use of the help! I am helping with our youth fellowship, teaching in small groups, working with the toddler’s group, helping coordinate outreach on Wednesday afternoons, and preaching on occasional Sundays. It has been a whirlwind of activity and service and I’ve been involved with every age range in the parish! I believe this is good training for the future if the Lord dictates that we continue down the path of ordination. Liam and Jude have continued to stay on in the Boy’s Brigade at St. Patrick’s and we are still close with many in the Parish in TAG groups. If you see us about, please do say hello and check in on how things are going. Can I ask for you to be praying for a few things? As part of our move to St. Jude’s, I’ve become more aware of the call of ministry and how it takes form in lay and ordained roles. As Cosmin and I are in discernment from St. Patrick’s, there are several others from all over the island in our foundations course that are also in the same position of listen- ing to God and exploring ordination. In my experience with this group, I am hopeful for future fruit in the Church of Ireland due to the ministry of these future ministers. The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Pray for these fellow explorers as you continue to pray for Cosmin and I. Secondly, please be praying for our ministry at St. Jude’s. South Belfast is a very diverse area with a high population of immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. We have several connections with various groups and we have seen several diverse cultures represented in our parish on Sundays and in the toddlers group on Mondays. This is wonderful and we pray that we could continue to spread the good news of Jesus to every tribe, tongue, and nation, from our wee spot on the Ormeau Road!

With love and Advent greetings! Ryan, Sarah, Liam and Jude Hawk More info in the next issue. 14 theGate

UGANDA TRIP SEPT., 2019 with Rev. Wille Nixon

A team of thirteen people travelled to Nyapeya on 25th September for a 12 day trip to visit our jointly partnered Fields of Life (FOL)and Diocese of Northern Uganda (DNU) school project and to catch up with the work of International Justice Mission in Gulu. It was also good to visit the Wakisa Pregnancy Crisis Centre which is a ministry to teenage girls who find themselves pregnant and ostracised by their own families and communities; this ministry is funded my mostly Northern Irish help. It is good to report that our School is running well, with the classrooms now complete with desks and chairs and the water collection system at the installation phase. It is also a blessing to report that the benefits of the feeding programme at the school evidenced by the children looking much healthier than on our visit just fifteen months ago. The other exciting development is the five acres of crops which have been planted with our financial support and are growing well for a harvest in November. School uniforms have now been made and are beginning to be handed out to the children. Hopefully on our next visit we will find all the children wearing a uniform. In many ways one of the most exciting developments is our nurse-led clinic and the work done by the two doctors of our team testing for eyesight problems and diagnosing children who are malnourished through height and weight testing, and ploing, whilst at the school. The results have been analysed and passed to the Nurse-Led clinic for further analysis and follow up. (see separate editorial regarding the Nurse-Led clinic spon- sored by the Parish). We engaged on a variety of levels with the project and brought some useful help and training to the school. It is a Fields of Life policy that each school should have a functioning Child Protection Policy in place; Alison Steele and Pat Martin worked hard with the teachers alongside a very helpful local FOL Field Officer to deliver such a policy and to train the teachers in implementing it in the life of the School.

15 theGate It was also great to be able to use funds raised at home to provide the school with a whole Mathematics Course of text books for the upper primary classes. The team were also able to deliver the FOL WASH programme, a personal hygiene and oral hygiene course, which greatly reduces local sickness and disease. We also delivered the FOL ‘I am girl’ programme, which helps the older girls and boys to understand menstruation, sexual health, contraception and the rights of the girls to say no sexual advances from their peers and indeed older men within their communities. The team had the privilege of being involved each day in taking the School Assembly with a daily forty-five minutes input of teaching and worship. The children showed great enthusiasm for singing and enjoyed the daily ‘dramatised’ Bible stories acted out by the members of our church team. We have a few budding thespians amongst us! The element of fun was continued in a programme of outdoor games, interactive Irish history lessons, Bible talks and a sports day. Rev’d Willie was able to spend one afternoon training some local Parish Lay Readers using material from the Down and Dromore course. Our visit to the Kampala and Gulu IJM offices again proved worthwhile as we were able to makes links for the school at Gulu with IJM; in the area of reporting and Child Welfare proce- dures at the school. Richard Spra of FOL hopes to follow this up on his visit to Gulu this month.

