‘How can we reach a population in Ireland where few have contact with real Christianity?’ Alastair and Elise Donaldson need your prayers.
It’s hard to think of a place that is so lovely being so needy. County Galway is one of the most popular areas in Ireland. Yet you don’t have to scratch too hard to unearth the desperate spiritual plight of many. Ireland has secularised so rapidly that many don’t have the slightest idea about Jesus.
Yet there’s the underlying tension of a past religious identity and the historical impact of religious institutions. Evidence of this secular, anti-religious mindset is everywhere. ‘I never go to church, but I do say my prayers at home’, said the young lady who rented my parents a room when they came to stay. Or consider a colleague in my part-time job finishing off his small Christmas tree with a witch decoration from Halloween. When I commented on it, he wryly replied, ‘ah, what does it matter anyway?’
In contrast, another colleague took a few minutes to enquire what I’d worked as in the past and was surprised when I said I was a Christian minister: ‘What actually is a minister? What do they do?’
Your prayers are vital for these people and many others. They are vital for us too. While we are the workers on the ground, you are our fellow workers in prayer and partnership. Be assured of just how much we need you all!
We are encouraged to know you are asking for strength on our behalf when we feel weak; we see the answers to your prayers as we serve, and we know the Lord uses the prayers of his faithful people to prepare the ground before us.
We are still settling our family into life here, and balancing ministry alongside part-time work keeps life full. There is so much to do and often it feels like not enough time to do it. Pray we prioritise wisely and with confidence and peace. Pray that God, out of his glorious riches, may strengthen us with his power through his Spirit (Ephesians 3:16). Pray that our own time with the Lord who knows it all does not slip. We can do nothing apart from him.
If you’re anything like me, sometimes you need reminding of what’s really going on when we open our mouths and hearts to pray: we are talking, just as we are, to our Heavenly Father, and he listens and promises to answer. He knows our deepest needs and desires. He longs us to know him as he knows us.
And he knows why he brought us to County Galway and the work he is including us in as he builds his global church.