Page 23 - Contact Winter 2017

Love does not need to speak English.
Love does not need to speak English.
Pictured Above: Hope Clothing, Mary Givens and Christine Kennedy
“I was a stranger and you invited me in”
You cannot help but notice how many “strangers”
are in our town. We have folk living among us from
Romania, Slovakia, Poland, Russia, Pakistan, India,
Hungary, Spain, France, from all corners of the
world. They come to Northern Ireland for many
different reasons and they come to High Kirk
to learn English but it’s not just about learning
English. As this multi-cultural group of folk arrive
at church they are greeted by Marie Hamilton and
her wonderful band of helpers and by
Maureen Kennedy and her team who look after
all the children at the homework club - a warm
smile and a kind word breaks down any language
barrier. Jim Ramsay’s tea is gratefully accepted
especially as many of them have walked,
sometimes in the pouring rain, to be there.
The teachers care about the pupils in their classes
and the pupils care about them. Relationships and
friendships have been formed to the point where
three of Norma Harpur’s students travelled to
Belfast to visit her in the hospital. The teachers
meet up with their students during the summer
breaks and they go out for coffees, meals and have
fun together. They do life together and because of
this Gordon Dawson has been able to do a Bible
study with his pupils on a Wednesday evening
after classes and the numbers of students coming
to Café Church on a Sunday morning has grown
so much we have had to move to the Minor Hall,
praise God.
“I needed clothes and you clothed me”
Hope House, that ordinary but yet extraordinary
house that God has given us as a tool to enable us
to reach out to the communities surrounding His
church, and what a tool it has been! People come
to Hope House to build friendships, find peace in
the midst of turmoil, to ask for prayer, not only
when troubles come, but to thank God for what
He has done in their lives. They come to Hope
House to study His word on a Thursday night and
to worship Him in spirit and truth at our praise
services once a month.
Hope Clothing is our latest adventure and people
from all walks of life have ventured in through our
doors, sometimes feeling apprehensive, to get
help. Mary Givens and Christine Kennedy (who
look after the clothes bank) and the rest of the
crew soon make them feel at home. Our ethnic
minority friends are now coming to the art
classes, English classes, Café Church and our
praise services. Why? Because someone cared
enough to reach out in love. Yes people come to
Hope House to build on existing friendships and to
form new ones, but many of them have found what
they have really always been searching - for they
have found Jesus and isn’t that what life is really
about?
Lorraine McAllister