The challenge remains to retain good teachers in such a remote primary school. Nyapeya is a sixty Benjamin eating his minute drive from the nearest large selement of school lunch paid for people and the school is struggling to fund teach- by Drumbeg School er’s salaries at a level which makes it aractive for Sponsorship scheme. teachers to stay in place. To try and help with this issue in collaboration with FOL we are glad that some of the School Sponsorship funds are now going to be redirected to salaries for a period of eighteen months to two years. It is important that in the meantime the school works towards self sufficiency and that it doesn’t become reliant on outside funding. Some of the crops they are grow- ing will be sold to help fund daily running costs at the school. The other challenge is the lack of a Nursery Unit at the school. This is being addressed locally as we are now reasonably confident that with some fundrais- ing here in Drumbeg and a considerable investment from another party, there will be every possibility of a Nursery Unit materialising in late 2020 or early 2021. To help with this one of the team has already crowd funded £2000. You can help with this by supporting the Rector’s Sit-Out 2019 (see details in this edition). Thanks to you for supporting the team and to the team members for taking the time to serve the community at Nyapeya and for personally funding their trip.

16 theGate theGate Mabel and kids singing

17 theGate Dara with a baby at Wakisa Home.

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BME AND CULTURAL AWARENESS FORUM

In April 2019 Drumbeg Art Club, Arts East, Community Associations from Hillhall, Ballybeen, Cregagh, Tonagh, and groups representing Black, Minority and Ethnic communities (BME) became involved in PEACE IV initiatives organised by the Institute for Conflict Research. This included many different activities – visits to Mountstewart to hear about Suffragees, Omagh Memorial garden, Ulster American Folk Park, the Boyne Centre and Leinster House in Dublin. One memorable bus journey took place with Sudanese ladies on board. Their mobile phones were in constant use as a revolution was taking place in Sudan and they were listening to the news and cheering that was taking place there. It made for a lively trip. Many different workshops took place around Lisburn and Castlereagh areas, including working at a vegetarian cookbook with ethnic recipes from around the world. Workshops in Drumbeg took place one day with candlemaking, Collages of industry and places of interest in Lisburn such as buildings and parks, culture and recreation, painting on silk of the buildings, linen industry, river and canal. Both Chinese painters and Drumbeg Art Club had the opportunity to provide paintings for an exhibition in Lisburn Island Arts Centre and the R Space Gallery in Castle Street, Lisburn which took place for the month of November.

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In early November all these activities were drawn together at a Forum held in the Island Centre. This was quite an eye opener for those living in our rather isolated area of Drumbeg being relatively unaware of the issues faced by minority communities who fomany different reasons have come to live in different parts of Ireland We heard from several different groups and agencies who are trying to cope with some of the difficulties experienced, such as knowing where to go for help, doctors services, language courses, how to find accommodation etc. Many Sudanese had come to Northern Ireland knowing no English, and even basic English courses were not basic enough. Also they wanted advice about the culture here as it could be very different from that in their own countries. During the conference we were entertained by the Kerala Beats, a group of Indians mainly from South India who played on their drums dressed in lovely white robes and colourful sashes. It was a noisy exciting perfor- mance. We thank in particular Dr Katy Radford from the Institute for Conflict Research for allowing us all the opportunity to meet with these diverse groups and to hear about the work being done around the country to try to make everyone feel safe and wanted, and to make Northern Ireland an all- inclusive place to live and bring up families. We also thank Michael Boyd for his role in keeping us informed of the various events. A great opportunity to meet up with community groups from other areas. Margaret Jordan. (Drumbeg Art Club)

Rt. Rev. Johnson Gakumba, Diocese of Northern Uganda, hands over a certificate of partnership to Raymond Kerr on behalf of Drumbeg Parish to highlight our ongoing partnership in the Gospel with the people of Nyapeya Parish and St Patrick's Drumbeg. Bishop Johnson and his wife stayed with us for five days in October and blessed us with their fellow- ship, bible teaching and friendship.

