"He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."
Mark 16:15 NIV
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The Irish Connection
Honoring God Ministries in Europe
Honoring God Ministries is active in Northern Ireland, primarily in west Belfast. Rev. John Bartlett, the European Direc tor of Honoring God Ministries, is the pastor of Immanuel Community Church, which is situated on a tiny Protestant housing estate in the heart of Republican west Belfast. Working closely with Immanuel Community Church and other churches and church groups in the area, Honoring God Ministries is dedicated to helping ease the pain related to the problems of poverty, the scars of living in an area that has suffered sustained, focused violence for the past thirty years and the mindset of people who have been effectively unchurched for three generations.
Poverty is as much a spiritual problem as it is anything else. Practical solutions can be applied, but unless the demonic and psychological problems are addressed simultaneously they will fail. Honoring God Ministries is therefore seeking to deal with this issue, not by merely throwing money at it, but to provide employment, training, motivation and self-image seminars and, last but not least, the gospel.
Imagine what it must have been like to live in a city like Troy that was under siege for ten years. Imagine taking a huge chance every time you stepped outside of your tiny little patch every day for ten years. Now imagine that multiplied by three. Surely you must agree that this is unthinkable, yet this is the reality of people who have grown up on the interface here in Belfast and in other communities across Northern Ireland. We do not claim that people here have suffered any worse than people in other parts of the world. People who grew up in parts of North America have known as much stress. What we need to ask ourselves is whether we need to tackle evil wherever we find it. The only thing that can cause evil to flourish is that God's people do nothing. In the past, Northern Ireland has sent out thousands of missionaries to every part of the world. There were prayer meetings here that went on non-stop for upwards of a century. No wonder our enemy wants it to remain divided!
One of the practical aspects of our work here is a publishing house. We envision that it will eventually employ up to three dozen people. Those who come to us will be taught a number of wide-ranging skills which will prepare them to compete for jobs in the global market.
We are also negotiating to begin an outreach activity in the Alsace region of France.
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