Page 20 - Contact Summer 2017
P. 20
On a Tuesday night the “Art and prayer thing”
takes place. We have made lots of things -
ceramic crosses, pots, flowers, cards, jewellery,
100 hats for India and the list goes on.
We linked in with the Community Arts
Partnership and made a beautiful ceramic
elephant for the memorial garden in the estate.
More recently we worked with an artist, Helen
Sloan, and made art work for Ballymena Health
Centre and another piece of art, ‘Pathways To
Number 7 Alexandra Park, a house in the Hope’, which is currently on display in
middle of a row of houses, a house made of Clotworthy House.
bricks and mortar with windows and doors,
no different in construction from the houses There are lots more things planned for the
surrounding it. There are flowers in boxes on future from grow it to cook it programmes, a
the window, there are daffodils growing in pots, clothing bank, a photography class for men to
but immediately something stands out. A large name but a few.
wooden sign on the wall with the name Hope
House carved out in gold letters. Should we The Bible Study on a Thursday night is the
turn the key and see who lives in a house like highlight of the week for me. To be part of a
this?
group of up to 24 people gathered together
to study God’s word in a kitchen in a house in
We enter a hallway and are stuck by a the middle of the Doury Road housing estate,
wonderful sense of peace. We turn left into a a place once known for all the wrong reasons.
bright room. There are comfy chairs to sit on, a Only God can make that happen.
unit with various bits and pieces displayed - it
could be a room in any home except something We offer many different programmes in Hope
immediately catches your eye. There is a large House and we thank God that He has given us
wooden cross in the corner of the room made these tools to help to build relationships with
by Roy McCartney.
all those who come in through the doors, but it
is about much more than programmes.
In the kitchen, the walls are not adorned by Nothing thrills my heart more than to witness
pictures in frames, but by artwork made by someone coming to know Jesus as their friend
the children who come into the house. and saviour and that is what it is all about.
Upstairs there are 3 rooms, one with a pool We have got to keep Jesus at the centre of all
table, one an office and one a very special room. that we do, to always point others to Jesus,
In this room there are prayer flowers in vases, to walk beside them in their joy and their
an amazing piece of Carole Kane’s art work, struggles to help them become devoted
‘Aslan’, hangs on the wall and a cross on a table disciples and followers of His, to fulfil His
carved out of a tree trunk by Bertie McNeilly purposes for their lives. The construction of
stands by the window. This is our prayer room, Hope House is man-made, put together and
a “thin place” as Norman has often talked about. held together by bricks and mortar, but the
On a Monday night, children arrive for our heart-beat of Hope house is something man
Good News Club. They make things, bake could never make. I believe that the heart-beat
things (sort of) are noisy and full of life but wow of Hope House is God’s heart-beat. He lives in
it’s just great to be able to tell these children Hope House by His spirit. Hope House is alive
about a Jesus who loves them no matter what. and living because of Him.
What a wonderful privilege and opportunity
God has given us to sow seeds in these little
lives. Lorraine McAllister
Three mornings per week, Tuesday, Wednesday
and Thursday mornings, folk from the
community and church pop in and chat over a
cup of tea and toast. We talk a lot, laugh a lot,
cry sometimes but know that no matter what
is going on in our lives, we are there for each
other, but more importantly we can bring it all
to our great God in prayer.