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Heavenly Crafts, We started back in September to discover that Mrs Barbara Black had won the annual craft cup from the Drumbeg show for her outstanding quilt. We are delighted that we have some new members who are coming along. Some crochet, knit, sew and do cross stitch. We meet every 1st and 3rd Monday 7-9pm Contact Susan Kee 07970419442

Leo presenting Barbara with the cup.

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Jose and Sarah’s update:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12-13 This verse reminds us of the great love God has shown us in sending his Son Jesus to be our Saviour, but at the same time it challenges us that this is not something for us to hold on to for ourselves. This past weekend we went to an evangelism conference near Toledo, & met workers from towns & cities all over Spain who are faithfully sharing this message of love and redemption in a variety of ways. It was challenging to hear about how over 7000 towns still don’t have an evangelical church. The work seems so vast in this country. At the same time it was encouraging to hear stories; such as that of a lady in Madrid who planned to end her own life one Saturday evening, but on her way from work, she felt a force pulling her to the exact point in central Madrid where a team ministers on the streets. This lady, who planned to end her life, found the love & forgiveness of Jesus, and started a new life on the same evening. This story and others reminded us that God is continually calling people to Himself. With this thought, we want to thank you for reflecting God’s love to us in your prayers & emails, which are always a huge encouragement. Here is what we have been up to since we last wrote:

Moving… We moved house at the end of July. We are very thankful for a place which is central, affordable & spacious. God provided our flat through a lady in church who was moving away; she recommended us to her landlord. The house needed a lile TLC, painting & repair but we had a small army help us & now it feels like home.

Camp Ministry and youthwork In July, I (Sarah) spent 10 days helping at a teens camp outside Valencia. Highlights included siing outside with a small devotional group to study the bible each morn- ing & playing a counsellors-versus-campers football match. We had the opportunity to answer honest questions and God allowed me to talk to a young girl who had lost her aunt this year, sharing my own experiences. I learnt a lot from the way that both campers and leaders cared for 3 campers with learning disabilities & how they were included in every activity, from swimming to treasure hunts, to leading singing & talent shows. This was a really beautiful expression of God’s love. In October, we served in the children’s programme at the culto unido in Valencia: a yearly gathering where all churches in the region come together.

Victor Since we last wrote, Victor was able to move to a rehabilitation centre in Valencia, where we were able to visit him every Friday night. He got baptised 2 months ago, and just last week, he completed 6 months in rehab and decided it was time to start his new life, to work and become part of a local church. It’s a new beginning, and he continues firm in his faith and excited for this new chapter. He needs lots of prayer in this new season.

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SUNDAY SERVICES at St. Patrick’s from January 2020

1st Sunday 2nd Sunday 3rd Sunday 4th Sunday 5th Sunday

8:30am 8:30am Communion Communion Service Service

10am 10am 10am 10am 11am Praise with Praise with Communion Praise with Joint Family activites activites with activites activites service in the for children for children for children for children main church.

11:30am 11:30am 11:30am 11:30am Morning Communion Morning Morning Service Service Service Service

6:30pm 6:30pm Celebration Celebration Informal Informal Service Service

10am Services meet in the Parish Hall. JAM, our Sunday School, meets during the 10am. On the 5th Sunday of any month we meet at 11am for a joint service in the main Church. 5th Sundays in 2020 are 29th March, 31st May, 30th August & November 29th. We also come together for one 11am Family Service on Palm Sunday (5th April 2020), at our JAM Prizegiving Sunday & Prayer Weekend (21st June 2020) and for Harvest Sunday (27th September 2020). At our joint 11am Services the Parish Praise Group will lead the music. A Creche is provided at each 10am service in the Parish Hall. Where we have a joint service in the Church at 11am, the Vestry will be available for parents with smaller babies as necessary, but we are a Church which welcomes the ‘noise’ of children of all ages in our services. The ‘Celebration’ evening services will be on the 2nd and 4th Sunday evenings of each month. They will each have a special focus, often with an outside speaker, and with music led by the Parish Praise Group.

