The grass of ministry was bright green in Northern Ireland for a Freedom in Christ Conference on April 26-25, 2025. Nearly 30 team members from four teams across Ireland and Northern Ireland attended the pre-conference training. Mature, experienced members brought along a lot of new trainees, including one woman who is a part of the "traveller" community (formerly known as gypsies). A Polish woman at the training had started a Polish team in Ireland of eight people after my conference in Poland.
The retreat was two full days and had about 90 participants. It went very smoothly despite many instances of being on "Irish time." We had one session for wall prayer and three different hours for sessions, so we prayed for over 25-30 people. Sue Walsh, of Unbound Training UK, did an amazing job with the forgiveness talk. We ended with Mass and the liturgy of the Divine Mercy, which was especially powerful after experiencing so much mercy during the conference. Fr. Gerry Campbell gave an incredible testimony and powerful homily to wrap it up.
A couple of interesting sessions included learning a lot about ministering to travellers and getting to know their culture, and ministering to those who were impacted by the terror of the Time of Troubles in Northern Ireland and the impact it had on their relationship to speaking the truth in a culture of enforced silence. As usual, the Five Keys were especially powerful in helping people bring their burdens to God and to embrace His love.
On our last night we went to dinner with Fr. Gerry (leader of The Twelve group), Helen Stewart (regional coordinator), Paul and Hillary Kyle — old friends from Belfast who do Unbound retreats where they live now in Minneapolis, and two of the leaders they have trained in Belfast who were former members of their community (Community of the King). We had a great time sharing vision, ecumenical joy, and fellowship. I shared a vision of having a regional team-building retreat someday for all the teams in Ireland, and Helen shared about her role and her vision for a team in every county.
All in all, a great trip made possible by the generosity and prayers of our partners and friends!