24 Christmas Season at St. Patrick’s, Drumbeg

Sunday, 8th December Sunday, 22nd December Toy Service – bring a toy for 11am – Family Service with Baptism Salvation Army Christmas Appeal (In the Church) Music led by Praise Group 11am – Family Communion Service (In the Church - Music shared 6pm – Nine Lessons and Carols* by Organ & Praise Band) (Mulled wine afterwards in the Parish Hall) 7pm - Advent Concert with Chris Eaton & Dave Pope *(The music will include (In the Church) traditional Choir pieces from the 11.30am Choir and *A free concert with a retiring contemporary praise collection for Refuge Egypt from the 10am Praise Choir (Diocese of Egypt/CMSI)

Sunday, 15th December Christmas Eve Christmas Jumper Services today 11pm – Holy Communion & Carols for Save the Children! Christmas Day 8.30am – Holy Communion 10am – Family Christmas Celebration 11am - Children’s Christingle Service (40 mins Service. Children (Music led by Praise Group) should bring their toys)

Sunday, 15th December – Monday Sunday 29th December 16th December (7.30pm-7.30pm) 11am – Shortened Morning Prayer Rector’s Christmas Sit Out Lard Foodbank & Nyapeya Nursery School Funds. Meet our next Bishop of the Diocese of Down and Dromore.

At a meeting of the Electoral College of the Church of Ireland on Monday, 4th Novem- ber Archdeacon David McClay was elected to serve as the next Bishop of the Diocese Down & Dromore. David is from a farming family in Co. Donegal. After leaving school worked for a number of years in the retail trade for Donegal Tweed. David was initially licensed as a Diocesan Reader in the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe before preparing, at Trinity College Dublin and the Church of Ireland Theological College, or Ordination. David served his curacy in Magheralin Parish before being appointed as Rector of Kilkeel. In 2002 David was appointed Rector of Willowfield Parish and made Archdeacon of Down in 2013.

David is married to Hilary and has three children and one grandchild. He will be Consecrated on Saturday 25th January at 3.30pm in St Anne’s Cathedral Belfast. He is a spirit-filled man of vision, pastoral sensitivity, missional zeal and is deeply commied to seeing God’s church grow in faith and number.

We take this opportunity to wish our Bishop Elect well in his new role within the Diocese, commend him to your prayers and look forward to welcoming him to visit the Parish in the Summer of 2020 Rector’s 24hr Sit Out at the Church Gate Sunday 15th Dec 7.30pm – Monday 16th Dec 7.30pm

This will be the 7th Annual Rector’s Sit Out at Drumbeg – it has become a tradition! This year we will once again collect food items and toiletries for the Larder Project. Tinned foods, toilet rolls, dried pasta and rice, canned meats & pies, soaps, shower gels, washing powder/liquid, small snack bars etc are all welcome. These food items will be taken to the Larder Foodbank at East Belfast where we are growing a relation- ship with the community there as we regularly help to feed the 50 families who use the Larder on a weekly basis. You can visit the Larder with us for Mulled wine and nibbles on Tuesday 17th Dec 7pm-8.30pm (Speak to Hugh on: 07702064312). We will eat well this Christmas – let us help others to do the same! This year the monies donated will go to beginning a seed fund to provide a Nursery Unit at the Primary School we have built in Nyapeya, Northern Uganda. Education is the greatest help in enabling Ugandans to step out of poverty. On our last visit to Nyapeya the teachers made a plea for their nursery children who are still using an squalid earthen floored structure as a classroom. I feel called to begin the work of providing this facility. One of our team members has already raised £1500 so we are on the way. Please be generous to this project as we partner with Fields of Life in transforming lives through the provision of education and clean water!

27 Wanted Picture by freddie parkinsonPlayful Pups who love chasing golf balls!

Did you know that St Patrick’s has its own Golfing Society? It is called DOGS – Drumbeg Occasional Golf Society. DOGS was established over 10 years ago with the purpose of being an outreach into the local community and also as an opportunity for its members to get to know each other in a friendly and a not too challenging/competitive sporting environment.

Over the years the membership of DOGS has included many local people with the core membership being local parishioners. Unfortunately in recent years the DOGS membership numbers have been falling and hence we would love to have some new members (new Pups!).

Typically we have 2 to 3 golf outings per year (usually at Malone and Dunmurry) followed by a meal. No maer what your golfing ability and if you would enjoy an occasional round of golf we would love to welcome you to DOGS. If you are interested please contact James Mathews (07956687776) for more details. A good home is assured!

28 theGate Growing Together

Prayer Meeting 1st & 3rd Wednesday 7:30pm Parish Office Rev. Willie Nixon

Parish Prayers (2nd & 4th) Wednesdays 7:45pm Rooted Bible Study Thursday 7:45pm Parish Hall

Alpha Course Mondays (14 Oct - 16th Dec) 7:45pm Contact Nigel Nigel Quinn about venue 07796277745

Mums and Tots Group Thursdays 10am Parish Hall Rachel Pascu 07766764318

Boys Brigade Wednesdays 6:30pm Parish Hall Rachel Pascu 07766764318

TAG (Think and Grow) Wednesdays 8pm TAG Women (1st and 3rd) Rachel - 07766764318 TAG Men (2nd and 4th) Cosmin - 07788411236

JAM (Sunday School) Sundays (10 O’Clock) 10am Parish Hall Rachel Pascu 4-12yrs 07766764318

SPY (Youth Group) Sundays 5pm Various venues Willie Nixon 12-18yrs 07764277771

Church of South India Monthly on 2nd Saturday 10am Parish Hall Mr Joby Philip-Thomas

Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing’. (Hebrews 10:25)

29 theGate

Parish Prayers (2nd & 4th) Wednesdays 7:45pm Rooted Bible Study Thursday 7:45pm Parish Hall

Celebration 6.30pm Services January 2020

Sunday 12th January Sunday 26th January with Love for Life with the Larder Project

Abortion and The Pressure Life on the breadline! to be sexually active on young people! Speaker: Louise Ferguson Speaker: Judith Cairns

30 Leckey & Golden FLEURISTE BELFAST For all your floral needs. Creative, Professional & Weddings, Funerals and Individual Floral Designs Special Occasions. Christine McCullough 67a Saintfield Road, Belfast, BT8 7HL 028 9060 1616 www.fleuriste.co.uk Phone: 02890794989 leckeyandgolden.com Finaghy, Belfast [email protected]

DRUM LANDSCAPES IRWINS MEDICAL HALL Gardening Specialists 167 KINGWAY, DUNMURRY. Mark McNeice Tel: 90618022 256 Upper Malone Road, BT17 9LD We offer a full range of healthcare services and FREE prescription on collection and T: 028 9061 9243 delivery service. M: 078 6016 3735

BRANCHES at: FINAGHY and SEYMOUR HILL YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY PHARMACY

SOUTH ANTRIM BOILER SERVICES (SABS) 7-15 Enterprise Crescent, Lisburn, BT28 2BP INDUSTRIAL - COMMERCIAL - DOMESTIC Tel 9266 5335 Fax 9266 1595 Oil and natural gas. Emergency [email protected] breakdown service. Central heating and plumbing installations.

31 theGate M. E. CROWE BUILDING CONTRACTOR and JOINERY WORKS

41A, QUARTERLANDS ROAD DRUMBEG, LISBURN BT27 5TN

Telephone: 028 9082 6596 www.mecrowe.co.uk Fax No: 028 9082 6595 Email: [email protected]

Over The Rainbow nursery provides a warm, homely and safe day nursery where families have been made welcome in belfast for over 20 years.

OPENING TIMES Monday - Friday, 7:30am - 6pm.

CONTACT Deramore: 02890 661174 Eglentine: 02890 683297

[email protected] www.overtherainbowni.co.uk

lovefitnessni.com 32 theGate

IRWIN FUELS MAXOL Abortion and the Pressure to be The right product at the right sexually active on young people! price. with Love for Life Speaker: Judith Cairns - Home Heating Oil - Express Delivery Sunday 12th January - Planned Payments At St. Patrick’s, Drumbeg - Credit card facilities. - Oil tanks supplied and installed

J H Irwin and Son (Fuels) Ltd 9 Green Lane, Lambeg Drum House Tel: 9266 3891 or 9061 8000 Nurseries Campbell McNeice 250 – 254 Upper Malone Road, GREENBURN ELECTRICAL Ltd Belfast BT17 9LD

General Electrical Instalation and T: 028 9061 1721 Repairs /NICEIC Approved Contractor. F: 028 9061 5514 35 Rosewood Glen, E: [email protected] Lisburn, BT28 2FH

Tel/Fax: 028 9209 1524 Ney Brothers Mobile: 077 5361 7611 - Plumbing & Heating - Engineers Derek & Emerys Ney David Crymble and Sons - Gas Safe Registered Installers

Funeral Directors & 50A Kilmacrew Rd Memorial Masons Banbridge Co. Down BT32 41EP 799 Lisburn Road Belfast BT9 7GX Derek 07703 463895 T: 028 9066 7784 Emerys 07801808760 M: 078 0829 1674 [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] WWW: www.dcfs.co.uk

An Independent Family Company David and Andrew Crymble

33 34 theGate Is your dog friendly?

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* Register your business as dog friendly dogfriendlyni.co.uk S.D. Brown Funeral Directors Memorial Masons

- Funeral Directors - Funeral Church - Monumental Masons - Pre-paid Funeral Plans - 24hrs Call out Service 4 Sackville Street LISBURN, BT27 4AB

Contact David Brown lisburnfunerals.com Telephone: 02892 677722 [email protected] 35 238 Kingsway Dunmurry BT17 9AE 02890 605060

elwoodcapper.com theGate

The Bowling Club will open it's Life on the breadline! new season on Monday 2nd. with the Larder Project September at 7.30 in the Church Speaker: Louise Ferguson Hall. New members will be more than welcome and bowls can be Sunday, 26th January supplied at St. Patrick’s, Drumbeg

BEECHVALE SERVICE STATION

SERVICING, REPAIRS, TYRES, EXHAUSTS, MOT preparation For CARS and light commercials

290 Hillhall Road Lisburn BT27 5TP

Telephone: 02890 826737

37 MARK EWART

- Painting Contractor - Painting and Decorating - Private and Commercial - Internal and External

All work guaranteed. 4a Seymour Hill Mews Dunmurry

Tel: 028 9060 2176 Mob: 07968 124220 [email protected]

Co-op Funeral Care Funeral Directors & Memorial Masons Norman McBriar & Sons Caring for people is at Independent Funeral Directors the heart of our approach... We are an independent family firm 139-141 Kingsway, who take pride in what we do. Dunmurry, BT17 9RY Offering a 24 hour service.

Telephone: 028 9061 7835 33a Main Street, Saintfield, Co. Down Tel: 028 9751 9739 PITSTOP [email protected] Attended car wash and valet service

290 Hillhall Road at Beechvale Service Station.

Monday to Saturday collection service available

Telephone No 028 9082 6737 38 PDW REPLACEMENTS LTD. TRISTAN KINNEAR B.Sc. Forestry

Manufactures and installers of UPVC Windows, doors and conservatories. TREE and FOREST Maintenance and repair department. Replacement of misted double MANAGEMENT glazing units. Base building department. Guaranteed top quality Tree Surgery labour and materials from experts. Surveys Sans Souci Gardens Planting Antrim Road, Lisburn, BT28 3AF

Tel: 9267 1863 Telephone: 028 9756 2067 Mobile: 078 0101 5631

DRUMBEG PLAYSCHOOL Mark Hendron Memorials

100 Ballyskeagh Road - New Headstones (1 mile from Lady Dixon’s) - Additional Inscriptions - Refurbishments - Children 2-5 welcome. - Free quotations - Fully qualified teachers. - Competitive rates Unit 39 Lisburn Enterprise Centre, Enterprise Crescent, Lisburn All enquires at 07854 742915 BT28 2BP

facebook.com/mark.hendron Mobile: 07738629783 A.S.M Gardening Services

84 Ballylesson Road, Belfast, BT8 8JT HALL BROTHERS - Supplier of all Garden Appliances. - Servicing and Repairs Plumbing and Heating Engineers Domestic All enquires at 028 9082 6584 Boiler Servicing 88a Nettlehill Road, Pond Park, Lisburn, Please use our advertisers! BT28 3HFT We are only able to produce this All enquires at: magazine with the help of those 028 9266 4900 who place adverts. Your help in supporting them is appreciated.

39 bring your friends to

The Coffee Stop

Open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Fridays , 10am-12pm. St. Patrick’s Church Hall

A place to meet friends, enjoy a few minutes to yourself or get to know others in your community over coffee & scones.

Registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland NIC 102638